East High running back Ula Tolutau has committed to Wisconsin.

The junior picked up an offer from Gary Andersen late last week and needed only a few short days to make his decision to commit.

“I know that’s a winning program,” Tolutau said Thursday.

The running back said he got to know Andersen when the coach and his staff tried to recruit him to Utah State and felt comfortable with them.

Tolutau becomes one of the first Utah prospects to commit to Wisconsin since Andersen took over the reins, but he doubts he will be ...

Former BYU quarterback Riley Nelson is headed back to Logan High, where he will take over offensive coordinator duties for his alma mater.

“You want to surround yourself with guys you trust, and I trust Riley Nelson,” said Logan coach Mike Favero, who now will handle the Grizzlies’ defense.

Nelson played for Logan from 2003 to 2005, amassing 9,869 total yards and 130 total touchdowns, according to Utah High School Activities Association records.

Nelson played one season at Utah State but finished his collegiate career at BYU.

A national title. A state title. A national dunk contest victory. Now, an All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award.

Eric Mika’s banner year continued this weekend as the former Lone Peak High School center dominated in the inaugural West Coast All-Star Classic at the ShoWare Center in Kent, Wash. The Brigham Young University commit scored 28 points en route to the game’s All-Star Game MVP honors, as Percy Allen of The Seattle Times reported Saturday.

According to this story by Allen, Mika had five dunks and five bl...

Mika Pinner is headed home.

The former Mountain View basketball standout is headed back to Orem after announcing Monday that she would transfer from Western Wyoming Community College to Utah Valley University.

“We really like the skill set that she brings,” UVU coach Cathy Nixon said in a team release. “She’s a good outside shooter that will stretch out our offense. We’ll have a pretty young team next year and she’ll bring us some much needed experience having played some very competitive basketball at the junior college level.” 

Pinner, a 2011 Mountain View graduate, averaged 14.6...

Hopefully you can get a refund on your hotel reservations down in St. George, Class 3A baseball fans.

The Utah High School Activities Association announced Sunday night that the 3A state tournament has been moved from Dixie State College to Utah Valley University in Provo.

The move was made because Dixie State was named the host site for the NCAA Division II West Regional. That means the 3A baseball field needed to find a new home.

Kevin Dustin, assistant director of the UHSAA, said updated brackets will be on the UHSAA website Monday.

Spanish Fork also will host four games, Dustin said in an email.

— Kevin Winters Morriss

...

Thursday was one of the wildest days of Korey Rush’s life.

At long last, the highly-touted East High School defensive end made a choice on where he’d play college football — he chose Arizona State University — but before he called Sun Devils coach Todd Graham and informing him of his decision, Rush’s friends at East found out where he decided to commit to.

The news spread like wildfire.

“Everybody knew about it before I actually called coach Graham and officially committed,” Rush said. “It kind of looked bad on my part, but I’ve always had the feeling about Arizona State and didn’t...

The Lone Peak boys’ basketball team will receive its trophy as MaxPreps.com’s national champion during a ceremony at the school Thursday.

Knights coach Quincy Lewis will accept the Army National Guard national ranking trophy, which will be presented for the seventh year.

Lone Peak finished 26-1 overall and captured the Class 5A state title for the third consecutive year.

Lone Peak’s lone loss came against Montverde Academy in the title game of the City of Palms tournament in Florida.

MaxPreps ranks more than 20,000 boy...

It’s not exactly football, but it’s the next-best thing.

Going one-on-one against a defensive back isn’t quite the same without a helmet or pads, Isaiah Kaufusi said. But he’s been glad to play anyway, get the dust off his football repertoire.

There’s not a lot of chances to work on running routes, making high-point catches or getting a handle on footwork in the offseason. At Mountain West Elite football camp, that’s what the Brighton rising senior can work on while continuing his hunt for more Division I scholarships this spring.

“I know I have to get f...

