The Miners boys tennis team won a share of the Region 10 title last Tuesday alongside Highland.
Park City had a slight come-from-behind win. The team had fallen 3-2 on senior day to regional foe Highland on April 21, causing Highland to enter the region tournament up by a team point. Results from the regular season and tournament counted toward the title.
The Miners and Highland each finished with 42 team points, with Park City outperforming Highland by a point in the tournament.
Park City two doubles pairing of freshmen Brandon Gurule and Thatcher Ford won the two singles regional title, taking down the two doubles team from Highland 6-3, 6-2 in that final. The Miners two singles, three singles and one doubles players in Gavin Gurule, Max Schneider and Charlie Ginster and Johnny Lane, respectively, all reached their lines’ finals but fell.
Park City now shifts its focus to this weekend’s 4A state tournament, held Friday and Saturday at the Liberty Park Tennis Center in Salt Lake City. The Miners have 14 state titles in program history, the most recent coming in 2019. Park City Head Coach Cole Lee said he believed his program was on track to potentially win a state title in the coming years.
“Finishing on top of the region was our main goal for the season,” Lee said. “For our guys, it’s validation that all their hard work is taking them in the right direction.”
Lee and the team see the title as a sign that Park City boys tennis is back and ready to contend. He said the team is hungry for even more this week and in the coming years.
“We want the guys to be proud of the region title,” Lee said. “But the message has been the work is not done yet.”
Lee sees good focus and intensity from his team in preparations for state. The singles players have been getting extra repetitions in, and the doubles pairings have been focusing on the start to points.
Lee credited the depth of the team for helping them earn the regional title, as one singles player Thomas Rogowski fell in his first match. The Miners will lean on their depth again at state.
“Feeling optimistic about our performance at state,” Lee said. “The teams down south are still the favorites with higher seeds, but we have a really good chance to improve on our fourth place from last year and to get more guys into the semifinal and final rounds on Saturday.”
Desert Hills of St. George are the two-time defending 4A champions.
Park City opened their season with a March 10 loss to Rowland Hall at Liberty Park, which Lee believes will give his team some confidence playing there this weekend.
Lee knows his one singles and doubles players will be underdogs in their potential quarterfinal matches. Given this, he said, it’s critical that they take care of their early round matches with ease, along with the rest of the Miners players.
“If our guys play to the top of their ability, I think this team could be ahead of schedule in terms of competing for state (titles),” Lee said.