Many Judge teams faced the challenge of moving up to 4A for the 2025-26 season. And many wondered if they would be able to survive against schools that are on average twice our size.
Here’s how they did.
The girls soccer team aimed high coming off of a semifinal finish in 3A last season. The team finished this year 12-6 with a 2-0 loss to the eventual state champs Snow Canyon in the round of 16. They had some incredible performances all season long from Lily Wikstrom finishing sixth in 4A in points with 52 while she finished fifth in 4A in goals with 21. Callie Lipson also had a strong season in the attacking end finishing with 27 points, good enough for top 30 in 4A.
The football team was one of the teams that didn’t move up to 4A, but they had a solid season. Though 2-10 doesn’t look too impressive they had a few close games that could have easily gone their way, like the 21-13 loss to Providence Hall. After winning the state play-in game their season ended in the playoffs on the road against top-ranked San Juan. Some individuals made their mark, like Helaman Lautaha who was named to the Deseret News 2A First Team with 81 tackles on the season. Sophomore Michael Gibbons was named to the 2A Second Team and fourth in total points in the region. Freshman Kheari Lark and senior Eric Mickelson were earned an honorable mention; Eric was number eight in total tackles in 2A. Senior Taj Cole ended up third in interceptions in 2A, and senior Porter Smith finished third in the region in kickoff return yards.
The boys golf finished 10th in 4A at State. They were headlined by performances by John Anderson, Jeter Soto, Fisher Campagna, and Dylan Hersh. With the latter two having the best performances all season when Fisher shot a three under at Park City and Dylan went three under in Meadowbrook. Though these four certainly helped Judges scores, the whole team had a great year with many of the team’s averages being in the 70s.
The mountain biking team also made a move this season, moving from Region 2 to Region 3. They had no issues making this move as they had a very successful season winning the region for 4A and having 17 riders make it to the state championship race. Three of those 17 raced varsity with Jayden Eldredge and Jack Atensio getting 71st and 107th respectively in the boys division while Scarlett Nunez finished 101st in the girls division.
The girls tennis team finished second in the region at 6-1 and 10th in all of 4A at 11-7. They were led by lots of players this year. In singles Mara Johncock, Maria Garrido Uson, and Avery Kaleel. Emma Evensen and Sophie Valles took home a state championship at second doubles, and Caroline Chachas and Olivia Lee advanced to the second round in first singles.
The cross country team had an outstanding season this year, taking home the All City trophy to cap off their great season. The Bulldogs were led by Mac Sibthorp, Talen Eischeid, Elliot Bucher, Olive McCormick. At the Jayhawk meet Judge dominated with the boys getting each of the top eight times and the girls also getting the top three times, with Elliot Bucher and Olive McCormick winning in each respective category.
The girls volleyball team had a solid season. Though they finished 7-21, 5-9 in region play, they played through ups and downs they were able to hold strong and pull together for a nice finish with a senior night win against Juan Diego. They were led by Ella Love who led the team with 1.8 kills per game and senior Annabelle who had 91 aces.
Judge has a lot of great student athletes, and a few were able to really exemplify the “student” part of student athlete by getting academic all state honors. Anna Smith, Sophia Tomczak, and Walden Smith were awarded academic all-state for cross country. Two others also received the award – David Lupash for boys golf, and Evelyn Link for girls soccer.
