Utah News

Kaden Carpenter crouched at home plate and peered out at the snow-covered peaks of the Wasatch Front and the gray rain clouds hovering overhead. Then the junior Ute outfielder moved his eyes from the sky to the dirt, where baseball legends like Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron trekked on this corner of Salt Lake City decades ago.

Smith’s Ballpark was empty, outside of a few stadium workers cleaning up the stale popcorn and trash left behind by Utah’s fans.

There will be no more strike calls. There will be no more moonshot homers cascading into the berm. “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” will no longer play on the stadium’s speakers during seventh-inning stretches.

On Saturday, Carpenter and the Utes closed the final chapter of baseball at the beloved Salt Lake ballpark.

“It‘s brought a lot of joy to a lot of families and people’s lives, including mine,” Carpenter said following Utah’s season-ending loss to TCU on Saturday.

“I think it means a lot to the city, and I really hope they do something productive with this area and this space.”

Previously the home of the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees, Smith’s Ballpark has served as the city’s baseball tabernacle since 1994. But baseball, in one form or another, had been played on the corner of West Temple and 1300 South since the 1920s.

Not anymore.

The Bees now reside in The Ballpark at America First Square in South Jordan. The University of Utah’s baseball team, which has called the stadium home since 1996, will move into a new on-campus venue, Charlie Monfort Field at America First Ballpark, in 2026.

Saying goodbye to the ballpark that has been the heart, soul and home for Ute baseball for three decades was bittersweet.

“I thought it was a pretty special time because, I mean, as a little kid, you dream of playing in a park like that,” said former Utah pitcher Shawn Andreasen, who played in Utah’s first contest at Smith’s Ballpark.

‘So many memories’

Perched in the stands, several rows behind third base, Chad Mortenson wore a gray Bees’ hoodie and a vintage Oakland A’s baseball cap on his head, while waiting for Saturday’s first pitch.

The Salt Lake native considers himself a “sentimental” baseball fan. He attended the minor league team’s final contest at Smith’s Ballpark in 2024. He was also in attendance for the opening Bees’ contest at the stadium in 1994.

On Saturday, he rummaged through his closet and old cardboard boxes in search of a T-shirt he bought 30 years prior. Sadly, he couldn’t find it, but nothing was going to stop him from missing the last game in the old Salt Lake ballpark.

“If I had to estimate, I’ve been to a game at least every season since it started,” Mortenson said.

When Smith’s was first being built, Mortenson was taking driver’s ed classes. During test runs with an instructor, he’d purposely drive on 1300 South and West Temple to see how construction was coming along.

“There was lot of hype when it first opened,” Mortenson said. “I was really excited about it.”

Once it was finished, Mortenson regularly attended games with his family, friends and — admittedly — had several awkward dates.

“There was one date I had where we didn’t talk at all the whole time,” he said, laughing. ”I was way too shy back then. We sat in the upper deck and said two words to each other.”

Bridger Nesbit has been attending games for three years at Smith’s Ballpark. He sat alone in the right outfield on Saturday, cheering on several of his roommates, who are on the U.’s baseball team.

He’ll often switch seats between innings to take in different sight lines and sounds during matchups. The view of Mount Olympus is what he’ll miss most about the stadium.

“I’m probably more sad than anything,” Nesbit said. “The natural beauty, I think, is the big draw. The backdrop of the mountains, you can’t beat it. Plus, you’re only minutes away from downtown, which kind of makes it pretty special.”

Mortenson concurs.

In fact, he’d put the view up against any Major League Baseball park in the country.

“You can’t beat this view,” Mortenson said. “I’ve been to the new ballpark. The mountains are about three times as far away as the new one.”

Salt Lake City leaders hope to turn the old stadium into a mixed-use development in the future with housing, entertainment, parks and other amenities. The current plan involves preserving a portion of the old stadium.

But to some fans, like Mortenson and Nesbit, nothing will ever beat a baseball game in Smith’s Ballpark.

“This ballpark, in particular, just has so many memories,” Mortenson said. “It‘s a shame to see it go.”