Former BYU guard Kevin Santiago has been hired as the boys’ basketball coach at Timpview High School.

Santiago, who had been coaching the school’s sophomore team, lacked the high school coaching experience of some candidates, Timpview athletic director Al Poland said. But Santiago impressed the school with his energy and plan to get Timpview more involved with summer AAU basketball.

“Watching the model [Quincy Lewis] has put together at Lone Peak, there were a lot of people questioning whether we were ever going to be able to close any kind of gaps unless we looked at what successful peopl...

There are some big shoes to fill for Camie Oakey.

Springville High School announced the hiring of Oakey as its girls’ basketball coach Tuesday afternoon. Oakey replaces Nancy Warner, who took the same job at Lone Peak.

Oakey heads to Springville after two seasons as the Mountain View girls’ coach. She served as an assistant coach at Mountain View from 2008 to 2011.

Oakey, who played high school basketball in Texas, played four years at the University of Utah, including in the Elite Eight in 2006, according to a release from the Nebo School District.

...

A trio of Cyprus High School basketball players capped their prep careers Wednesday by putting pen to paper on letters of intent.

The Pirates’ three co-captains — Marquessa Gilson, Abby Barrett and Julie Caputo — led Cyrpus to a 16-5 record this season. Gilson and Barrett, both Tribune all-state honorable mentions in Class 4A, will play together at BYU-Hawaii. Caputo, the Pirate point guard, signed to play at Carroll College in Montana.

— Aaron Falk

...

Lone Peak has found its next football coach.

Mike Mower, an assistant with the program for the last three seasons, will be the Knights’ next leader, the Lone Peak High School sports Twitter account (@LPHSsports) announced Thursday morning.

Soon-to-be principal of Lone Peak Rhonda Bromley oversaw the hiring process, along with a hiring committee that included community members, former high school football coaches as well as administrators.

“Right now Mike Mower is the person we need,” she said, adding this will be Mower’s first varsity head coaching job in his 28 years of coaching ...

For a moment there, it looked like there was a chance Lone Peak coach Quincy Lewis would lose his entire starting five to the collegiate ranks.

After the Lone Peak Knights won their third-straight Class 5A state championship in March, finishing the season 26-1 and earning national championship honors by MaxPreps.com, junior guard TJ Haws entertained the idea of reclassifying himself to the Class of 2013 and graduating early to enroll at Brigham Young University, where he’s committed to play basketball.

“I think if ...

Bingham High School decided to stick with people it knew to fill its two basketball coaching openings.

Miners athletic director Brad Bevan said in an email late Sunday that the school has hired Jake Schroeder as its new boys' basketball coach.

Schroeder graduated from Bingham in 1999 then went on to play basketball at Snow College and Portland State. He's served as an assistant coach at Dixie State for the last seven years, according to Bevan.

Bingham named Charron Mason as its girls coach last month after longtime coach Rand Rasmussen announced his retirement. Mason served as an assistant to Rasmussen.

Schroeder earned first-team Big Sky honors during the 2004...

Rob Geertsen won’t be coaching the Jordan Beetdiggers next season.

After leading the boys’ basketball program for the last six seasons, Geertsen was informed that his contract would not be renewed for the 2013-14 season in a meeting March 12.

Despite a 74-57 career record and leading the program to its most wins (17) in the last 29 years this season, the coach was informed by Principal Tom Sherwood it was “a good time to make a change.”

“Ever...

After leading Springville to an undefeated season and a Class 4A crown this season, Nancy Warner confirmed Friday to The Salt Lake Tribune that she has accepted a job teaching and coaching at Lone Peak High School. She will start next school year. Warner told the Tribune that her family lives near Lone Peak High School in Highland and felt it was a better situation for her family and children being closer to home.

Under Warner, Springville dominated girls’ basketball in Utah in 2012-13. The Red Devils went 25-0, defeating several Class 5A schools in the preseason and eventually winning...

