The cars’ trunks had been crushed like soda cans and fashioned into jagged, knifelike battering rams. As the vehicles strategically crashed into each other and kicked up dirt into the audiences’ eyes and mouths at the Wasatch County Events Complex, an unwitting passenger could be spotted strapped to one car’s trunk: Elmo from “Sesame Street.”

Even though he’d been rammed and had watched a car flip over only a stone’s throw away from him, Elmo walked away mostly unscathed. He’d sacrificed one hand and a bit of stuffing — and, undoubtedly, incurred shaken baby syndrome — but his four-man team, “Shift Happens,” had triumphed over the opposing team at the Wasatch County Demolition Derby on Friday. 

Driver Ryan Chivers explained that torturing stuffed animals during demolition derbies is a family tradition his dad started.

“The best ones are the 4-foot-tall ones like, say, a SpongeBob full of little packing peanuts. And then, a little hole will get into it, and it’ll just blow over the track, and it’ll be in everybody’s cars,” he said. “Kids love it.”

Chivers has been building his car since the beginning of June and spent about $50,000 on it, including the plushie. He’s been attending demolition derbies since he was younger than Elmo and competing since he was 15. For him, the appeal of the sport is simple.

“You have road rage, and you can take it out. There’s no consequences,” he said.

Chivers is from San Jose, California, and made the trek for the Wasatch County Demolition Derby because it’s “one of the more premier events in the United States.”

Organizer Brad Bowman agreed. The event has been going for about 55 years, but was nearly shut down in 2016 due to a lack of competitors. 

“We could only get, like, 15 cars,” Bowman said.

Since Bowman’s promotion company, Destructive Behavior, took over organizing in 2022, the competition — now a three-day event — has seen a massive resurgence. This year’s derby featured about 160 contestants from across the country.

“People that want to do it competitively, they want fair treatment,” Bowman said. 

Bowman said there are two reasons for the derby’s renewed popularity: the $200,000 total payout in prize money, which is funded by ticket sales and sponsorships, and the way the drivers are treated.

That’s why each competition class has a rulebook filled with as many as 20 pages of fine print. A technician inspects each car to ensure there’s no funny business. Bowman’s technicians come from all over the country to ensure there’s no favoritism among locals.

The arena, too, is high-quality, this year implementing cutting-edge rubber berms instead of concrete ones. They’re reinforced with “75 dump truck loads of dirt,” Bowman explained.

“We’re doing this hoping that the concrete will not explode and shoot debris into the bleachers,” he said. “We hope that it makes it safer for the drivers and the fans.”

It was clear from watching the competition that safety was the top priority. If a bumper fell off or tire came loose, siren lights would flash and the announcer would tell the drivers to stop while the debris was dragged off the track.

That’s not to say it wasn’t dangerous. In the youth competitions Friday night, one car caught fire and another flipped. But as soon as the teenage drivers got out of their cars, they were pumping their fists in the air, working the crowd. 

Another tense moment came during the advanced youth competition, when a car bumper flew through the rear side window of Heber City 15-year-old Cache Jacobsen’s car, narrowly missing his helmeted head. 

“I didn’t even know it went through,” Jacobsen said. “(The safety technician) goes, ‘Don’t move. … That bumper just barely missed your head.’ I look back, and there’s a bumper right there.”

What, instead of the bumper, went through Jacobsen’s head at that moment?

“Dang!” he exclaimed. 

But as soon as the bumper was dislodged, Jacobsen was pedal to the metal. Even though he lost one of his back tires, he ended up in a three-way tie for fourth place.

Bowman said, “These guys, I’m telling you, will take cars whose bumpers will be 6 feet in the air, and they’ll be straight tomorrow, heading back onto the track for round two.”

Often, drivers will lend each other parts mere hours after demolishing their vehicles.

“There is bad blood, don’t get me wrong. But 90% of us will do anything for each other any given day,” Bowman said.

Driver Parker Lazenby, a Heber City native who now lives in Delta, recalled last year’s derby, when he substituted as a driver on his friend’s team and ended up head-to-head with another one of his buddies. 

“I laid some hits on him that I was kind of worried about, like, I should slow down a little bit. But at the end of the day, you give hugs and high-fives. It’s a cool sport. So much sportsmanship for that much violence,” he said. “I think that comes with how dangerous this actually is. There’s a level of respect that all of us drivers have for each other.”

Lazenby has been competing since he was 16. Over a decade later, he’s glad no other hobby has caught his fancy. He doesn’t have the time or money to spend on anything but his derby cars. 

Lazenby’s 2011 Ford Crown Victoria, worth about $20,000 after modifications, has a bumper “you could probably weld on the front of a dump truck and run into pretty much anything.”

“I think the dump truck would probably be more abused by the time you assess the accident,” Lazenby said.

Even after adding about “4,000 pounds” of parts and metal to his car, Lazenby’s favorite part is the engine.

“You need to be able to ram into a bunch of people, get it smoking hot and have it still scream,” he said.

What Lazenby loves even more than the blood, sweat and tears he’s put into his car is the fact that all that work pales in comparison to the whims of Lady Luck.

“You can have a guy that can have the best built car there, and that guy has no control over how the night goes,” he said. “There’s so many underdog things that happen in derby, whether it’s a first-time driver going out there and getting lucky against a bunch of veterans, or one guy who’s outnumbered by five and still finds a way to dismantle those guys’ cars and get them in bad positions.”

This year’s underdog was 15-year-old Corbin Anderson from Heber City, who won first place in the beginner youth competition. 