‘It was a special time’

The Utes played their first contest at the ballpark in 1994 in an extra-innings win over BYU. They played their in-state rival at Smith’s again in 1995 before moving into the stadium full-time a season later.

Before the 1996 season, the program had to spend its time at Ute Field, a baseball park located between the U.’s medical center and Fort Douglas.

Dan Poulton, a former Ute pitcher who played with the program during the ′90s, can remember how nice it was to play at Smith’s against BYU in 1994 and 1995. He also remembers some of the struggles the baseball team had in its previous home.

“It wasn’t great,” Poulton said. “I came from a college in southern Idaho, and their baseball field was immaculate. It was a nice location to play. How it was taken care of rivaled a lot of the big league parks and some of the Division I parks. Ours was a little bit of an afterthought.”

Beyond center field, Poulton recounts, there was a dump where the university would unload all of its grass clippings from days and weeks of mowing around the campus.

“It was a big pile of grass pile in the back, out past center field,“ Poulton said. ”It would pile up after time. It was interesting.”

The field’s conditions weren’t the greatest, either. Andreasen can remember being jealous of other programs’ neatly manicured fields in comparison to Utah’s home field that reminded him of unruly “cow pastures.”

“You go to Arizona State, you play on those fields, and then you have ours. It‘s like, it‘s like, ‘wow, we’re like the dumping grounds of everything,’” Poulton said.

“It was kind of embarrassing, in a way, but it was still our home field.”

Their experiences at Ute Field made playing at Smith’s Ballpark that much more special.

“It was surreal for me,” Andreasen said. “I always dreamed of doing as a little kid. To be playing in a big ballpark with a bunch of fans watching with the big scoreboard, it was a special time.”

It continued for nearly 30 years until last Saturday. Now, with the final game played in the historic stadium, Utah will soon begin its new journey at Charlie Monfort Field at American First Ballpark.

Fans, students and alumni will no longer have to travel off campus to catch a game. The field will be artificial turf, meaning the winter upkeep needed at Smith’s will be eliminated.

In the past, the baseball program would drive four hours to St. George for several days of the week to practice in warmer conditions while Salt Lake City was blanketed in snow.

“Having everything in one place changes your daily routine,” Utah head coach Gary Henderson said. “It‘s been great to be a part of Smith’s over the last three decades. But this is a game changer. This will help in preparation and help in recruiting.”

Last Friday, the baseball program hosted the topping out ceremony, a celebration of the final steel beam being placed for its new, 1,200-seat stadium.

Players, coaches, and members of Utah’s athletic administration were all able to sign the steel beam with red markers.

It was a reminder of what is to come, but also what the Utes are leaving behind.

“I know a lot of people will miss it,” Poulton said of Smith’s Ballpark. “I think it‘s great they’re expanding into their own stadium. But, it‘s also sad that they’re moving away.”

On Saturday, Carpenter continued to sit alone on the field of Smith’s Ballpark after the team’s final game. Rain drizzled on his grass-stained uniform, while he took in the view from home plate.

This was a second home for him, where he’s spent grueling hours swinging his bat and diving for fly balls in the outfield.

Carpenter ultimately decided it was time to head inside as the rain picked up. He took a few more moments to say his final goodbye to Smith’s Ballpark before heading into the clubhouse.

Behind him, he left behind decades of baseball memories, an empty grass field, green stands that once hosted thousands of fans and — most of all — the home of baseball in Salt Lake City.

Had Ohio State’s season ended last month, it would have been on a sour note indeed. The Buckeyes, in a rebuilding year, finished fifth at the Big 10 Championship and missed an NCAA Championship bid.

But three weeks after their year could have been over, head coach Jay Moseley and his team are carting a postseason trophy back across the country to the heartland, and that’s something Moseley has never done. On Sunday, Ohio State finished off a seven-shot victory in the third National Golf Invitational at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes in Maricopa, Arizona.

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Ohio State made an NCAA semifinal run a year ago this time, but that was with four distinguished seniors on the roster. After failing to score an NCAA regional bid earlier this month, Moseley’s team committed to some areas of improvement and bought into a different side of the postseason: the NGI. This win amounts to a huge shift in momentum, especially considering that Ohio State’s only two team wins this season, as Moseley noted, came in their backyard.

