The Juan Diego Catholic High School boys basketball team has been finding their way through the 5A ranks the past couple of seasons, finishing second in Region 4 last year and losing to Brighton in the second round of the state tournament.

All-State senior forward Luke Meyer and All-Region senior guard Stockton Young returned from that squad and have been leading the Soaring Eagle squad this season.

“Luke is one of the best players in the state and is an anchor inside both offensively and defensively,” said head coach Drew Trost, who is in his 12th year at JDCHS. “Stockton took over the reins at point guard and poses an outside threat for us.”

Meyer has been averaging a double-double so far this season with nearly 20 points a game and 11 rebounds while Young adds 14 points.

Other key varsity players this year have been senior forward Hunter Chamberlain, senior guard Jake Wyatt, junior forward Deng Deng, sophomore guard Evan Colarusso and junior guard Trey Nicolodemos.

“We have great size and length, great talent and experience and some new younger talent,” Trost said. “We worked hard all offseason at playing with two posts on the floor, something that is not very common anymore. We are trying to capitalize on those strengths.”

Juan Diego began the year with four straight wins – over Murray 60-47, Hillcrest 59-52, Brighton 57-55 and Desert Hills 67-63 – with Meyer putting in 75 points to lead the team. They stumbled a bit heading into Region 4 play, going 2-5, until dominating in two region games over West Jordan 69-55 and Granger 70-49 with a balanced effort of seven players scoring in each game, led by Meyer’s 21 and 23 points, respectively. Against Cyprus the Soaring Eagle squad won 47-36 and then 73-63 over Hunter.  

Also on the 2024-25 JDCHS team, that is currently 2-0 in Region 4 and 8-5 overall, are seniors Deniz Akbas and Lucas Mouawad; juniors Christ Jimerson, Nicolas Salgado Mayorga and Kingston Taban; sophomores Zach Abraham, Keurik Bare, Tony Barnard, Evan Colarusso, Lucas Lowry, Easton Putzke, Sam Vansice and Anthony Young; and freshmen Jacob Ahlstrom, Omar Allan, Elijah Emadi, Drew Grams, Colin Hill, Austin Morris, Zach Muirbrook, Francisco Olivo, Michael Reams, Henry Roman and Aryan Sabharwal.

“These guys really work hard and play together, ones that have embraced our mantra of Effort, Attitude and Teamwork,” Trost said. 

Trost is being assisted this season by Joe Colosimo, John Mitchell, Matt Logan, Andrew Zinman and Matt Kitzman.

Juan Diego is also scheduled to play region home-and-away games with Hunter, Kearns, Taylorsville, West Jordan, Granger and Cyprus before the 5A state tournament begins Feb. 19.

“We think we have a good opportunity to compete for the Region 4 Championship,” Trost said. “Ultimately, we want to be playing our best basketball at the end of the season. Then we can see if we can make a run in the tournament. I truly believe we are building something very special.” λ