Cottonwood Heights • The Utah High School Activities Association has taken the penultimate step toward altering its by-laws in hopes of avoiding the confusion and outrage that arose last fall after two high school football teams received different sanctions for playing ineligible players.

“The idea here is if you play an ineligible player, you are going to forfeit the contest,” UHSAA assistant director Bart Thompson said.

The UHSAA’s Board of Trustees voted Thursday in favor of eliminating exceptions and making forfeiture mandatory. The issue now will go to the association’s member schools for a final vote. Fi...

Lone Peak senior Nick Emery helped lead the Knights to the Class 5A state title earlier this month.

He was honored Thursday as the Gatorade Utah boys’ basketball player of the year.

Emery, who plans to play at BYU after serving an LDS mission, averaged 17.9 points and 3.8 rebounds. He added 3.6 assists and 2.8 steals.

The Knights finished 26-1 and ranked No. 1 in the nation by maxpreps.com.

Parsons gets shot at big stage

South Sevier senior Race Parsons will compete in the American Family Insurance High School Slam Dunk and 3...

One of the state’s most dynamic talents has been recognized as the very best.

Springville senior forward Malia Nawahine was named the 2012-13 Gatorade Utah girls’ basketball Player of the Year on Thursday.

Nawahine is the second Gatorade Utah girls’ basketball Player of the Year to be chosen from Springville High School, the other being former Red Devil star and current BYU Cougar, Lexi Eaton.

Nawahine, a 5-foot-10 senior guard/forward, led the Red Devils to a perfect 25-0 record and the Class 4A state championship this season. Nawahine averaged 18.6 poi...

The excitement of the state basketball tournaments was less than two weeks ago, so here’s a little update on some hoops news.

First Bingham High will be looking for a new boys’ coach as well as a new girls’ coach. Kyle Goon reported that Rand Rasmussen will retire as the girls’ coach. But boys’ coach Mark Dubach also is stepping aside.

Dubach became the Bingham coach in 2003 and led the Miners to seven consecutive region titles and the state title in 2006. His Miners finished this season 14-10 after falling to Alta in a Class 5A playoff opener.

In other hoops news, the regions are ...

Cyrpus High basketball standouts Marquess Gilson and Abby Barrett made up a tough duo on the hardwood during their senior seasons.

The two will have a chance to keep playing together. Both Gilson and Barrett verbally committed to play at BYU-Hawaii, coach Josh Adams said Monday.

“They’re really, really excited to go together,” he said.

You can read a little bit more about Gilson and Barrett here.

— Aaron Falk

...

Lone Peak football coach Tony McGeary announced his resignation Monday. You can read here about the allegations of financial misconduct that preceded that decision.

McGeary, who coached at the school for five seasons and won a state championship in 2011, declined to be interviewed for the story when I contacted him this week. On Wednesday evening, however, he sent this statement denying any wrongdoing. I have included that statement, in full and un-edited, below.

— Aaron Falk

2/27/13

There will be plenty of eyes on Weber’s Hayden Schenck during the Class 5A tournament this week in Ogden.

The senior, whose 26 points per game were the second best in the state this year, has an offer to play at Dixie State University. But he’s also been in talks with Utah, BYU, Utah State and Weber State.

“The knee kind of freaks them out,” he said after Monday’s opening-round win over West.

Schenck tore his ACL in the first round of last year’s playoffs, but he http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/tribpreps/55471053-190/schenck-larsen-basketball-coach.html.csp" target="_blank">rebounded quickly from his surgery. Schenck played in all 23 games for the Warriors this season and has led them t...

Lone Peak might be the best high school basketball team Utah ever has seen, but its competition isn't ready to crown the Knights state champs yet.

"Not even close," American Fork forward Tyler Rawson said. "We're not afraid of them, but we do respect them. ... They've played well this season, but I think we could still have a chance at them."

American Fork and Lone Peak have faced off twice...