“To come out where we’re unfamiliar with the desert golf conditions, to come out on top and get a win with a little bit of a target on our back was really good,” he said.

National Golf Invitational: Scores

The Buckeyes trailed Utah State by a shot on the first day, had leapfrogged them by the end of 36 holes and slowly pulled away over the course of Sunday’s final round.

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Three Ohio State players finished in the top 7 individually, and the Buckeyes led the field in birdies

“‘Fight’ has been our mentality all spring, so they did a good job hanging in there, taking advantage of the chances when we got them and making some birdies down the stretch was really cool,” Moseley said. “It was a great team win.”

While Ohio State, on the other side of its senior exodus, spent the week finding out what its next chapter can look like, a similar transition period awaits Utah State in the fall. The NGI amounted to the final ride for graduates John Cook, Julio Arronte and Esteban Jaramillo.

The Aggies made six team birdies in the first three holes on Sunday and hung within a few shots of Ohio State all day.

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“We beat them on Day 1, so I think they were like, ‘OK we can do this,’” Utah State head coach Dean Johansen said.

That sophomore Enrique Karg was the man to lead them is a good sign for Utah State. Karg, of Guadalajara, Mexico, only finished inside the top 20 in one start during the regular season. At Southern Dunes, he came out of the gate with a bogey-free 7-under 65 and parlayed that into a Sunday playoff victory for his first individual title in a year.

Karg is a player who struggled with a lot on his plate this past year – from school to golf to family.

“I had a rough spring this year,” Karg said. “I had a lot on my mind, and it was a lot of up and down so playing good in this event, it was very good for me.”

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Karg felt he took advantage of his distance all three rounds and put himself in favorable positions, reaching several par 5s in two and leading the field in par-4 scoring. The week wasn’t all smooth sailing, however, and Johansen watched Karg fight for a second-round 70 to stay in the tournament.

“The mark of a true human being is how they handle adversity, and you couldn’t tell from 5 feet to 500 yards if he was making a bogey or a birdie,” Johansen said, “and I love that.”

Karg, who finished the week at 12-under 204, had to play an extra hole with Richmond’s Carson Baez for the individual title, and nearly holed his 70-foot birdie putt on that extra trip down the 18^th to do it. His tap-in par was good enough. He Facetimed his family back home in Mexico right away.

As a result of his win, Karg earns an exemption into the Southeastern Amateur, which he’ll add to the lineup of other amateur events (the Memorial Amateur in Sacramento, California, the Mexican International Amateur in Guadalajara and a U.S. Amateur qualifier) he has planned for the summer.

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As this Utah State team scatters, Cook, Arronte and Jaramillo are headed for professional careers. Johansen knew early week it would be emotional to see them go. This team’s international makeup is largely thanks to the work of assistant coach Erik Skinner, who took Johansen’s idea to expand the roster globally and “found some of the best young men – phenomenal kids,” Johansen said. He has always been interested in the whole player, not just level of golf talent.

Johansen began his day on Sunday with an early workout before driving a couple miles down the road for a protein shake. When he pulled into a gas station, he met Cook, one of his three seniors. Cook, who has committed himself to getting healthy these past three years, was out on a morning run before the round.

Cook, as a runner, demonstrates exactly the level of commitment this senior class gave to Utah State. Nevermind that they all reassembled post-graduation for a final tournament – Cook ditched a full cycle of marathon training, skipping the Ogden (Utah) Marathon on Saturday to be here with his team instead.

And that, funny enough, was how Johnson lost it, three hours before his team ever hit a shot.

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“I was driving back to the hotel and he was running alongside the road and I just started tearing up,” said Johansen, who has praised the character of his whole squad this week. “I’m so proud of the young man he has become.”

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: National Golf Invitational 2025: Scores, Ohio State wins

Now that the Utah Hockey Club/Mammoth’s inaugural season has come to an end, we’re taking a closer look at each team member’s performance. In this, the third article in the three-part series, we’ll evaluate the goalies, coaches and management.

