Between the Olympics, World Cups, high school sports and so much more, 2022 was a hectic year for Park City athletes. Here are some of the highlights:
5. Park City football caps off perfect home record with playoff win
Home-field advantage was huge for Park City High School’s football team this season.
Park City went through the regular season without dropping a game at home, helping the Miners earn the 16th seed and home-field advantage in the opening round of the Class 5A playoffs. Park City’s seniors had one more night together to defend their home turf against No. 17 Timpanogos, and they delivered.
A pair of rushing touchdowns for senior Mason Grover helped the Miners take a 28-0 lead going into halftime. Park City held off a Timpanogos rally in the second half to come away with a 35-14 win and finish the season 6-0 at home. Park City’s Blake Tabaracci returned an interception for a touchdown in the fourth quarter to seal the win.
“I’ve got to get into the end zone,” Tabaracci said after the game. “I’ve got to get some momentum going again. We came out a little flat coming into the third quarter, so I needed to get a little momentum shift going.”
Grover ended the game with 244 yards on the ground along with his two rushing touchdowns, and Tabaracci had another 74 yards on just seven carries. Defensively, the Miners had three sacks and bottled up a Timpanogos attack that had previously lit up the scoreboard for much of the season.
The Miners’ season would end the following week after losing to Lehi on the road, but the year featured an 8-3 overall record, a win over rival Wasatch to start the season and plenty of memorable Friday Night Lights action.
4. World Cup sliding returns to Park City
World Cup action in bobsled and skeleton came back to the Utah Olympic Park in December for the first time since 2017, while the luge World Cup had its first races in Park City since 2016. Because of such a long hiatus, plenty of Parkites and visitors had their first taste of watching the world’s best sliders compete.
Among other highlights, American bobsledder Kaillie Humphries, who won the gold medal in women’s monobob in Beijing in February, won the women’s monobob event in Park City. The monobob discipline is now on the World Cup circuit and was on full display at the Utah Olympic Park.
“I don’t think when it first came out everyone understood the depth of how great it can be,” Humphries said. “But I think it’s opened the sport to a lot more countries, a lot more women as a whole. And globally, I think it’s awesome. The price of the sled is a lot less as well, and with the monobobs being all the same worldwide, you really get to see the talent of the drivers as well as the athleticism in the push because the equipment is equal across the board. It’s not financially how much you’re putting into it, like the two-man or the four-man.”
On the luge side, Park City lugers Ashley Farquharson and Brittney Arndt finally had the opportunity to slide in front of their friends and family. Arndt scored her first-ever World Cup podium when she finished third in the women’s singles sprint event, and Farquharson was right behind her in fourth place.
“I’m just stoked,” Arndt said after the race. “All my family is here. I’m just so happy. I’ve been close to the podium in Lake Placid before. But I was young, and it’s been a couple of hard years for me. I made a lot of changes this year for myself, and this backs all of that.”
3. Park City lacrosse continues to dominate
Park City High School’s boys lacrosse team claimed its first state title in 2022 since the sport was sanctioned for the first time by the Utah High School Activities Association in 2020. After a 3-4 start to the season following a trip to Colorado, the Miners went on a tear the rest of the season. Park City went 12-1 the rest of the way, with the lone loss coming against Olympus.
The Miners entered the postseason as the second overall seed and cruised to the championship game. They outscored their first three playoff opponents 58-13 to set up a rematch with top-seeded, undefeated Olympus. That run through the postseason included a 20-3 thrashing of No. 3 Bountiful in the semifinals where Park City led 10-1 after the first quarter.
In a dramatic, back-and-forth title bout, Park City edged out the Titans 10-9 after the Miners scored two goals in the game’s final minute.
The Miners were led by Chase Beyer, who scored a team-high five goals. Beyer scored to tie the game at nine goals apiece with under 40 seconds to go, and Brendan Johnson put the Miners in the lead for good seconds later. Park City’s Jack McHenry won the faceoff, sprinted down the field and passed it to Johnson, who put the ball in the back of the net. Park City held on to win the Class 5A state title after losing in the Division A championship game to Corner Canyon the previous year.