It was his second time ever competing in a demolition derby. Last year, Jacobsen lent him a spare car that got knocked out seconds into the competition. But in preparation for this year, Corbin spent hours toiling away on his very own car, assisted by Jacobsen and his derby-loving family.

“Last time, I only had two or three days to get my car ready and mentally prepared,” Corbin said. “This time, I was more prepared, ready mentally, to go crash cars.”

His strategy was making hits that he could get out of unscathed. He aimed mainly for tires or passenger doors. Watch out for him when he gets his driver’s license next year. 

Corbin’s mom, Nicole, said her son has learned teamwork, perseverance and mechanical know-how through competing.

“I am actually really surprised by how much he knows,” she said. “He’s taken a welding class at the high school, and he’s getting pretty good. I think it will help him in a future career.”

For placing first in the beginner youth competition, Corbin won $3,000. Some will go in his savings account, and some will go toward another derby car. After experiencing the high of going from last to first place in only a year, Corbin is hooked.

There are worse things a teenager could get hooked on, Bowman joked. 

“I always tell people one or two things,” he said. “It’s cheaper than drugs … (and) everybody’s got a hobby.”

The post Wasatch County Demolition Derby brings glorious destruction to the masses appeared first on Park Record.

Midway resident Brent Kelly, a rodeo announcer of over 50 years, got his start in the sport by watching the Wasatch County Rodeo, now called the Mountain Valley Stampede Rodeo, as a kid.

As a teenager, he’d sneak onto organizer Swanny Kirby’s property to ride his calves, but he never snuck into the event itself.

“The rodeo used to be put on by the Heber Valley Riding Club. And they would patrol the fences so that none of the kids would get in free,” he said. “(My friend) Tom (Whitaker) said, ‘Remember when we pushed over that snow fence, and all of us ran in and got in free?’ I said, ‘Tom, I don’t remember that. I don’t think I was there. I always paid my ticket.’”

Ahead of the Mountain Valley Stampede Rodeo this weekend, Brent recounted its history at the Wasatch County Library during the latest in a series of local history lectures. 

The rodeo began as an outgrowth of the Wasatch County Fair, which began in 1913.

“In the 20th century, local farmers, ranchers, 4-H groups, they got together and they showed livestock, they showed crops, they showed produce,” Brent said. “The fair (was) both competitive and a community celebration reflecting the most important part of farming to Wasatch County.”

The rodeo began sometime in the 1920s as an amateur event for kids and families. It got an upgrade when Kirby took over, the first of several organizers to transform the rodeo into a professional event. 

The first local rodeo clown was Ellis Clyde. A photo of his goofy expression sent a wave of laughter through the audience of seniors who recognized him. 

“Ellis always had a float in the parade,” Brent said. “He would ride down Main Street dressed as a woman, bra on the outside, playing a saxophone. And he had a band, the Ellis Clyde Band, and they used to play every Friday and Saturday night at the old social hall.”

After several iterations of stock contractors running the rodeo, the county asked Brent, his wife, Mary, and local Bob McPhie to take the reins in the 1970s. 

“We’ve been involved in rodeo pretty much all of our married lives. So when Bob asked us to come work with him, it was really an honor,” Mary said. “We had the same vision. We wanted to make it one of the best.”

The trio renamed it the Mountain Valley Stampede Rodeo, which has evolved into the three-day event today. 

The Wasatch County Event Complex opened in 2005, its 7,000-seat outdoor arena opened in 2009, and its warm-up arena and livestock stalls were added in 2011.

“Wasatch is second to none in facilities that we have,” Brent said.

There has also been growth in the amount of prize money given out. Wasatch County Event Complex Director Jon Provost took over the rodeo about 20 years ago. At that time, the winners received about $40,000 total. At the rodeo this weekend, the county will distribute more than $200,000 in awards, generated from ticket sales and sponsorships.

That’s in stark contrast to the prize money Wasatch County advertised in rodeo magazines from 1956 and 1957 — about $700, or roughly $8,700 when adjusted for inflation.

There are nearly 500 competitors at this year’s event. Brent and Mary said it is the prize money that attracts National Finals Rodeo athletes.

“When you get them here, you sell out your crowds,” Mary said.

Members of the crowd at the library chimed in that it is not the professional athletes, but the amateur, hometown heroes who inspired them the most.

Brent and Mary, who received Gov. Spencer Cox’s Utah Treasure award last year for their involvement in the rodeo, could be considered two of those heroes. 

Brent became a competitor in calf roping, bareback riding and bulldogging while he was a student at Brigham Young University. Brent and Mary spent their years as a newly married couple constantly on road trips so Brent could compete in Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association events. 

They funneled their paychecks into entry fees, or what they called “donations,” because Brent wasn’t winning any competitions.

“I was donating every weekend. Finally, one time, she says, ‘I don’t care what you do, just catch the calf!’ It took me about 20 seconds that time, but I caught it,” Brent joked. 

Brent’s love for the sport but inability to make a living competing in it is what led him to become a rodeo announcer. 

“I drive into a rodeo in a white shirt. I go up to a box that’s air-conditioned. And when I leave, I have a check and a hamburger,” he said, a grin plastered on his face. 

He’s announced at various rodeos across the state over the past half-century, including 20 years at the Mountain Valley Stampede Rodeo. There, he began his tradition of announcing on horseback in the arena. He and his 26-year-old horse, Cash, have since hung up their spurs after many close encounters with bulls and broncos. 