See part one for assessments of the forwards and part two for the defensemen.

Karel Vejmelka

Grade: A+

During training camp, I remember discussing Utah’s goaltending situation with a small cohort of reporters. My take was that Karel Vejmelka was good enough to play at least a 1B role, splitting the games evenly, give or take, with his partner.

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My opinion was met with strong opposition — but as the season progressed, it turned out he was even better than I thought.

The circumstances of Vejmelka’s emergence weren’t ideal, with Connor Ingram taking a leave of absence due to the poor health and subsequent passing of his mother. But he took his opportunity and he didn’t look back.

Among goalies who played 17 games or more during that stretch, Vejmelka tied 2022 Vezina Trophy runner-up Jacob Markström for second in save percentage, behind only defending Vezina winner Connor Hellebuyck.

Toward the end of the season, Utah relied on Vejmelka in a way no team had since 2015, starting him in 23 consecutive games. While he did have a pair of near-career-worst save percentages in late March, he usually gave his team the chance to win — and that’s all you can ask of a goalie.

Had it not been for Vejmelka, Utah may have earned the fourth overall pick, rather than winning it in a game of chance. He signed a long-term contract in March, and one could argue that he’s already earned every dollar of it.

Connor Ingram

Grade: N/A

It’s impossible to judge Ingram’s season fairly. Goaltending is all about mental resilience, and Ingram was not in the right place mentally this season.

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He reentered the player assistance program in March, where he’ll ideally get the help he needs and be able to live life to its fullest.

Jaxson Stauber

Grade: B

At some points this season, Jaxson Stauber looked like a strong candidate for a permanent NHL job — especially when he earned the franchise’s first-ever shutout. At other points, though, he showed why the majority of his games came at the AHL level.

As head coach André Tourigny said all season, the difference between an NHLer and an AHLer is that the top guys bring their “A” game most nights and their “B” game occasionally, but they rarely bring their “C” game.

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That’s doubly true for goalies: When they have bad nights, the team loses — everything they do matters.

Stauber got a contract extension just after the season ended. While his NHL salary remains at league minimum, he received a $220,000 raise at the AHL level. That’s an indication that management believes he can achieve more next year.

Matt Villalta

Grade: B

Utah-based fans didn’t see much of Matt Villalta this year, as his primary job was to hold down the fort for the Tucson Roadrunners while Stauber accompanied the NHL club.

Villalta played the third-most minutes of anyone in the AHL this season, and one more full game would have put him in first place. In his only NHL appearance of the year, he recorded 31 saves on 34 shots to secure his first NHL win.

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Depending on how the Mammoth decide to proceed with their goalie situation, Villalta could get more big-league looks next year. All it takes for a goalie to solidify himself in the NHL is a stretch of good games — look at Montreal’s Jakub Dobeš.

André Tourigny

Grade: C+

Tourigny often talks about the distinction between the player and the person — he can criticize a guy’s on-ice play while maintaining a high opinion of him as a person. I want to make the same distinction here.

In my almost daily interactions with Tourigny, he has treated my fellow reporters and me with respect — even when he dislikes our questions. But there were a handful of times throughout the year where adjustments could have been made and the team could have won more games.

Part of a coach’s responsibility is to get the most out of every player. While Tourigny was successful at that with Clayton Keller, Dylan Guenther, Mikhail Sergachev and a bunch of others, there’s a list of middle-six forwards who struggled so hard they became bottom-six guys.

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Lawson Crouse, for example, saw a year-over-year production decrease of more than 50%, despite playing the same number of games both seasons. Matias Maccelli, who scored 57 points in his final year in Arizona, dropped off so hard the team could hardly trust him to suit up the final two months of the season.

Neither guy spoke of what they’d been instructed to do to get better — only what they personally thought of during their time in the press box.

Similar things can be said of Nick Bjugstad, Michael Carcone, Juuso Välimäki and Vladislav Kolyachonok — and it ultimately cost them a few of those guys.