“Everyone in Utah was saying we never beat a good team,” Park City’s John Trahan said after the game. “We lost to Valor Christian, we lost to Cherry Creek, Corner Canyon, Olympus, American Fork. We needed this. We really needed this. Because if not, a lot of kids were saying our season didn’t mean anything if we didn’t beat a good team. I think not so because we got a lot better this year. But I’m so glad the way this year turned out.”
Despite an undefeated record in the regular season, the girls were less fortunate in 2022. The Miners were rarely challenged en route to a trip to the championship game, but their bid to repeat as champions ended in a 10-9 loss to Olympus.
Still, Park City continued to prove itself as a power in lacrosse in 2022.
2. Fans return to Deer Valley for World Cup
A year after the annual freestyle skiing World Cup event held at Deer Valley went on without fans, spectators returned to Champion and White Owl in 2022 to watch the world’s best freestyle skiers duke it out over three days just weeks before the opening ceremonies in Beijing. Park City moguls skiers Nick Page, Cole McDonald and Bradley Wilson did their best to entertain the home crowd, and skiers who have adopted Park City as their home did the same.
Maybe it wasn’t a full return to normal since it was held during the day instead of at night, like in previous years. But no sports year in Park City is complete without a trip to Deer Valley for three days of freestyle skiing World Cup action.
McDonald competed at Deer Valley in a World Cup event for the first time and came away with a pair of top-16 finishes. McDonald went on to make his Olympic debut in Beijing as well.
“I feel a lot better making it down the course and hearing the crowd chanting my name a little bit,” McDonald said after the second moguls competition.
Wilson took his final competitive lap down Champion as well. The three-time Olympian finished in the top 10 in both moguls events at Deer Valley and retired at the end of the season.
“This is my last World Cup at Deer Valley in my career, so it’s pretty incredible,” Wilson said at the time. “This is (where I had my) first podium … this is my home mountain. It’s just crazy to think that this is my last World Cup here after 11 years.”
But most of all, Parkites new and old could celebrate the return of an event that is one of many that makes Park City such a special place to live in.
1. Celebrating the Olympics of the past, present and future
To borrow a phrase from the 1993 classic Disney movie “Cool Runnings,” Park City felt very Olympic early in 2022.
For one, Park City celebrated the 20th anniversary of when it welcomed the world to town for the 2002 Winter Olympics. For another, the year seemed filled with new developments when it came to potentially hosting another Games in 2030 or 2034.
But there were the Olympics of the present to celebrate as well. And whether it was Park City natives or athletes who moved to Park City, there was plenty to celebrate.
Park City moguls skier Nick Page started the festivities with a thrilling run that left him just short of the podium in his Olympic debut. Park City Nordic combined athletes Jared Shumate and Stephen Schumann made their Olympic debuts, as did luger Ashley Farquharson. And while cross-country skier Rosie Brennan didn’t return from Beijing with a medal, she found redemption with several top-six finishes after a difficult trip to the Games in 2018.
Plenty of Parkites came away from the 2022 Games with some hardware, too.
Freeskier Colby Stevenson, whose career nearly ended in 2016 after a car accident, won a silver medal in big air. Fellow freeskier Alex Hall took home a gold medal in slopestyle. Aerial skiers Justin Schoenefeld, Ashley Caldwell and Chris Lillis stunned host country China in the mixed team aerials event to win gold.
There was always some Olympic storyline to follow, and it usually had a Park City tie. Park City speedskater Casey Dawson made a frantic trip around the world that made headlines, desperately trying to make it to Beijing in time to compete after contracting and recovering from COVID-19 just before the Games. He still ended up winning a bronze medal in the team pursuit, making the stressful journey worth it.
“An Olympic medal is an Olympic medal, no matter if it’s gold, silver or bronze,” Dawson said. “Just coming home with something to show your hard work is just awesome and come home and show my parents, show my brother, show my friends and everyone that wants to see it and hold it in their hands and be in awe holding it.”