After dominating region 14 in 3A for several years, Judge Memorial’s girls’ cross country team will move up to 4A starting in the fall of 2025. This will lead to Judge competing against significantly larger schools like Highland, Jordan, East and Murray. 

“Moving to 4A is actually really exciting. We’re going to be able to get some great competition,” said head coach Chris Ring. “Having won region championships the last couple of years, it looks like we’re ready to make this move.”

Judge has already seen success against future regional opponents. The team has already dominated results this past season, defeating Juan Diego 21-63 in regions and Highland 26-59 in the All City Meet. At the 3A state championships, the Bulldogs finished sixth out of 12 teams. 

Ring believes this transition will raise the bar for the team’s training and performance. 

“It will really come down to the kids having to make a decision if they want to put in the extra work and the extra hard work that it takes to run in a harder or faster division with bigger schools,” Ring said. “But I think they’re ready for it. And we’re seeing a lot of that buy-in during track season right now.”

The new region lineup includes Cottonwood, East, Highland, Jordan, Juan Diego, Judge, Murray, and Park City. Among these, East and Highland were previously in 5A, while Park City and Murray, which are already in 4A, are expected to bring strong competition. 

In the most recent state meet, Park City finished sixth, with six of its runners finishing in the top 100. Jordan finished 14th, with three runners in the top 100, while Highland finished ninth, with 7 runners finishing in the top 100. Murray had two runners in the state meet, with one of them finishing in 80th place. In contrast, Judge, with a 9-12 enrollment of 527 students, will now compete against schools with enrollments ranging from 720 to 2,055. 

Ring says the team will adapt its training strategy to help reach the demands of the new competition. 

“We’re looking to add some higher quality invitationals to get them better experience, possibly going out of state and adding an overnight trip,” Ring said. “It might take us half a season to adjust. It might take us a couple of seasons to adjust. But I think we will.” 

Despite the challenges, Ring sees long-term growth in the move. 

“Overall, we will be faster and better because of this moving up to 4A.”