Tourigny’s approach, at least from an outside perspective, seemed to be one of rewarding and punishing players based on their play, rather than helping them get back to the respective levels at which they’re capable of playing.

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Those strategies are sometimes necessary for contending teams during the playoffs, but they can do much harm to a developing team in the middle of the regular season.

That being said, Tourigny also had plenty of triumphs this year. His game preparation often allowed Utah to surprise some of the league’s best teams, including a 3-0-1 record against the Minnesota Wild and a 2-2-0 versus the Winnipeg Jets.

A little more focus on open-ice play could have propelled Utah into a playoff spot, as they couldn’t seem to catch a break at 4-on-4 during regulation or at 3-on-3 in their many overtime games.

At any rate, the group did much better than it had in some time in Arizona, and Tourigny should get a good portion of the credit.

Bill Armstrong

Grade: A

Everything Bill Armstrong did over the offseason worked out to Utah’s benefit: Trading for Mikhail Sergachev and John Marino; signing Kevin Stenlund, Ian Cole and Robert Bortuzzo.

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His sole in-season roster trade was also a slam dunk: swapping a third-round pick for Olli Määttä (though at the time I thought he’d overpaid, considering Määttä was Detroit’s seventh defenseman when the trade happened).

The experience of all these veterans was apparent all season long, stabilizing the team during chaotic points in games. Credit Armstrong for recognizing that need and filling it with Stanley Cup champions.

The Nick DeSimone waiver claim was another positive. Though he didn’t get to play every night, he never looked out of place when he did get into the lineup.

Armstrong also re-signed the right pending free agents, each to seemingly fair deals. He still has Jack McBain’s contract on his to-do list, but there’s plenty of time before the June 30 RFA qualifying offer date to get it done.

It takes a few seasons for a GM to really build a resume, but there’s hardly a critical word that can be said about Armstrong since the day he took over the Coyotes.

In a Republican Party dominated by President Donald Trump, Sen. John Curtis, who was elected to fill retired Sen. Mitt Romney’s seat last year, thinks it’s still possible – and essential – to be an independent thinker, and isn’t afraid to break with the president over key issues.

“I really think the best way to make President Trump successful is to let him know when we disagree,” the Utah Republican told CNN’s Manu Raju on “Inside Politics Sunday.” In a wide-ranging interview, Curtis praised Trump on certain issues, including border policy, but warned about the potential negative impacts of tariffs on small businesses and expressed concern over Trump’s plan to accept a Qatari jet. Curtis also said he believes the president would need to come to Congress if the administration wants to suspend habeas corpus, a legal procedure that allows people to challenge their detention in court.

“We serve the president best when we act and function more like a board of directors,” he said, asking, “you wouldn’t want a board of directors to rubber stamp the president of a company, right?”

The senator’s predecessor found himself a target of scathing attacks from Trump after voting to convict the president in both of his impeachment trials.

But Curtis, who didn’t back Trump in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, isn’t worried about the consequences of breaking with the leader of his party, who has often threatened Republican critics with primaries.

“That’s a stereotype,” Curtis said, explaining that he believes Trump actually has “respect” for people who confront him in “the right way, the right time, the right place.”

“If I send out a mean, nasty tweet, of course, that’s not received well, but if I have a thoughtful conversation with the administration about how I see something, I hope and trust that he actually values that as somebody who wants to help him,” he said.

Curtis isn’t concerned about blowback from base voters either, not hesitating to tout his double-digit lead over his three rivals in Utah’s 2024 GOP Senate primary, including Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs, who had the backing of Trump and the state Republican Party.

“People in Utah want the president to be successful,” he said of the state that elected Trump to a second term by more than 20 points.

“I want the president to be wildly successful, and so it becomes a question of how do we help him be successful,” he said, adding, “from time to time, not often, that means we’re going to disagree.”

In his maiden Senate floor speech this month, Curtis emphasized the merits of being “wildly honest” in Washington.

“The odds of Congress delivering real results for the American people go up dramatically when we start telling each other the truth, not just behind closed doors, but out in the open,” he said.

