New Miners boys tennis head coach Cole Lee played for the program himself from 2013-17. When asked to take over the reins this spring, the Victory Ranch teaching pro couldn’t hold back.
While Park City has faded in relevance on the state stage since Lee last played for them, he’s got big plans to take them back. At times, the Miners have been a powerhouse. While their last state title was in 2019, they have 14 in total, making them the most successful program in school history.
Leading the charge for Lee’s Miners are a bunch of youngsters. Freshman occupy many of the top positions on the team. Given his developmental background now, Lee is excited to turn these players into ones who could win Park City some state titles in the years to come, if not now.
All of the Miners state entries are seeding, earning them byes in their respective brackets. At state, each team can qualify one, two and three singles players and one and two doubles teams. The team trophies are awarded via a cumulative points tally at the end of the Thursday through Saturday event.
“We had a pretty strong showing in the regular season,” said Lee on his bunch. “Some of our best wins and highlights came in our home matches, and we got stronger and stronger throughout the season.”
The Miners fell to Murray in their season-opener in March, before ripping off six wins in seven matches. Park City’s only other duals loss was to East, with Lee looking to challenge his team with a tough, incoming regional opponent. The team finished third out of seven teams in the regional tournament earlier this month.
“The region could have been ours,” added Lee, whose team finished just four points behind winning Murray. “It was really neck and neck all season.”
Lee said both he and the boys are having fun out there, despite him pushing them to their limits to try and improve. He thinks this group could be laying the foundation for a special movement back to prominence.
“I’ve been working in tennis throughout my life,” said Lee. “This has definitely been one of the most meaningful opportunities for me as a coach.”
Lee and his assistant coach, Tim Donnely, who was a coach of his during his time with the Miners, have the team bought into the hard work and playing as a team. They know the boys will need to be resilient and stick together this weekend at state.
All of the team’s second round matches kick off Friday at 9 a.m. at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City. Each bracket is single-elimination, with play continuing through Saturday should the Miners keep advancing. Times and days for the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals have yet to be announced.
“There’s some pretty stiff competition,” said Lee about state. “Our eyes are set on good team results and hopefully getting some really good individual finishes. … I’d say our second singles, third singles and second doubles probably have good chances to to do something good at state — not saying first singles and first doubles don’t also have a chance.”
To follow the 4A state tournament, see the Universal Tennis Rating’s (UTR) website.