It’s been an epic series of weeks for Malad’s sports faithful as the winter sports season comes to
a close.  

Each of the last two weeks a new state champion from Malad has been named—the Girls 3A Basketball State Champions last week, and the Boys Wrestling 3A Champs this week.  But in addition to those marquee victories, Malad students and athletes (and beyond!) have been performing at an amazing level and been recognized for it.

To start with, this week’s Wrestlers took home the big hardware with a third 3A Championship.  In case you hadn’t heard about this, former Lakers coach Pat Riley owns some sort of legal hold over the word that means to win three times in a row, but that’s just what they did.  With a dominant performance throughout the season and in the finals, Malad continues its official dominance of state wrestling at the 3A level.  With Allison Eliason on a much-needed vacation, we were thrown an assist by Merridee Morrison, who helped us with our wrestling coverage.  You will find a complete rundown on page 12 of this edition.  They beat the second place team by 88.5 points.

Drake Morrison won the individual state championship in his class for his second time.  Oakley Maddox did the same in his class.  10 other wrestlers placed in the top six.  

The wrestlers also won a new award from the state, which is the “Dual State Championship Award” for their performance in dual matches, which they ended with a perfect 36-0 record.

Devin Morrison was named the 3A Wrestling Coach of the Year.

The Boys and Girls Wrestlers were named Academic Champions.

The Girls Basketball team, which was featured on the front of last week’s paper, joined the wrestlers at the end of the school day to sign the banners that will be going up in the gym, and to ride through the rain on emergency vehicles to celebrate.  Several kids from the MHS team were named to the All-Tournament Team, created by the broadcasters.  Brynlee Jones was named the Tournament MVP for 3A.  Paityn Ward took the 6th Man award.  Izzy Haycock was named to the first team, Mikell Keetch on the second team, and Kiley Miller on the third team.

The Boys Basketball team ended a fantastic year of growth with a loss at Districts, but having come a long way, and learned a lot as they head into preparations for next season. Coverage of their final game is on page 11 of this paper.

The Dance Team placed 3rd overall in the Pom category at state, and 4th in overall team competition.

Two girls wrestlers medaled—Aubrey Shulz and Kale Carter with overall third in their classes.

In addition to the other awards (including Wrestling’s Academic Championship), Malad was awarded the State 3A Girls Basketball Sportsmanship Award, which reflects the contributions of the students, players, fans, families, and many others that helped make the win possible.  The award is covered on Page 11.  

Athletic Director Ty Price, who led the gymnasium celebration on Monday afternoon, nored that “One of the big things is we have really good coaches that put a lot of time and work into these kids all year long, not just in their seasons, and they’ve pushed these kids to be the best that they can be.  We also have a lot of kids that just work hard.  They don’t give up and they put in a lot of time, and these things are just showing that, and the ability they have when they are pushed to achieve great things.  It’s been fun to watch—they’re a great group of kids.”

With academics, sportsmanship, and excellence at the game itself under their belts, Malad’s athletes are the full package, and ready for another excellent year in 2027!

While the last few weeks have been an amazing thrill ride, believe it or not there is still more to come, with several student teams, clubs and organizations also recently at Districts, State, or other seasonal competitions on the calendar.  As the winter comes to an end and the host of other winter activities come to a close, we will bring you results of what Malad’s kids have been up to in other areas of endeavor.  And then, if you can imagine it, spring sports are already turning their first gears.  Baseball and softball are the obvious next big items, alongside track and field, but a number of teams are getting set for their end of school year events as well.  If you want to make sure to stay up to date with sports in Oneida county, as well as graduation events, community activities, city and county business, important notices, local characters and reporting, we hope you will consider a subscription to the paper if you don’t already have one.  For $55 a year, it’s around a dollar a week.   If you are a subscriber, we thank you.  It’s community members like Merridee Morrison, Dot Evanson, Allison Eliason, and many more that make what we do possible.  I hope that it is a paper that is as much “by” Oneida County as it is “for” Oneida County.