South Sevier’s Race Parsons is one of the best scorers in the history of Utah high school basketball, and he continues to climb in the record books.

The senior guard dropped 18 points in a 56-32 win over North Summit in the opening round of the Class 2A state tournament Thursday, moving him past Robbie Reid (2,032 points for Spanish Fork from 1990-93) for fifth all-time.

Parsons has now scored 2,056 points in his four seasons with the Rams. He needs 45 more points to move past Mike Maxwell (Highland, 1983-87).

But Parsons might be running out of time.

Former Judge Memorial star Stallon Saldivar made history on Saturday night.

A senior guard at Northern Arizona University, Saldivar, a 2009 graduate of Judge Memorial, recorded the first triple-double in NAU history, scoring 13 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and dishing out 10 assists in NAU’s 77-74 overtime loss to Eastern Washington in Flagstaff, Ariz.

In addition to being the first-ever Lumberjack to record a triple-double, Saldivar was the 10th D-1 player to notch a triple-double this season. His triple-double...

After receiving reports of alleged hazing incidents regarding the Jordan High School wrestling team, the Canyons School District is in the midst of an ongoing investigation, according to Jennifer Toomer-Cook, director of communications for the Canyons School District.

Toomer-Cook said Canyons received the report late last week, adding the investigation began immediately.

“Since that time our investigators have confirmed some incidents of hazing,” she said.

The best team in Utah is once again dubbed as the best team in the nation.

On Monday morning, the Lone Peak Knights, at 17-1, were ranked as the No. 1 team in the country in the weekly MaxPreps.com Xcellent 25 National Basketball Rankings after spending the last few weeks as both No. 2 and No. 3.

The Knights have won seven straight games since their lone loss of the season — a 66-45 loss to Montverde Academy in the City of Palms Classic championship game on Dec. 22 — and look to be steamrolling toward a third con...

In another step toward clarifying potential pitfalls with the much-discussed transfer-and-eligibility issues, the Utah High School Activities Association’s Board of Trustees gathered Thursday morning to be informed of potential rule changes drawn up by the UHSAA Executive Committee last week.

With trustees representing most of the state’s regions in attendance, UHSAA assistant director Bart Thompson laid out the proposed changes created by the executive committee, most importantly the issue of dealing with ineligible players and the potential repercussions once an ineligible player is di...

Playing in a nationally-televised game in the birthplace of basketball, the Lone Peak Knights put on a show that would have made Dr. James Naismith proud.

Lone Peak, playing its final out-of-state game of the 2012-13 season at the Spalding Hoop Hall Classic in Springfield, Mass., annihilated two-time defending California state champion Archbishop Mitty (San Jose, Calif.) 81-46 Monday morning in a game televised on ESPNU.

“It was a special deal to play in this thing,” said Lone Peak coach Quincy Lewis. “The school...

The Lone Peak boys’ basketball team will get a little national exposure Monday morning.

The Knights, the top-ranked team in Class 5A and ranked No. 3 in the nation by Maxpreps.com, will play Archbishop Mitty from San Jose, Calif., at 10 a.m. MST Monday on ESPNU.

The game is part of the Hoophall Classic in Springfield, Mass. The Knights headed east on a red-eye flight Friday night for the game.

Lone Peak enters at 14-1, with its lone loss coming against Maxpreps.com’s top-ranked team, Montverde Academy of Florida, in the City of Palms tournament title game. Archbishop Mitty is 13-3 ...

The Utah High School Activities Association is working on clarifying issues many had trouble understanding this past fall.

The UHSAA Executive Committee met Wednesday afternoon for several hours to discuss potential changes to the constitution, most prevalently, the issue of whether or not a team should be forced to forfeit a game it plays if an ineligible player participates in the game.

Mark Van Wagoner, UHSAA’s legal counselor, said the forfeiture rule has been a main target of the executive committee for some t...

Seventeen Utah high school basketball players were nominated for the McDonald’s All-American Games Thursday morning.