In one instance, a horse mistook Brent for a pickup rider — a horseback rider who helps a competitor dismount during a rough stock competition — and chased him.

“He reached out and grabbed my belt with his mouth,” Brent said, making a chomping motion with his hand. “I felt that, and I kicked old Cash, and we went really fast that time. Cash has saved my life more than anything else.”

Brent, whose kids and grandkids are also involved in the rodeo, said the sport is “just coming into its own.”

“We’ve had more national exposure from the Cowboy Channel than anything. … There’s more money now than there used to be, which gives you more cowboys,” he said. “Back at the National High School Finals (earlier this month), they were roping calves in eight seconds. That was unheard of. If you had a 12-second run in my day, you would get a check. I never did get one, but anyway, eight seconds!”

After Brent’s presentation, Courtland Nelson, a Midway resident of 50 years, shared what he loves most about the Heber Valley’s rodeo tradition.

“There’s nothing really fun about raising pigs. There’s nothing that’s really exciting about milking cows. You can’t have cow-milking contests and have people really want to pay you to see it. And I think rodeo was the one thing that came out of those cultures,” he said. “To me, that was always a great thing about Heber Valley … that sense of the best parts of the Old West.”

The Mountain Valley Stampede Rodeo takes place Thursday through Saturday at the Wasatch County Event Complex. Learn more and purchase tickets at wasatchparksandrec.com.

The post A look inside the rowdy history of the Mountain Valley Stampede Rodeo appeared first on Park Record.

Of the roughly 25 Wasatch High School students who qualified for the Utah High School Rodeo State Finals at the Wasatch County Event Complex late last week, seven will advance to the national finals next month in Nebraska. There, these cowboys and cowgirls will vie for a winner’s saddle and belt buckle, along with the chance to meet college recruiters and potential sponsors.

For most of the students, the four-day gauntlet of bronc riding, bulldogging and goat tying was a lesson in how to brush the dirt off their chaps and get back up after being thrown to the dirt, both literally and metaphorically.

“It’s definitely been a marathon trying to avoid burnout and have consistent runs and have fun. It’s been quite the journey,” said junior Isla Bell, who competed in breakaway and team roping events.

Breakaway roping involves the competitor roping a fleeing calf while on horseback. Team roping is similar, except the target is a steer, and there are two competitors — referred to as a header and a heeler — who rope the animal’s head and legs, respectively.

“It’s like catching a fish,” described Eva Hunsaker, a fellow junior and breakaway roping competitor. “It’s just a great feeling.”

On a hot day like Friday, the key to managing sweaty hands is baby powder, Hunsaker explained. Still, her lasso came short, in part because her little calf was as speedy as a shotgun.

Breakaway roping was challenging for Bell, too, in no small part because her breakaway horse of five years, Jerry, tore a deep flexor tendon mere days before the event. 

“His career is over,” Bell explained. “I had some really amazing friends offer me a horse to use this week, but I’d never ridden it before, so it was just a rough time trying to get the whole run to click.”

Ty Bingham, Bell’s stepfather and the director of the team, explained that the horse she had borrowed had come from an unlikely person: her rival.

“They’re competing against each other, and one of her competitors is like, ‘Hey, jump on my horse,’” he recalled. “That’s a very common thing in rodeo. Whatever you need, your competitors will typically do it for you.”

Although contenders came from all over the state, Hunsaker said everyone was more like friends than adversaries as they chatted in line for events and played an evening kickball game together.

The almost familial bonds of the rodeo world are rivaled in closeness only by the bonds competitors have with their animals.

That was true of Hunsaker and her steed, Holy Smokin’ Cayenne, or Cayenne for short. Hunsaker has been riding Cayenne since she was in eighth grade, but they only became best friends once they started rodeoing in Hunsaker’s freshman year. 

“Now, my parents say that we’re a lot alike,” joked Hunsaker. That includes both horse and rider’s fiery red manes.

She continued, “We’ve worked together super well, and I can feel what she’s feeling. … We just want to compete the best we can. No matter how fast the calf is, she always gives me a shot.”

Hunsaker’s love for Cayenne has blossomed into a desire to become an equine dentist.

Bell, on the other hand, hopes to work in marketing, ideally for a western-themed brand. She already has the poise and unwavering confidence of someone used to speaking with the media.

Her communication and public speaking skills can be owed to her experience serving as the vice president of the Utah High School Rodeo Association. In that role, she helps organize events like dances and activities during the state finals, votes on changes to state high school rodeo rules and bylaws and acts as a role model for her fellow competitors.

Next school year, Bell will be president of the association. She also plans to train hard and “kick some butt.”

Just as rodeo is a family tradition for Bell, it plays the same role in senior Jenna Jepperson’s family.

Like Bell, Jepperson switched horses after one of her team roping horses sustained an injury. She borrowed her older brother’s horse, which had a lot more energy than hers did.

“If you get after it, it’s going to bring out even worse in you,” Jepperson explained.

Something similar could be said about Jepperson’s brother, though he has been one of her greatest mentors.

“Me and my brother have gotten closer in ways, but we also know how to fight pretty good,” Jepperson laughed. “But it’s drawn us so much closer. He knows what bugs me and how he can help me when things are going wrong.”

And in rodeo, anything can go wrong, Jepperson explained, from ripping a brand-new pair of pants mid-competition to eating dirt. The key to enjoying rodeo is resilience.

That’s something Jepperson’s younger sister, sophomore Lydia, is learning, as well. She’s figuring out how to focus on the good aspects of a bad run and control her feelings amid high-pressure competition.

