High school boys tennis: Talented St. George schools push Desert Hills to another 4A crown

The tennis story of the Miner family continued to grow Saturday afternoon at the boys 4A state tennis tournament at Liberty Park. At the same time, the Desert Hills High School team added its second straight trophy.

Adam Miner followed his brother Max’s footsteps as one of the state’s top singles players with a series of convincing wins for Crimson Cliffs.

He said he was looking forward to contacting Max, now serving a church mission in Arizona, and telling him how the family had another No. 1 singles trophy.

Adam Miner claimed the Mustangs’ lone individual title Saturday, though, as nobody could match the depth of St. George-area rival Desert Hills that was well represented.

Desert Hills recorded three first-place finishes and scored 57 points, followed by Crimson Cliffs and Orem with 36. Jordan had 21 points and Ridgeline and Park City 18.

It was the Thunder’s second straight 4A crown, and coach Christian Thurgood said all the miles his team traveled since the season began in February paid dividends.

“We traveled up here (to Salt Lake) to play at a tournament at Brighton and did really well,” Thurgood said. “Then we went to the Ashton tourney (in late April) in Utah County and stayed with the top teams, so we knew we had a team that could compete in 4A.”

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Desert Hills then won its region team title, and even though the Thunder couldn’t match the talent level of Miner in No. 1 singles, freshman Matthew White handily won his four matches to take home a trophy in No. 3 singles and the teams of Will Gardner/Tyson Wilkins and Ethan Phelps/McKay Soliai each finished undefeated in doubles play to build Desert Hills’ team score.

“We did what was expected of us,” Thurgood said. “Last year, we kind of snuck up on people and it was really exciting to win it all.

“This time, it was the opposite. Everyone expected us to have a say in how it ended and it was a different kind of pressure. I was proud of how the kids handled it.”

The same was expected of Miner, who benefited from having to play his brother the past two years and won championships at No. 2 singles.

This season, he stepped into the top division and handled whatever pressure was placed on him well.

“Going up against Max all the time really prepared me well. We pushed each other,” Adam Miner said.

“I knew what was expected of me this year, but I wasn’t sure after I lost the first set (in the final match).”

Adam Miner said he plans to continue to play a lot this summer at tournaments in places such as Las Vegas and Southern California to try to push himself toward another state title next year.

He also expects the talent level with the St. George-area schools to be good and is looking forward to realignment that might add additional schools – like Salt Lake’s Highland High – to their level.