On the boys’ side, those nominated include: Lone Peak’s Nick Emery and Eric Mika, Brighton’s Brandon Miller, East’s Parker Van Dyke, Sky View’s Jalen Moore, Logan’s Luke Falk and Dallin Dahl and South Sevier’s Race Parsons and Austin Clark,

On the girls’ side, those nominated include: American Fork’s Ashley Baugh and Cassidy Fraughton, Bonneville’s Emilie Volk, Hillcrest’s Whitney Nemelka, Snow Can...

Ben Saarel can run.

The Park City High School senior who won three straight 3A state individual championships during his time with the Miners was honored as Utah’s boys’ cross-country Runner of the Year Thursday morning by Gatorade and USA TODAY High School Sports.

According to a release from Gatorade, Saarel is the first Miner to ever be chosen for the Runner of the Year award in Utah. The release also states that the three-time state champion Saarel has verbally committed to the University of Colorado.

Herriman senior quarterback Tueni Lupeamanu committed to the University of Idaho over the weekend, according to former Mustang head coach Larry Wilson.

The 6-foot-3, 242-pound Mustang star chose the Vandals due to the opportunity to play right away, Wilson said in an email. He added Lupeamanu thought being part of “building something new” — Idaho hired former Arkansas offensive coordinator Paul Petrino on Dec. 3, 2012 as the program’s head coach — was a determing factor in his decision to head to Moscow. Wilson said Lupeamanu is likely to play fullback at Idaho.

Weighing in at about 300 pounds and still uncommitted, Bingham defensive tackle Lowell Lotulelei probably is the biggest question mark left in Utah high school sports with national signing day just a few weeks away.

His older brother Star Lotulelei turned a career at Utah into a likely first-round status in this year’s NFL draft, but Bingham coach Dave Peck says the younger Lotulelei might not follow suit.

“I honestly couldn’t tell you,” the coach said Thursday. “Usually I’ve got an idea. With Lowell, he’s basically said, ‘I want to take my trips and then decide.’ At one point, we all just assumed it was a giv...

Eric Kjar is hoping that playing some of the nation’s top teams at the Rio Tinto Stadium becomes an annual thing.

The Jordan coach confirmed to The Salt Lake Tribune Wednesday afternoon that his defending Class 5A state champion Beetdiggers are set to face Bergen Catholic High School sometime this fall at the Real Salt Lake stadium in Sandy.

Jordan faced St. John Bosco from Bellflower, Calif., at Rio Tinto on Sept. 29, 2012, but lost 34-33.

...

It was quite a sophomore campaign for Herriman runner Lucy Biles, and now, the 5-foot-5 Mustang cross-country star is adding another accolade to her banner year.

The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with USA TODAY High School Sports announced Thursday that Biles was named the 2012-13 Gatorade Utah girls’ cross-country Runner of the Year.

Biles won the Class 4A individual state championship this year, finishing with a top time of 17:49.6. She also finished fourth overall at the Nike Cross Nationals Southwest Reg...

Jordan High School will add more hardware to its trophy case Wednesday morning.

Representatives from Maxpreps.com and the Utah Army National Guard will present the Army National Guard national ranking trophy to the school during a ceremony at 8 a.m. in the high school gymnasium.

The Jordan football team finished ranked No. 30 in the nation in Maxpreps;’ final poll.

The Beetdiggers defeated Syracuse 58-2 in the Class 5A state title game at Rice-Eccles Stadium to complete a 12-1 season.

Maxpreps already honored Jordan quarterback Austin Kafentzis as the n...

If you didn’t know, Lone Peak vs. American Fork is kind of a big deal.

The rivalry between the two Class 5A schools, which happen to be separated by roughly 2.5 miles, is one of the best the state has to offer, so with the upcoming Region 4 clashes set to take place, rather than cramming a gym to its capacity as the rivalry does nearly every year, the two schools decided to go an alternate route.