The freshman senator said he’s already exhibited some of that “wild” honesty with the Trump administration, telling the president’s Cabinet nominees, all of whom he ultimately voted for, “if we’re not careful, we’ll destroy small businesses with tariffs.”

As Trump and his top advisers cobble together trade deals in the wake of global backlash to his sweeping tariff policies, Curtis said he understands the president is playing “the long game” on the world stage, but warned of the impacts at home.

“We have to be very, very careful with our small businesses,” he said.

Other areas where Curtis disagrees with Trump and his closest allies range from environmental issues to the value of highlighting diversity to the war in Ukraine.

“I think I’ve been very clear on where I feel about Ukraine and President Zelensky,” he said, adding “(Russian President Vladimir) Putin is not our friend.”

As Trump tests the limits of executive power, Curtis said he thinks the president should consult with Congress first before potentially suspending habeas corpus.

He insisted that he would consider the move, which CNN has reported Trump has recently talked about, “incredibly carefully.”

“Make a case to me, but I will tell you, as I judge that case, I’m going to be thinking in my mind: what if this is a Democrat president coming after something that I think is important,” he said.

On another headline-making issue – Trump’s plans for his administration to accept a luxury jet from the Qatari royal family to use as Air Force One – Curtis would only speak for himself.

“I will just tell you, in my experience as an elected official, I have found it is best to avoid even the very appearance of being in a bad place,” he said.

Though Curtis believes Congress has “abdicated” some responsibilities, including managing the federal deficit, he’s wary of the dramatic spending slashes shepherded by Elon Musk and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

“We need to cut,” he acknowledged, later adding, “that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have compassion. That doesn’t mean when we’re letting a federal employee go that we shouldn’t be thoughtful about perhaps that’s the worst day of their life.”

He also recommended a compassionate approach to his colleagues on Capitol Hill as they weigh how to advance Trump’s sweeping tax promises without ballooning the deficit.

“We could do this without taking away critical benefits for those most in need, but if we don’t make hard decisions, we’re going to be making more drastic cuts in the future, and I don’t want to do that,” he said.

Curtis said he thinks GOP lawmakers will end up in a “good place” with Trump’s agenda, but he’s among the chorus of Republicans calling for changes, urging caution about how the bill rolls back Biden-era clean energy tax credits.

“The honesty is we need clean, affordable, reliable energy,” he said, explaining that some provisions of former President Joe Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act are “actually Republican priorities” when it comes to harnessing new forms of energy.

The Utah Republican, who previously represented the youngest congressional district in the country, said he knows how much protecting the environment matters to young voters, implying that should be an asset to his party, not a hindrance.

“Republicans are far better on this than we’re willing to admit,” he said.

Utah Beach won Saturday’s 88th running of the $250,000 Louisville Stakes (Grade 3) at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., by 1 ½ lengths over Verstappen in 2:26.70 for the 1 ½-mile marathon over the Matt Winn Turf Course.

Ridden by Vincent Cheminaud, Utah Beach had one horse beat in the early stages of the marathon as pacesetter Idratherbeblessed led the field of nine older horses through early fractions of :48.84, 1:13.64 and 1:39.12. Verstappen, who tracked in second, took over midway around the final as Utah Beach commenced his wide rally. Utah Beach caught Verstappen with an eighth of a mile to run and drew clear in the final yards.

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The final time over firm turf was just .20 seconds off 1994 Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Tikkanen’s course record of 2:26.50.

Ignacio “Nacho” Correas IV trained the winner for Jeffrey S. Amling and Charles Noell’s Merribelle Stable.

The win was worth $151,520 and improved Utah Beach’s career earnings to $687,785 with a record of 5-5-1 in 15 starts. It was his second straight stakes victory after capturing the $400,000 Elkhorn (G2) at Keeneland on April 19.

Utah Beach returned $8.44, $4.52 and $2.72 as the 3-1 second betting choice. Verstappen, under Frankie Dettori, paid $7 and $4.04 at odds of 7-1. Missed the Cut, ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr. as the mild 3-1 favorite, was another three lengths back in third and paid $3.90 to show.

