Good afternoon lax fans and thanks for spending time with the Utah Lax Report. This will be the last one for the year. I’ll be back in your inbox in the new year! On another quick note, the audio from last week was cut short. Please make sure to listen to the FULL interview with PJ Martin as well!
Interview w/ Niki Harding
c/o Westminster Athletics / ShootingStar Photography
The latest podcast (available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify or listen above) features an interview with local legend Niki Harding. Harding wears many hats in the lacrosse world. She was just promoted to director of Intermountain Lacrosse and is also the head coach for the Westminster Women’s team. She’s coached since graduating high school, where she coached Woods Cross to five championships. She’s been part of the organizing body in the state, through its many names, since 2005. She’s coached every level of lacrosse and I’m pretty sure her and I have been the only ones at every high school championship game (boys and girls) since 2011.
News & Notes
Brighton Girls: Haley Taylor committed to Oregon last week. She also found out that she is the Brighton Art Sterling Scholar.
Wasatch LC Girls: The team traveled to its first tournament and went 0-4 in the Elite HS division at the Arizona Showdown.
Utah Liberty Girls: The team went 4-0 at the 2020 Brine Ambassadors Cup in the Open division.
Pinnacle Lacrosse Championships: A handful of Utahns were at the event over the weekend. West Coast Starz won the 22 and 23 bracket.
Chase Beyer (Park City) - Legends 23
Blaze DeGracie (Corner Canyon) - Legends 22
Justin Egan (Corner Canyon) - Legends 22
Blake Franckowiak (Corner Canyon) - Legends 23
Eli Hanks (Corner Canyon) - Legends 23
Berkley Horoba (Alta) - True 23
Jon King (Corner Canyon) - Mad Dog 22
Anthony Mackay (Corner Canyon) - True 22
Ayden Santi (Corner Canyon) - West Coast Starz 22
Thomas Vanderburg (Park City) - Mad Dog 22
Trace White (Corner Canyon) - True 22
World Lacrosse: In the last issue, I mentioned that the proposed 6 v 6 had been approved. Terry Foy from Inside Lacrosse breaks it down on this podcast. Give it a listen, it’s worth your time.
Give Thanks
That’s me in the center-left third in all black. Go Rams! If any of you know any of the players in this picture from Murray, I’d love to talk to them.
Finally, I wanted to express my gratitude for the game, lifestyle and culture of lacrosse. It all began for me on a bench in the halls of Highland High School in the early Spring of 2000. Walker Bateman approached my friend group and asked one of them, Paul Jones, if he was going to play lacrosse in the Spring. Paul had an older brother who had played and Paul said he was going to. Several of my other friends said they were going to as well and asked me if I was going to. I said, sure! I went to Team Gear International in the basement of the Cottonwood Mall and bought a STX 6000 defense stick with a solid sidewall head.
Flash forward to today and I’ve been involved with the game for 20 years! Lacrosse has taken me to several states and some very cool colleges: Denver, Air Force, UCLA, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Cal, Stanford, Virginia, Hofstra, Furman, Texas, SMU, BYU, UVU, Westminster, Utah, Utah State, UNLV, Boise State, Chapman, Colorado State, Colorado and Hartford. I’ve seen MLL and PLL games and have met thousands of fellow lacrosse fanatics. Those relationships with parents, players and fans are what I am most grateful for. Many of my best friends are because of lacrosse. It’s a community that binds so let’s make sure we take care of it by taking care of each other.
Please send any questions or comments to tim@timhaslam.com. Don’t be a jerk to refs and thanks again for reading. If you’ve made it this far, please forward to a lacrosse loving friend.
- Tim Haslam
Interview w/ Niki Harding; Gratitude for the Game