Park City is known for its winter sports athletes — less so for its basketball players.
But in a winter where many of the town’s best athletes will be at the Milan Olympics, the Miners boy’s basketball team will look to establish itself as a force in the area.
Park City went 4-19 last season in head coach Vito Winkworth’s first at the helm. Winkworth and the Miners are back with plenty of talent and have started the season 2-1.
Park City opened their season with a dominant 33-point win over Ben Lemond last Tuesday. They fell in a tight, eight-point loss to 6A foe Copper Hills on Thursday. The Miners blew out new 4A opponent Deseret Peak by 27 points on Monday.
“We’re actually feeling really great,” Winkworth said following Thursday’s loss. “We’re feeling like we can do anything and beat anyone right now. … For us to hang with a team like that and compete with them all night, I don’t think there’s a better way to start the year besides being 2-0.”
Winkworth said everyone on his deep roster has been contributing. Senior captain Luke Rice had a breakout game Tuesday, scoring 35 points on 15-20 shooting.
“Luke Rice is amazing,” he added. “He’s been nothing but great to us. … Luke’s determination and willingness to be great this season started in the offseason, where he’s put a lot of work in.”
Rice and fellow senior guard Bridger Lapine are the Miners’ two captains this season. Winkworth will be counting on their play and leadership, along with the overall depth of the team. Park City thinks they can compete with everyone, secure many more wins and make this season’s state tournament, which they missed last season.
“We just want to keep getting better and better each game,” Winkworth said. “Everyone has high hopes to win a lot of games this year, especially a lot of region games. … Probably the ultimate goal is to get to the tournament this year, do work, and see how much we can win.”
Winkworth tabbed junior Penn Larkin, sophomore Hudson Simmons and senior Wyatt Knapp as players outside of Rice and Lapine to keep an eye out for as they start to play big minutes for the Miners. Simmons and Knapp just wrapped up football season and help anchor a stout Park City defense.
The head ball coach knows what it takes to turn around a struggling program in Park City. He led the Miners girls basketball team from 2022-24, taking them from one win his first year to five his second. Winkworth sees tangible growth in the sport across town from youth participation to prep game attendance.
“Last year — transition year for sure,” he said. “You saw a lot of good, bad, ugly and beautiful basketball. … It was a transition for me from going girls to boys last season. I learned a lot, and that’s helping us be more prepared for this season ahead, where I believe that we are going to just continue to build on positive moments and show people that, ‘Hey, we can play basketball in Park City.’”
Winkworth said the season-opener crowd was one of the biggest he’s seen in his years at the school. He hopes the team can continue to build momentum as the ski season is slow to begin. Winkworth credited his players’ offseason work for helping change the team this season thus far.
“It’s actually grown and developed a lot,” Winkworth said about basketball in Park City. “This season, there’s a youth program. … The energy and time that all the coaches, volunteers and parents have put into promoting youth basketball has helped us be even better for the season because our current freshman class that just came in here is a good young group, and they’ve been playing youth basketball in the community for a few years now.”
The Miners have a week off for Thanksgiving. Park City will play three games next week, including Friday night’s rivalry clash with Wasatch at home. Winkworth is hoping the surging crowd support continues as the season progresses and his team ideally continues to win games.
“We’re going to get ready like we did when we played Copper Hills the other night,” he said. “We’re going to be best prepared as if we’re going to go up against any kind of team at that level. … We’ve got a little bit of chip on our shoulder in that we want to show people we’re not only a different team from last season, but a different team from the past.”