Now that Jepperson has graduated from high school, with plans to serve a Latter-day Saint mission in Pennsylvania and attend nursing school afterwards, she will carry the lessons she learned in rodeo with her.

“It is great to win, but you’re going to lose more, and you’ve just got to keep your head up and keep going,” she said. “Otherwise, you’re going to get stuck there and not go anywhere.” 

Here are the seven Wasatch High School competitors advancing to the National High School Finals Rodeo in July.

• Genevieve Graham: Rodeo Queen
• Sam Haderlie: Steer wrestling
• Jack Rodeheaver: Saddle bronc riding
• Westin Simpson: Bareback riding, bull riding
• Colton Smith: Trap shooting
• Wiley Thomas: Bareback riding
• Ellie Thompson: Barrel racing, breakaway roping, goat tying, All Around Cowgirl

The post Teens get knocked down, get back up again at Utah High School Rodeo State Finals appeared first on Park Record.

Whenever she flew down the track in her modified 2009 Subaru WRX, Medusa, Jamie Moreno was protected — not only by the interior roll cage that would shield her in a crash, but also by the Ziploc bag of crystals stashed in the center console.

“It was kind of always hidden, the witchy side,” Moreno said. “I feel like in racing, it’s so masculine that if you talk about, ‘I have crystals in my car’ or ‘I perform blessings on my car,’ people will be like, ‘What (is) wrong with you?’”

Now that she lives in Heber City, Moreno said she definitely “stick(s) out like a sore thumb.” Beyond massage therapist Body & Soul Studios, there’s not much engagement in the metaphysical.

It’s certainly no Salem, Massachusetts, but Moreno hopes she can bring a bit of that energy to Heber City through her new business, Shiny Bruja, named for the Spanish word for witch. Moreno is half-Ecuadorian, half-Columbian.

“Me starting the conversation might attract those people that are curious,” Moreno said. “I mean, people could be hiding just like how I hid for many years.”

As the titular Shiny Bruja, Moreno’s specialty is concocting bottles of rose water from her kitchen. 

A smoke-free alternative to sage, the idea came to Moreno because she has asthma. Heber City’s better air quality compared to Salt Lake City’s was one reason she chose to relocate here earlier this year.

Plus, sage stinks. 

“It smells like you just hot-boxed your entire house,” she joked. 

Spraying a bit of rose water into the air creates a lovely yet subtle smell to cleanse a space. Rose is a symbol of love, compassion and empathy, Moreno explained, and it combats anger, sadness, and anxiety.

Moreno typically puts damask roses into her distiller, using a paint filter to remove any organic material from the liquid.

Each bottle is infused with light language. Light language is the metaphysical equivalent of speaking in tongues. For each batch, Moreno places the bottles in a circle around her in her meditation room and tunes into a “collective need,” whether it be self-compassion or divine love.

Moreno wasn’t always so forthright about her interest in the metaphysical. Medusa’s engine dying in 2023 prompted her to take a break from racing, which she was putting far too much money into — over $80,000 on improvements alone — at the cost of her self-care.

The metaphysical has now eclipsed racing, the original way Moreno practiced wellness.

She named her race car Medusa for its snakelike hoses under the hood. She was equally inspired by the tale of the wronged woman who turned her enemies to stone. Besides, at such high speeds, any spectators on the sidelines look like static statues.

But before it became a mythical, modified beast, Medusa accompanied Moreno on her daily commutes, on road trips and through whiteout snowstorms.

It was also her companion on late-night drives up Cottonwood Canyon as she grappled with depression, anxiety and complex post-traumatic stress disorder.

Moreno’s connection with cars reaches back to childhood, growing up in Salt Lake City.

“The one place (my dad and I) could get away from my mom was working on cars,” she explained. “My mom hated that. I was like, cool. This is the one place I don’t get yelled at.”

Moreno said she experienced verbal and emotional abuse as a child. She felt constantly “scanned” by her parents: for showing too much skin, for fluctuating in weight, for developing acne.

Moreno had no sanctuary from the berating. She wasn’t allowed to decorate her room and had to keep the door open at all times, while her parents regularly rummaged through her belongings.

Around the time Moreno felt a need to create her own identity in high school, she felt “suffocated.”

She’s not sure what outlet she would have found if she hadn’t discovered amateur racing at 25. She was on the track continuously between 2010 and 2023, specializing in the time-attack category.

Around that time, Moreno was introduced to the metaphysical by a therapist. Her desire to improve her race times was what initially brought her to therapy — her mind was so clouded by anxiety that she couldn’t focus.

With the guidance of her therapist and other specialists, Moreno dove headfirst into aromatherapy, crystals, herbs, astrology and energy work. But she found that most of the work was mental, making her mind clearer on the track and resulting in improved times. Medusa began to feel like an extension of her body.

“That car made me feel safe in my body for the first time in my life,” Moreno said. “When I imagine myself driving in that car, I imagine golden tentacles coming out of me, and I’m attaching myself to the tires, to the brakes, to the engine, to the steering. I am fully integrated energetically into that car.”

Moreno sold her home and many of her belongings in 2017 to pursue a nomadic lifestyle with her husband, Nathan Rushton. They purchased a 45-foot Jayco Seismic Wave 416W fifth-wheel, complete with a garage large enough to fit Medusa. They traveled cross-country from race to race for five years, setting up camp across Utah, Arizona, California and Colorado in RV parks and friends’ and family members’ backyards.