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Defending champ Sugoi was fourth and was followed by Rock’n a Halo, Accredit and Idratherbeblessed. Rebel Red (GB) appeared to clip heals with Missed the Cut, who veered out when Idratherbeblessed began to fade, and dropped rider Declan Cannon. Tapit Shoes was unable to avoid the fallen horse and rider and dropped jockey Rafael Bejarano. Both horses returned to their barns. Bejarano returned to the jockey’s quarters. Cannon, who was alert and conscious, complained of back pain and was transported to University of Louisville Hospital for further evaluation.

Utah Beach is a 5-year-old gelded son of English Channel out of the Lasting Approval mare My Own Story and was bred in Kentucky by his owners.

One race later, a 26-year-old track record fell. 4 G Racing LLC, Lance Gasaway and Magdalena Racing’s 4-year-oldGould’s Gold ran 1 1/8 miles on the main track in 1:47.26, which shaved .02 seconds off Victory’s Gallop’s longtime mark of 1:47.28 while winning the 1999 Stephen Foster Handicap. Brian Hernandez Jr. rode the winner for trainer Kenny McPeek.

Racing at Churchill Downs continues Sunday with a nine-race card that begins at 12:45 p.m. (all times Eastern).

After years of being greeted with boos at the Utah Republican Party’s annual convention, GOP Gov. Spencer Cox skipped the gathering Saturday for the second time since becoming governor.

The governor’s absence came as the leading Republican opponent to his reelection bid last year, Phil Lyman, made a failed bid for state party chair, and as delegates weighed an amendment to temporarily boot signature-gathering candidates, like Cox, from the party.

Although he did not personally make an appearance, Cox’s campaign had a booth at the convention alongside other Utah elected officials.

Current Utah law allows Republican candidates to qualify for the ballot either via gathering signatures or winning at convention after a legislative compromise to preserve the caucus-convention system — a measure that has created heartburn in the party since the passage of a law, known as SB54, over a decade ago. The state party’s constitution mentions only the convention path.

A spokesperson for Cox’s campaign did not respond to an inquiry as to why the governor did not attend this year’s event. He last skipped the convention in 2022, and when delegates shouted him down last year — for the third time — Cox drew party hardliners’ ire when he responded, “Maybe you hate that I don’t hate enough.”

The governor’s official calendar, shared with reporters on a weekly basis, did not indicate that Cox had any conflicting engagements this weekend.

Cox was among a number of Utah’s top Republican leaders who filed to gather signatures ahead of last year’s election, including U.S. Sen. John Curtis, U.S. Rep. Blake Moore and Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz — as well as Lyman when he launched his gubernatorial campaign. Although a party constitutional amendment to ban signature-gathering in the party failed, delegates voted to amend the party platform to reiterate its rejection of candidate petitions.

Rob Axson wins reelection as GOP chair

More than 2,600 Republican delegates — about two-thirds of the GOP total — gathered in Orem Saturday morning for the convention, where attendees reelected Rob Axson as the Utah GOP chair for another two-year term.

Axson bested Lyman by winning 1,340 delegate votes to Lyman’s 1,215 — about 52.3% to 47.5%.

“I am committed to building this party,” Axson said in a speech ahead of the vote. “Delegates matter. Precincts matter. I stand before you seeking personal support as we continue to build the Utah Republican Party. As expected, some have attacked me [and] my record, and that’s okay.”

Incumbent party secretary Stafford Palmieri Sievert was also reelected, beating former party secretary Olivia Horlacher Williams, according to election officials.

As voters were counted, delegates who remained after casting their vote heard from Curtis, as well as U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, U.S. Reps. Mike Kennedy and Burgess Owens and statewide elected officials including Schultz, Attorney General Derek Brown, Auditor Tina Cannon and Treasurer Marlo Oaks.

But those remarks by the state’s top elected officials were only heard by a portion of Republican delegates after many appeared to leave after casting their ballots.

Making party business a priority

Ahead of the convention’s commencement Saturday, a playlist of late-aughts pop songs played through the UCCU Center, including LGBTQ+ anthem “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga, which includes the line, “No matter gay, straight or bi, lesbian, transgender life, I’m on the right track, baby, I was born to survive.”

