It was the last day of the 2024-25 UHSAA sports season in late May. Brighton had two teams left in the finals of baseball and boys lacrosse to score points in the annual Deseret News High School All Sports ratings.  

Dating back to 1978 this Deseret News tradition highlights the most prolific sports schools across the state. Brighton has the distinction of having the longest streak at the top of the coveted list—11 years from 1980-1991. Brighton, strong in academic ratings (as measured by AP test performance) and typically in the top five of athletic ratings needed a strong showing from the final two sports of the year (boys lacrosse and baseball) to eclipse all other 5A boys athletic programs.  

In each of the 25 sanctioned UHSAA sports (12 boys sports and 13 girls sports) 10 points are awarded for a state championship. Eight points are granted to a runner-up team. Six points are given to third-place teams. Five and four points are awarded fourth- and fifth-place finishers respectively. Sixth, seventh and eighth placers receive three, two and one points respectively. 

Academic All State student-athletes

Brighton produced nine spring sport Academic All State awardees. These student-athletes not only played varsity-level sports, but also maintained perfect or near-perfect grades: Davis Cook, boys tennis; Miles Layton, baseball; Josh Mawhinney, baseball; Christian Merkley, boys volleyball; Max Pohlman, boys tennis; Cooper Scott, baseball; Gustavo Silvia, boys soccer; Austin Taylor, boys lacrosse; and Leah Tomlinson, softball.

Girls golf

Coach Ron Meyer guided his young team to an admirable fifth place finish at the state tournament in May. Most impressive were the two top-10 individual placers from Brighton: Junior Catherine Cook placed fourth and freshman Claire Olafsson place fourth among all 5A golfers. “The future of Brighton girls golf is promising,” Meyer said. 

Track and field

The Brighton track and field teams may have provided just enough boost to place the Brighton boys athletic program at the top of the state. Two individual state champions were crowned and promising underclassmen emerged as state contenders. 

Senior Beau LaFleur, standout football star who played both sides of the ball, repeated his state champion 300m hurdles title. He added a second place 110m hurdles medal followed by his teammate junior Calvin Hawkins who finished at his heels in third place. Junior Jaxon Nettle had a spectacular state outing by becoming discus state champion by a mere ½ inch. 

Bridget Smit, the freshman phenom, ran to third place in 1600m and fifth place in 3200m. Senior Cody Smith added points with a seventh-place finish in the javelin. 

The boys track and field team placed sixth in state and were awarded three points in the All Sports Award standings for the school—those three points were the difference between third place and first place in the boys All Sports rankings. 

Girls Lacrosse

Brighton girls LAX ended the season short of the finals—knocked out for the fifth year in a row by archrival Olympus. For most programs such lofty finishes would be “goal attained.” For Brighton’s coach Melissa Nash it becomes a quest to break into the finals. “We look forward to next year already,” she said with even more resolve. 

Four players received USA Lacrosse awards which are the highest awards a high school player can get. Only 11 players in the state are awarded USA Lacrosse All-American and USA Lacrosse All-Academic. Brighton had three of the 11 All-Academic honorees. And one of 11 All-American honorees. They are: Sophie Nielsen, junior - USA Lacrosse All-American and All-Academic; Emery Gallegos, junior - USA Lacrosse All-Academic; Kennedy Norton, junior - USA Lacrosse All-Academic. Senior Emma Henderson received the USA Lacrosse Jackie Pitts award (only one player per state is awarded the Jackie Pitts award). 

The nine departing seniors provided a valuable legacy and leave the program with leadership roles to fill next year. Senior captains were Bella Fisher, Emma Henderson, Annabelle Keefer, and Avery Miller. Many of the seniors will be at the University of Utah where they’ll play on the Utah Women’s Club team. 

Boys Lacrosse

Coach Chris O’Donnell was clear on his preseason expectations to “compete in every game we play—win region and repeat as state champions.” Refer to the separate Cottonwood Heights City Journal article that documents the fulfillment of O’Donnell’s prediction—a repeat state title. 

Austin Taylor was named “Mr. Lacrosse” by the Deseret News designating him as the top boys lacrosse athlete in the state across all categories. His fellow attack teammate Gabe Carrera was named to the Lacrosse “Best 11” team. 

Baseball

Last year, Brighton baseball finished the season nearly undefeated with a sizzling 20-1 record. This year, the team matched that record with another 20-1 count suffering the only loss in a three-game series at Alta. The two-year record is 40-2 with a no-loss streak on the new Brighton field. They repeated as Region 6 champions. 

In the state tournament the momentum was with the Bengal bats as they swept all the way to the state finals where they met the No. 20 Spanish Fork Dons. Brighton was poised to avenge the 2024 loss in the state finals. “This is an amazing senior class that has earned the right twice to be in the state finals,” coach Mark Kleven said. This is a generational team for Brighton. Not since the 1990s has Brighton been in the baseball state finals twice. 

The 2024 defending baseball champions from Maple Mountain were eliminated in the semifinals by the upstart Spanish Fork team. Coming into the state final three-game series, the Dons were still nursing a losing record for the season. Under the solid pitching of Josh Mawhinney the Bengals quickly dispatched the Dons in the first game. Brighton needed just one more game to obtain the elusive state title. That second game went to extra innings where the Dons pull the clutch card and rallied to set up a third and final game. Brighton came out strong with three runs in the first inning of the decisive game. However, the determined Dons completed their Cinderella run with a win that made the No. 20 underdogs the improbable state champion. “It's not always the best team that wins, it is the team that plays the best on any given day that wins,” Kleven said. 

Easton Fry was named by the Deseret News as one of the Elite Starting Nine for all of baseball in any category. 

And as the fall, winter and spring sports seasons culminated in the baseball double header Saturday on Memorial Day weekend, Brighton needed six All Sports points to match Olympus whose state championships in basketball and swimming gave the Titans a formidable edge. The Bengals needed 7 points to match Utah County powerhouse Timpview who topped tennis and finished as a runner-up finalist in track. The Brighton baseball finals performance garnered Brighton eight points which was enough to eclipse all other 5A boys athletic programs. The Bengal boys are the strongest and most diverse athletes in Utah 5A for 2024-25. 

Athletic Director Garrett Wilson notes, “What our boys programs accomplished this year is a testament to the depth, heart and balance across all of Brighton athletics. Whether it was another state championship for our lacrosse team, baseball’s run to the finals, track and field piling on critical points with individual state champions, or basketball knocking off the top seed in the playoffs, every team contributed to making us the top boys athletic program in 5A. To edge out great programs like Olympus and Timpview, especially when they had state titles of their own, shows that our success isn’t built on one or two standout teams—it’s built on a culture of excellence across the board.” λ