In the meantime, the couple took whatever odd jobs they could find in their field — IT for Moreno, now a network security engineer at Adobe, and home maintenance and repair for Rushton, who started his own company, Mr. Weefix, in April.

There were downsides to the lifestyle, such as the lack of a permanent mailing address and the horrors of sewer maintenance. But it was a valuable experience for the couple.

“We have met so many different people, different cultures, heard so many different stories,” Moreno said. “(My car’s) not political; it’s not religious. It’s a way to open up to people, to start a conversation and to connect with other people. I feel like right now in America, we’re missing a lot of that personal connection.”

Rushton was perhaps even more on board than his wife for what became a six-year road trip.

“We’ve always been each other’s support system,” Moreno said. “We’ve known each other since high school. Whenever any opportunity comes up for either of us, we are supportive of each other.”

Moreno returned the favor when a maintenance and repair company Rushton worked for relocated to Massachusetts. Growing a little tired of trailer life, the couple landed in Salem, ground zero for all things witchy.

She felt “like a kid in a candy store” in Salem, surrounded by psychics, mediums and energy workers. Besides, the stigma around the metaphysical didn’t seem to exist; it was a water-cooler conversation for Salem residents.

Moreno said she’s been highly sensitive to the metaphysical world since childhood, but learned not to talk about it as she observed how family members treated her grandmother.

“My grandma said she used to see dead people, or she would see things, or she would feel things. And she always had some concoction that she would make up for whatever ailment,” Moreno said. “I remember my dad would be like, ‘She’s just crazy.’”

There are many reasons for the stigma around the metaphysical, but Moreno said it primarily comes from misconceptions about what that world entails.

For example, some snake oil salespeople often present essential oils, herbs and energy work as cure-alls for everything from mental health issues to COVID-19, but Moreno said that couldn’t be further from the truth. She believes modern medicine and the herbal field should work together to promote even greater physical wellness.

She also clarified that it’s still up to the individual to “do the hard work” when it comes to mental health issues.

“You still have to look at the ugly pieces of yourself that you don’t want to look at and meet those pieces with love and compassion and empathy,” she said.

Moreno also addressed the longstanding fear of evil witches. She acknowledged that “there are the bad witches that hex and curse,” but also witches who practice on a foundation of love, compassion, empathy and joy. She said witches who practice magic sourced from positive energy see more effective results. 

“The universe is a mirror,” Moreno said. “When you look in the mirror, the mirror doesn’t smile first. You do.”

Moreno’s website is shinybruja.com. Her rose water is also available to purchase at Body & Soul Studios in Heber City and Hair by Morgan Dixon in Holladay.

The post Heber City race car driver embraces her witchy ways appeared first on Park Record.

Emma Broadbent’s coach describes her as a once-in-a-generation talent.

Over the course of her high school career, the 18-year-old South Summit High School senior not only helped lead her team to the state championship tournament this season, but she also shattered Utah’s career rebounds record for the first time in 29 years.

“We started tracking this [record] near the end of last season, and she got her 1,000th rebound in our last game of last year,” said Matt Mapstone, the high school girls basketball coach. “She needed 400-something to break it, and she had done that last year during last year’s season, so we knew it was attainable.”

Broadbent collected her 1,465th rebound in a game against Carbon High School in early February, surpassing the record set by Beaver High School’s Makenzie Gillins in 1996. She had 1,518 career rebounds as of Monday afternoon.

“It was actually crazy because my parents, every time I looked up at them, they held up fingers for how many more rebounds I needed,” Broadbent said about the Carbon High game. “It was a lot of pressure because I think I needed 13 rebounds that game. By the end of the second quarter, I had nine or 10, so I was like ‘OK, I can do this. I can get four more rebounds in the next two quarters.’”

And she was right — another player fouled in the third quarter, giving Broadbent a chance to line up and grab her fated rebound during a free throw attempt.

“The announcer went over the microphone and announced I had just beat the record, and I just started tearing up,” Broadbent said. “It was just a moment where you’re like, ‘Wow, I really did that.’”

Mapstone, who started coaching Broadbent her sophomore year, said she’s always been a dominant player, top scorer and had an “over-the-top basketball IQ.” In fact, she’d already crushed one state record by the end of her junior year by collecting the highest number of rebounds in a single season.

It hasn’t always been an easy journey, though.

South Summit has largely been rebuilding for the past few years, and Broadbent recalled one season with only three total wins. But the team’s perseverance has paid off, and the girls team is participating in the state championship tournament this week for the first time as a 3A school.

“It’s been tough for us because, literally, we have 500-something students, and every other school in our region is over 1,100, 1,200 students,” Mapstone said. “It’s always been tough on us to compete, but we finally broke through this year. Emma’s a big reason.”

Broadbent shines as a basketball player, but she’s a three-sport athlete. She also plays softball and volleyball, and she’s committed to play volleyball for Southern Virginia University next year.

“It’s just been the norm for me for my entire life, going from one sport to the next. I don’t really know what coming home after school is like,” she said, laughing. “Every single free minute I have at school, I dedicate to doing homework just so I don’t have to do it late at night, and then I’ll go to sports practices.”

Southern Virginia originally reached out to Broadbent to recruit her for basketball, but she ended up messaging the volleyball coach on Instagram during her school visit. The coach wanted to meet her, and Broadbent fell in love with the team. She chose to pursue the net over a hoop because of the pressure to perform well.

