Stansbury High School maintained its sizable lead in the Transcript Cup during the winter sports season, and Tooele moved past Grantsville for second place.
The Stallions added 14 points to their total for 34, the Buffaloes added 15 points for 25 and second place, and the Cowboys scored seven to bring their total to 19.
Stansbury built this lead in the fall by finishing ahead of Grantsville and Tooele in the Region 11 standings, and it kept the lead by finishing ahead of the other two schools in girls basketball and drill team. Even in the sports that Tooele won (boys swimming, girls swimming and wrestling), Stansbury managed to finish with the second-best result of the three schools in those sports.
Boys Basketball:
All three teams rounded out the bottom three of the region standings. Grantsville looked poised to make a run at the playoffs and started region play with back-to-back wins against Stansbury and Tooele. However, the Cowboys lost their next 13 games and sputtered into a three-way tie for fifth place with the Buffaloes and Stallions. The Transcript-Bulletin awarded each team two points for the three-way tie.
Boys Swimming:
Tooele coach Mel Roberts felt nervous the entire season because Stansbury had a legitimate shot at winning the 2013 region championship. But Tooele put together enough winning swims at the region championship meet, highlighted by a record-breaking performance from Brandon Johnson in the 100-yard butterfly. Stansbury finished in second place at the region championship and even managed to finish ahead of Tooele at the state championship. The second-place finish still helped keep the gap wide in the Transcript Cup standings.
Drill Team:
Stansbury finished in second place at the region drill team competition, which was ahead of Tooele and Grantsville for first place in the Transcript Cup standings. Tooele took fourth place, and Grantsville took sixth place, which was good enough to qualify for state.
Girls Basketball:
The potential for a two-point swing existed in girls’ basketball after Tooele upset Stansbury on Jan. 22. However, Stansbury went on to win three of its last four games, and Tooele went on to lose three of its last four games. That put the Stallions in third place and Tooele in fifth place in the region. Stansbury went on to lose to Carbon in the first round of the state playoffs.
Girls Swimming:
Tooele’s girls had a quiet season only because they dominated their opponents all season long. They won the Region 11 championship highlighted by Tajia Perkins in the breaststroke and Kelly Clonts in the 100-yard freestyle.
Wrestling:
Zach Coffman was expected to dominate at the state level, but an injury in the division championships sidelined him for the state tournament. He was, however, able to lead the Buffaloes alongside Seth Manning to a second-place finish at the region tournament. They finished ahead of fourthplace Stansbury and sixthplace Grantsville. That helped the Buffaloes close in on the Stallions, although there is still a nine-point deficit in the Transcript Cup standings.
Spring sports and the final push for the Transcript Cup begin this week.