A route with much more room.

The two sides d...

Take a bow, Austin Kafentzis.

The Jordan quarterback who was instrumental in leading the Beetdiggers to their 2012 5A state championship was named the MaxPreps.com National Sophomore of the Year Wednesday as part of the MaxPreps.com’s 2012 Sophomore All-American football team. The sophomore threw for 3,018 yards and 32 touchdowns and ran for 1,884 yards and 26 touchdowns and helped the Beetdiggers pummel Syracuse 58-2 in the Class 5A state championship game at Rice-Eccles Stadium in November.

A year ago, Kafentzis ...

It looks like Larry Wilson is hanging up the headset.

After 40 years of coaching, the Herriman High School football coach announced his retirement in a letter posted on the Herriman Mustang football Facebook page Thursday afternoon.

In the letter addressed to "players, parents and friends of Herriman football," Wilson said the decision to step away came after he and his wife took time to reflect on the situation at hand. He wrote that a year and a half ago, he and his son Jeff, who is the offensive coordinator and assistant head coach at Herriman, violated the "State of Utah nepotism law." He wrote that possible punishment would include the two not being able to be in the s...

Two interesting names appear on Team Utah’s roster for Saturday’s Tanoa Bowl Classic in Auburn, Wash.

Team Utah will face Team Washington at 6:30 p.m. in a game that pits some of the top prep talent from the states against each other.

Team Utah features players like Timpview’s Dax Raymond, who has an offer from Utah State, Jordan offensive lineman B.J. Cavender and Timpview’s Jake Lloyd.

But there were two players who garnered a lot of attention this season without ever playing a down in Utah — Dynamite-Jones Faagata and Cliff Betson. They are the studen...

Less than a week into his head coaching tenure, Matt Wells has gotten his first new recruit.

Karris Johnson, a 6-foot running back out of California High School in San Ramon, Calif., callled Wells over the weekend to let him know he's an Aggie. And yes, he's aware that Gary Andersen is in Wisconsin.

"As long as Coach Wells is there, I think it's going to be a good place for me," Johnson said. "I thought Utah State was the best school that had offered, and I'm excited."

Those offers include Cal Poly, UNLV, Idaho and Colorado State.

As a senior at California High, Johnson rushed for 1300 yards and 20 rushing touchdowns. His highlight tape, above cut by Under The ...

Stallon Saldivar, a 2009 graduate from Judge Memorial Catholic High School, who is now a senior at Northern Arizona University, became just the 17th player in Big Sky Conference basketball history to eclipse 400 career assists.

In NAU’s 87-80 victory over Montana State on Dec. 17, Saldivar had 12 points and six assists, putting him past the 400-assist mark.

During his career playing for the Lumberjacks in Flagstaff, Ariz., Saldivar has been named a Golden Eagle Scholar-Athlete recipient, Big Sky Player of the Wee...

Juan Diego linebacker Dakota Cox had long planned on playing for the Cincinnati Bearcats.

But when former coach Butch Jones accepted the head coaching position at the University of Tennessee on Dec. 7, the Soaring Eagle senior, who committed to Jones and the Bearcats in June, was left wondering where he stood with the Cincinnati program.

The Bearcats hired former Texas Tech coach Tommy Tuberville on Dec. 8, so Cox figured it was only a matter of time before someone on the new coaching staff would contact him.

...

Well, it’s official: Lone Peak’s boys’ basketball program is now ranked No. 1 in the nation by MaxPreps.com.

The Knights, at 7-0, topped the Xcellent 25 National Basketball Rankings Monday morning after Simeon Career Academy, the former No. 1 team in the country, lost to DeSoto (Texas) last Thursday 67-57. According to the rankings, it is the first time any Utah high school has been ranked No. 1 overall in the Xcellent 25 nationally in basketball, baseball or football.

Lone Peak coach Quincy Lewis said his Knight...