“It’s good to have pressure, but it took a toll on my mental health. I fell out of love with [basketball] for a hot second, so I didn’t really go through the recruiting process with a bunch of schools. I had a bunch of D1 schools looking at me when I was a freshman and sophomore, but I didn’t feel like it was right,” Broadbent said. “Volleyball has always been the sport where I can just have fun and I don’t have to be good, but I feel like that almost allowed me to be good because I was just having fun with it, so that was the route that I picked.”

Broadbent said she’s thinking about becoming a teacher and majoring in education. She’s looking forward to college and playing with her new volleyball team, but there are aspects of high school she’ll miss, namely her teammates who have grown up alongside her as friends and athletes.

“We’ve been playing basketball together since we were little, especially because we go to a small school,” Broadbent said. “My best friend, Mariah, plays basketball, volleyball and softball with me, so we bond a lot and we have a lot of time spent together. It helps us to almost perform better on the court because we know each other’s tendencies. … The sport doesn’t change, but the people you’re around and your friends, they’re all going different places, so it’s going to be hard, especially the first couple months, but I’m excited to make new friends and to have new experiences.”

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Three siblings from Coalville are taking family bonding to another level — training for months at a time, trekking over snowy, mountainous terrain and enduring days of sleep deprivation as they race teams of powerful, athletic sled dogs.

Wade Donaldson, Dallin Donaldson and Natalie Wilson grew up in Summit County, enjoying the wide open spaces and agricultural community of the Wasatch Back. Each of the siblings is a self-proclaimed animal lover, so when Wade and Dallin were tasked with creating a business proposal in a college class 10 years ago, the answer was simple: guided sled dog tours.

“They saw that tourism has really grown in Summit County, and they thought maybe tourism was a way we could go out on our own and start our own business,” Natalie explained. “Dog sledding specifically was something we were interested in anyway, so they bought a team from a retired guy who used to race with his dogs, and for a couple of years, we figured out what dogs were all about.”

The business, Bear Ridge Adventures, takes tourists and winter enthusiasts on one-hour, two-hour or half-day excursions. Each dog sled can carry up to 350 pounds, and the route provides a scenic tour of mountains around Coalville.

“It’s a great experience for Utah,” Natalie said. “There are so many people I talk to who are like, ‘Dog sledding? I didn’t know there was dog sledding.’ It’s very family friendly, and the dogs are amazing. They love what they do, and they get excited to take people out.”

The siblings branched out into competitive racing about five years ago when a friend encouraged them to try it. Their first race was the American Dog Derby in Idaho, and they’ve been hooked on the sport ever since.

“There are definitely a couple of times in a race when you ask yourself, ‘What in the world are we doing out here in the middle of nowhere going up this huge mountain on this trail?’ It’s hard, and it’s tiring, and it’s not easy,” Dallin said. “But when you finish it, it’s just incredible — it’s incredible to watch your dogs running and seeing how they overcome difficulties. It’s so cool to see this team get stronger and stronger throughout the season, and they turn into this unit, this team, and there’s nothing they can’t overcome.”

The family now owns over 80 sled dogs, although not every dog competes in races, depending on their age, health and athletic ability. Each sibling participates separately with their own team of dogs, competing against each other as well as other racers.

Training begins in the fall with what Dallin dubbed “doggy tryouts.”

“It’s a lot like being an ultra-marathon runner,” he explained. “You have to start little by little. We’ll usually start with five-mile runs with our dogs, and we’re usually starting that in October on ATVs. We’ll hook two dogs up to an ATV or a side-by-side or a truck, even, and then just start building up the miles and the speed.”

By the time there’s snow on the ground, the dogs should be running around 30 miles per training session.

“Once you get up to around 40 miles a run, then you have to start doing back-to-backs, so you have to train to have scheduled rests in between your runs,” Dallin said. “You’ll do a 40-mile run and then have a six- or eight-hour rest and then do another 40 miles. What you’re doing at that point is trying to get their rests down.”

Most mushers naturally get in shape alongside the dogs, running with them on trails and training for sleep deprivation — the hardest part of sled dog racing, at least for the human participants.

Every race runs overnight, and although there are checkpoints for teams to rest, mushers rarely have time to squeeze in a nap. They essentially serve as the dogs’ coach, monitoring their health and troubleshooting any problems.

Once the dogs have slept, been fed and received any necessary medical attention, such as a massage for sore muscles or replacing the booties that protect their feet, it’s time to get back on the road.

“I want to make sure my team stays healthy, so their needs come in front of my need to sleep,” Wade said. “You get pretty drowsy and tired. I always talk to the dogs. I sing along to random music. I try to stay active. I’ll ‘pedal kick’ like you’re on a skateboard or scooter. I’ll run alongside just to keep myself moving so I don’t doze off and fall asleep on the sled.”

Natalie and Dallin both prefer the 100-mile races, which they say gives them a better balance between training and family life. The two recently entered the Idaho Sled Dog Challenge, a race in central Idaho about two hours north of Boise. 

There, Dallin placed second, finishing in 19 hours and 46 minutes with an average speed of 7.55 miles per hour.

“My dogs were just clicking. I could tell the second I was about 10 miles into that first run. I was like, ‘Oh boy, my team is feeling it.’ They just looked good,” Dallin said. “That’s one of the fun things about being a musher is some races go really well and others don’t. You’re dealing with dogs, and there are trials and hard things you have to overcome together in these races, but when the team is all clicking, like they were for the 100 miles, it’s a lot of fun because you can just see they’re in the groove.”

