OGDEN — Three St. Joseph Catholic High School students received top honors for their athletic abilities this year. Senior Laura Jones won the 1A State Championship title in tennis singles. Brian Paskey placed second in region in cross-country and was the 1A State Champion in the 800 meter dash at Brigham Young University (BYU) May 18-19. Carissa Bauer will be a junior next year at St. Joseph, and she has already been named an All-State first team soccer player by both the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret Morning News. In track, she was a region and state champion in four events including the 100 meter, the 200 meter, the 400 meter, and the four-person medley relay, in which the first two people run 200 meters, the third person runs 400 meters, and the fourth person runs 800 meters. In soccer, Bauer plays last man defense, which means if her opponents maneuver past her defensive teammates, she has to stop them before they score. She said soccer and track go hand-in-hand because they both require a lot of running. She plays basketball mostly for fun and for the friendship of her teammates. Bauer also lettered in basketball and cross-country. At the St. Joseph Coaches’ Athletic Awards Banquet, Bauer received the bronze medal in cross-country, Paskey received a gold medal in cross-country and track, and Jones received a gold medal in tennis, and a bronze medal in basketball. Paskey started running a mile everyday during physical education while attending St. Joseph Middle School. He said Javier Chavez is an awesome coach, and got him hooked on running right away. Paskey runs 30 to 40 miles a week, running every day but Sunday. In cross-country he ran a 5K (3.1 miles) in a little over 17 minutes. In the State Championship track meet he ran the 800 meter, or one-half mile in 2:01.23. He also participated in the 400 meter (one quarter mile), the 1,600 meter (one-mile), and the four-person medley, in which he ran the last leg and ran the 800 meter. The St. Joseph team placed third in the medley. Paskey has been accepted to the U.S. Naval Academy and will report June 27 for Induction Day. The U.S. Naval Academy is an institution for the undergraduate education of officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps in Annapolis, Md. Paskey said to be accepted they consider your academics, and they are also look for student athletes who can manage their time well and have potential for leadership. Paskey plans to go into systems engineering. Jones said the 1A-2A State Tennis Championship was held at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City. There were seven girls on her varsity team, and she was the top seed singles player on the team. "It was exciting to win at the state tournament," said Jones. "My drill coach is Gary Griffenhagen, and without him, I would not have done as well at the state tournament as I did. He helped me develop a strategy to beat my opponent by coming to the net and volleying. Jones said they play Waterford School, Rowland Hall-St.Mark’s School, and South Summit High School during the season. They play against 3A and 5A schools for practice during the pre-season. "The 3A and 5A schools give our team really good competition so we know what we have to do to win," said Jones. "Since school let out, my teammates and I have been involved in a tennis camp at Weber State University in Ogden," said Jones. "We are concentrating on conditioning as well as tennis skills. Our coach, Kim Beger, is awesome. We are doing cardio exercises like jumping the rope, foot drills, and abdominal work because a lot of strength comes from your abdomen." Jones also lettered in basketball and enjoys playing because her team is like a family. "Our goal is to win the state tile next year," said Jones. "We had some key players graduate last year so we were rebuilding our team this year, but we have a really strong bench who can come in and help us defend and score."
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