Looking back on a year in the WAC

From a first-ever March Madness appearance for the women’s basketball team to inter-conference dominance in track and field, the Southern Utah University Thunderbirds had an eventful start to their residence in the Western Athletic Conference.

Women’s basketball, 23-9 (16-2 WAC), WAC champions

This year’s season for the women’s basketball team will be remembered as one of the best in program history.

Cherita Daugherty’s 499 points led the team and was ranked third in the WAC among those with at least 100 attempts. She had a free throw percentage of 83.2% that ranked her second and 35 steals.

Lizzy Williamson led the WAC in total rebounds with 329 and blocked shots with 77. She was the only player in the WAC with over both 300 total rebounds and 200 defensive rebounds.

After beating their first nine in-conference opponents, SUU stormed on to a 16-2 conference record and only grew stronger during the WAC Tournament.

The Thunderbirds fell short against the University of Notre Dame by a score of 56-82, but Tracy Sander’s main hope for next season is to return to the Big Dance with a higher seeding.

“If we get a better seed, then we don’t open up with a team like Notre Dame,” Sanders said. “We’re playing someone where we’re closely ranked, and it’s just a better opportunity for us in the NCAA Tournament.”

Men’s basketball, 22-12 (12-6 WAC), third in WAC, eliminated in WAC championship

After Daugherty made a miraculous last-second buzzer-beater to send the Thunderbirds to the quarterfinals, SUU outscored their next two opponents to win the WAC championship as well as a trip to the NCAA Tournament.

The SUU men’s basketball team also shined this year, finishing third in the WAC behind Utah Valley University and Sam Houston State University.

Tevian Jones led the Thunderbirds in scoring with 596 points and a free throw percentage of 84.5%. Drake Allen led the team in assists with 125.

Maizen Fausett also cemented his legacy at SUU by becoming the third SUU basketball player ever to surpass 1,500 career points after finishing the season with a total of 1,565. Harrison Butler finished just short of the same mark, ending his career with 1,468.

The Thunderbirds had a storybook run during the WAC Tournament, where they beat their rival, Utah Tech University, and overcame a 23-point deficit to beat Utah Valley University.

Unfortunately, SUU then fell to Grand Canyon University by a score of 84-64 in the WAC championship.

Men’s cross country, second place at WAC championship

The SUU men’s cross country team had three separate podium finishes to mark a successful 2022 season.

Although the season began with a sour last-place finish at the UVU Invitational, the Thunderbirds quickly turned the tide with a second-place finish at the UC Riverside Invitational.

After two more invitationals that included a first-place finish versus Utah Tech and Utah Valley, SUU took 10th out of 26 colleges at pre-nationals. Following the event, the Thunderbirds took second place out of the 13 teams at the WAC championship.

In their final event of the season, SUU took 11th place in the 10k run at the Mountain Regionals in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The team was barely beat by Utah Valley, who finished about two minutes before the final SUU runner.

Women’s cross country, fourth place at WAC championship

The women’s team recorded two top-three finishes, and all but two of their meets resulted in top-10 finishes.

The team placed fourth at the WAC championship on Oct. 29, 2022, and then placed 13th at the Mountain Regionals, falling to Utah Valley with a score of 214.

Holding the best time among her teammates in the final three meets, Madison DeBos was the Thunderbirds’ most impactful runner down the stretch. Her spectacular 20:44.5 time at the WAC championships landed her 11th place.

Football, 5-6 (2-3 WAC)

After only one of the four previous seasons resulted in more than one win, the Thunderbirds began to turn the tide in their favor with their best season since 2017.

The season began with a bang after the Thunderbirds blew out the University of St. Thomas by a score of 44-13. However, as they entered conference play, the Thunderbirds lost their first four games before claiming victory against Lincoln University and Sam Houston State University.

In terms of stats, Braedon Wissler finished with the most rushing yards for the Thunderbirds with a net gain of 444 yards. Isaiah Williams and Elijah Burns tied for the most rushing touchdowns with four each.

As for the passing game, Justin Miller led the team after completing 240 passes on 367 attempts for 2,821 yards. He also had a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 20:8.

On the defensive side of the ball, Kohner Cullimore led the Thunderbirds in tackles with 76. Zach Strand was the leader in sacks with 5.5.

Soccer, 9-6-2 (4-5-2 WAC)

The SUU soccer team went undefeated through August and won their first five games. However, the rest of the season took a turn, and the Thunderbirds lost or tied in eight of their final 12 games to finish with an overall record of 9-6-2.

While the in-conference play was poor, the team still set several season records:

— Most single-season wins with nine

— Longest winning streak with five

— Most points with 87

— Most goals with 31

— Most shutouts with eight

Sammie Sofonia led the team in goals with seven, and Whitney Wangsgard and Hailey Hamataka tied for the team lead in assists with four each. Megan Short was the team’s leading goalkeeper and had a goals-against average of 1.29 per game with 21 goals allowed and 93 saves.

Volleyball, 7-17 (6-8 WAC)

Out of all of the SUU athletic teams competing in the WAC, volleyball had the most unfortunate beginning to their season.

The Thunderbirds lost their first eight contests, outscored 552715. The team managed to break their losing streak against former Big Sky rival Idaho State University.

Entering in-conference play, the team had a record of 1-9 but managed to slightly turn around their bad luck with a conference record of 6-8. At the end of the season, SUU finished in eighth place in the WAC.

As for stats, Mackenzie Templeton led the team in points and kills with 297.5 and 275, respectively.

Women’s indoor track and field, sixth at WAC championship

The women’s track and field team also performed well with multiple dominant performances versus WAC opponents.

At the WAC championship in Spokane, Washington, the Thunderbirds took sixth place out of the 12 teams competing.

Madisan DeBos and Haley Tanne took first and second place, respectively, in the mile run.

Secret Mceuen, Jentry Skidmore, Seadra Hamilton and Maya Benjamin not only took first but broke the all-time school record at the event with a 4x400 meter relay time of 3:45.09.

Mceuen also broke the women’s 200-meter race record with a time of 23.93 seconds, becoming the first runner in the history of the women’s team to reach a time below 24 seconds in the event.

Men’s indoor track and field, third at WAC championship

The men’s side of the track team also performed well versus WAC opponents and were able to take third place in the WAC championship.

Joren McKeever went unbeaten in the high jump event and finished his season by claiming the conference title with a height of 7 1/4. This was McKeever’s second straight conference title in the event, as he won the event while SUU was in the Big Sky Conference last year.

Meanwhile, Santiago Gaitan finished in first place in the mile run with a time of 4:05.46, and Astley Davis managed to secure the title in the triple jump with a distance of 50-9 1/4, a new school record.

As each of the Thunderbird teams move toward next year on a different path, one goal remains the same: conference dominance.

- Written by Luke McKenzie