Natalie said she ran into adverse weather conditions this year, but she was proud of her team, especially because she had a few older dogs with her. She finished behind her brother in fifth place in 20 hours and 22 minutes with an average speed of 7.24 miles per hour.

“For me, going into races, I really just want my dog team to perform to their best, and that looks different for different people,” she said. “Our dogs may be a little bit slower than some of the teams that are winning because they do go back and forth from running tours to running races. They’re not strictly race dogs, so that’s something we have to work through when we’re out training. I did have a few older dogs on my team, and I knew that they would always get me to the finish, but I didn’t know exactly how fast they would be able to pace with the conditions we were having.”

Dallin said he doesn’t have any specific goals in mind for the future, but he plans to continue 100-mile races.

Natalie, however, wants to complete what’s known as the Triple Crown — a series of races allowing mushers to qualify for the Iditarod. It includes the Idaho Sled Dog Challenge, the Eagle Cap Extreme in Oregon and the Race to the Sky in Montana.

“What keeps me going is my enjoyment of seeing the dogs do what they love to do,” Natalie said. “I love animals, and I have my entire life. These dogs, their energy is very contagious. It’s also a really humbling experience when you have to completely rely on animals and you have to trust in your training and you have to trust in them.”

Despite aiming for the Triple Crown, Natalie said she’s not interested in participating in the Iditarod. 

But Wade is. 

The siblings have started breeding and buying dogs more genetically suited for long-distance running to improve their teams. Wade has also branched out into longer races, such as the Idaho Sled Dog Challenge’s 200-mile route.

The February race was unfortunately cut short because of avalanche concerns, but Wade still placed first. He finished in 9 hours and 14 minutes with an average speed of 6.71 miles per hour. His next race in Montana, a 300-mile route, was also cut short because of inclement weather and poor conditions.

Although Wade and his siblings start training in October, the competitive season only runs for two months — January and February. The Iditarod starts in Alaska in early March.

Wade said he was disappointed he wasn’t able to fully compete in his races this season, but he’s hopeful he’ll qualify for the 1,000-mile Iditarod race after the Triple Crown next year.

“The Iditarod is like the capstone of dog sledding. As far as competitive distance mushing, the Iditarod is the race to do it,” Wade said. “It’s just something I’ve wanted ever since we got into dogs. I would love to accomplish that as a goal.”

He said he feels fortunate to train, work and compete with his family, even though they’re not pursuing the Iditarod together. His main motivation is his relationship with the dogs — his best friends.

“This wouldn’t be possible without them. They’re the true heroes. They’re the stars,” Wade said. “That’s the reason we do it, because we love the dogs. … You have to respect that these dogs were bred to do this and they’ve been bred to do it for thousands of years. It’s very natural for them. It’s what they’re best at and what they’re happiest doing.”

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Miners boy’s basketball falls to Green Canyon Wednesday, entering holiday break

The Miners boy’s basketball squad fell to Green Canyon on Wednesday night 67-59. The loss dropped them to 3-8 on their season, as they enter the holiday break. Park City will next take on Hillcrest Jan. 5 at 7 p.m., at home. 

Miners girl’s basketball on holiday break, to face Hillcrest Jan. 4

The Miners girl’s basketball squad is enjoying their holiday break at the moment. They will next face Hillcrest on Jan. 4 at 7 p.m. That game will be held at Park City High School.

Miners Red hockey defeats Park City White, enters holiday break

The Miners Red hockey team defeated Park City White on Wednesday evening 5-1. Their head coach Mike Adamek said he was thrilled with their puck control and execution on the night. Next up for Park City Red is Weber County, who they’ll face on Jan. 8, on the road.

Miners White hockey falls to Park City Red, enters holiday break

The Miners White hockey team fell to the Park City Red in that same game Wednesday night 5-1. They were outshot 49-14, in what was reportedly a quite physical contest. Next up for Park City White is also Weber County, who they’ll face on Jan. 3 at home. 

South Summit boy’s basketball on holiday break, to face Providence Hall Jan. 8

The South Summit boy’s basketball squad is currently on their holiday break. The Wildcats will next face Providence Hall on Jan. 8. That contest will be held at South Summit High School, at 7 p.m.

South Summit girl’s basketball falls to Juab Wednesday, enters short holiday break

The South Summit girl’s basketball squad fell to Juab Wednesday evening 54-32. The Wildcats will next have a short holiday break before facing Juan Diego Catholic on Dec. 28. That contest will tipoff at 3:30 p.m., at South Summit High School. 

North Summit boy’s basketball defeats Manila Thursday, enters brief holiday break

The North Summit boy’s basketball squad defeated Manila on Thursday night 61-49. That win moved the Braves to 7-3 on their season, as the head into a short holiday break. They’ll next play on Dec. 28 against Rich High at home. 

North Summit girl’s basketball on holiday break, facing Rich High Dec. 28

The North Summit girl’s basketball squad is currently on their holiday break. The Braves will next take on Rich High on Dec. 28. That contest will tipoff at 4 p.m., at North Summit High School.

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For more images from the event, visit our full gallery.

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The winter X Games kicks off Friday at Aspen Snowmass, and in the lead up to the event a Park City athlete got a special spotlight.

Freeskier Colby Stevenson, winner of two gold medals at X Games 2020 as well as the Best in Snow award, was the subject of a short ESPN documentary, titled “Being Colby Stevenson.” The documentary gives an overview of Stevenson’s journey to the top of the sport, including the devastating car crash in 2016 that many thought would end his career, if not his life.

Stevenson suffered a traumatic brain injury in the accident, and doctors weren’t sure if he would ever walk again. Yet just a few years later, Stevenson stood atop the podium.

This year, Stevenson will try to repeat the feat and bring some more gold back to Park City.

The 2021 Winter X Games can be viewed on ESPN. A full schedule can be found here.

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Lauren Salko has Type 1 diabetes, but she’s not about to let it keep her from being a competitive ski cross racer.

The 27-year-old has experienced firsthand the different treatment methods for the condition with which she was diagnosed more than a decade ago, going from multiple daily injections to an insulin pump with continuing finger pricks to test blood sugar levels, then to a continuous glucose monitor, so now she can go nearly finger-prick free while pursuing her Olympic dream.

Salko grew up in Larchmont, New York, and attended Kents Hill Boarding School in Readfield, Maine, where she discovered alpine racing.

She then fell in love with ski cross while racing at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, and as soon as she graduated in May 2015, she hit the road to Park City.

“I graduated, then literally started driving,” she said. “I didn’t even want to walk (across the stage) but my parents were fairly insistent.”

This season, she took second in the USASA ski cross national championships and finished the NorAm tour ranked 13th overall. She says living with diabetes has become a source of strength for her.

Tracking sugar

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder that makes it difficult for those affected to regulate their blood sugar levels as their bodies attack their own insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, with potentially catastrophic consequences.

Low blood sugar can cause seizures and brain damage within a matter of hours and inversely, high blood sugar can result in diabetic ketoacidosis, where the body processes fats too quickly resulting in fatigue, nausea, confusion and other symptoms. Chronic high blood sugar can also result in long term damage to nerves, eyes and the kidneys.

“Low blood sugar can be really confusing to me because to me it feels like adrenaline,” Salko said. “It’s that shaky feeling. … High blood sugar feels kind of like you’re dehydrated and maybe have the flu.”

Generally, regulating blood sugar is tricky business.

It’s expensive and, until recently, has been hard to judge.

“With diabetes, people always want to make it into a regimented thing,” Salko said. “But I can eat the same thing for breakfast five days in a row, take the same insulin, and have a completely different blood sugar at the end of it. Because every hormone plays a role. Not just hormones in terms of, like, menstrual cycles, but hormones in terms of like excitement, anxiety – all those things. Or how much sleep I got the day before.”

When Salko first was diagnosed as a teenager, she took multiple shots of insulin per day to regulate her glucose levels.

She would take a long-acting insulin shot first thing in the morning, then a fast-acting shot every time she ate anything or if her blood sugar was high.

To make sure her blood sugar was at safe levels, Salko used to have to prick her finger multiple times a day. She said it was particularly scary at night when she knew she would go long stretches without eating, a natural way of keeping blood sugar from dipping.

“I used to set an alarm on my phone to wake up every two hours at night because I was fearful I wouldn’t wake up,” she said.

It’s also hard to regulate on race day.

During race days she would check her blood sugar upwards of 15 times per day. Taking a single reading would only tell her what her blood sugar levels were at that moment. She had no way to tell if they were changing unless she checked again.

Salko explained it like driving a car and only being able to see her speed at one given moment.

“It doesn’t tell you whether you’re going faster or slower,” she said. “Say it says I’m going 60 mph, which is great if you want be going 60 mph, but if the speed limit is 65, you want to make sure you’re not speeding up super quickly.”

That started to change in 2014, when Salko got her first continuous glucose monitor and insulin pump. The latter distributes a continual low dose of fast-acting insulin, meaning she wouldn’t have to take multiple insulin shots per day to regulate her blood sugar. The former allowed her to actively see her blood sugar levels, and started to reduce the number of times she would have to prick her finger per day. Starting in 2018, she got an updated glucose monitor that displays the direction of her glucose levels with small arrows, she can sense the direction and speed at which her blood sugar is changing, making pricking her finger nearly obsolete.

Now she only uses pricks her finger as a backup measure.

Her new glucose monitor distributes information to her smart watch so she can check her blood sugar level by simply peeking under the cuff of her glove. It also sends information to her phone and the phones of her trainer and coach so they know how she is doing during competitions and can intervene if her blood sugar level becomes erratic.

The price of success

None of that has changed the monetary cost of dealing with Type 1 diabetes. Salko said she was unable to find an insurance plan on the marketplace that suited her needs. Now she pays $1,550 a month for private insurance. Part of that is because of the exorbitant price of insulin in the United States Salko estimated she uses the equivalent of $600 in insulin a month, which would cost $60 in Canada.

But for all the headaches and cost it has caused her, Salko said having Type 1 diabetes has made her more conscious of herself.

Because of diabetes, she said she is more in tune with her body than she would be otherwise.

“I know exactly how different food affects my body,” she said. “And I tend not to sweat the little things as much because, there’s bigger things to worry about.”

She said it’s given her a broader perspective on life.

“It’s the same in ski cross as it is in diabetes,” she said. “We can’t always control the outcomes – just like this weekend.”

On April 13 and 14 she competed in the Canadian Ski Cross National Championships, which doubled as NorAm competitions at Sunshine Banff resort in Alberta. She took 13th and 14th in the two races. “I skied really well, probably the best I have all season; I didn’t have great outcomes,” she said. “There are things that are out of our control. But you can always control what you do with the information you receive, and your process.”

She’s sharing that message with others through public speaking on managing Type 1 diabetes.

Through the years, it’s never been easy, but Salko has never let that discourage her before.

Like, the challenge of ski cross racing, diabetes is something she has adapted to.

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