As elected officials chatted with attendees, a giant photo of President Donald Trump — and a photo of Trump’s social post endorsing Axson’s reelection — welcomed delegates to candidate booths. At a nearby merch table, Make America Great Again, Make America Healthy Again, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and DOGE hats were up for sale.

Additionally, delegates could purchase “Trump 2028” hats advocating for an unconstitutional third term for the president.

Shortly after standing for the Pledge of Allegiance and National Anthem — and a year following a marathon 2024 convention that kept delegates until midnight — delegates quickly moved to amend the day’s agenda to topload official business, including amending the party’s constitution.

The proposal to move that business ahead of speeches from elected state leaders and Utah’s all-GOP congressional delegation inspired some fear that, during a non-election year, delegates would leave before hearing from their elected leaders.

Delegates also voted down a resolution calling on the state’s federal delegation to “oppose and condemn any measure or action” that would allow the president of the United States to serve more than two terms.

“I’m against this resolution because I view it as just basically a counter signal to President Trump,” one delegate from Salt Lake County said. “And you know, if Trump is still floating running for a third term, we can address that two years from now.”

Among the other early business was a proposed amendment to the party’s constitution that would have revoked the party membership of any candidate who gathered signatures in order to qualify for the ballot, but the amendment’s sponsor, Arnold Gaunt, proposed striking it from the agenda.

“We are trying to solve a problem that’s been around for many years,” Gaunt said. “There’s been some very interesting developments that have occurred this week before the convention, and there’s a better path for responding to the problem than what is now proposed.”

Gaunt’s amendment would have, for one year, revoked the party membership of any person “who seeks public office … by any mechanism other than that specifically provided within this Constitution.”

Additionally, the amendment would have lowered the threshold for candidates to proceed directly to the primary election from the convention down to 50% from 60%.

Despite some pushback, the delegates ultimately voted with Gaunt and the amendment was removed from the agenda.

Later, however, delegates considered another amendment related to signature gathering, this one amending the party platform, though not its constitution.

“[W]e support Utah’s caucus system of neighborhood meetings to elect wise delegates to vet the candidates for public offices,” the proposed amendment read. “We use delegate conventions to choose the best candidates as our party nominees. We support closed primaries when there are two well-qualified candidates selected by the convention. We reject any method that bypasses our convention process, including the gathering of signatures.”

The amendment passed on a majority vote.

It would have been perfectly noble for Utah State’s three graduating seniors to ride into the sunset two weeks ago after a sixth-place finish at the Mountain West Conference. That’s the best conference finish for a Utah State team in 12 years. Every player finished under par – a program first.

For one thing, the team had already dispersed – to Colombia, Mexico, Texas – but one of the best things about this team, from where head coach Dean Johansen is sitting, is that they indeed came back.

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Utah State hasn’t played a postseason event since 1981. An invitation to the National Golf Invitational broke that nearly 50-year drought, and one very savvy travel coordinator at the university in Logan, Utah, brought the five men back from parts the world over to meet within an hour of each other at Phoenix International Airport.

“It means a lot to me personally – just the young men that they are, the sacrifice they’re willing to make for their team and their coaches and their school,” said Johansen, who puts a premium on developing the whole player, and always has in his 25 years at the helm of the Aggie program.

National Golf Invitational: Scores

Utah State went 11 under in the opening round of the NGI at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes in Maricopa, Arizona, for a one-shot lead on Ohio State. It’s a course with which the Aggies are familiar, having played in the Wyoming-hosted Cowboy Classic here the past two years.

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“This is our third event at this golf course in two years,” Johansen said. “. . . I think that’s a pretty good advantage.”

In all the teams he’s coached, Johansen puts this one at the top of the list when it comes to depth of talent. That’s a testament to him as well, considering that a small recruiting budget and cold, snowy weather make it no small feat to draw a squad like this one to Logan.

“It is validating,” Johansen said of the NGI opportunity, “and these kids worked hard all winter long. We’re hitting balls indoors, we’re driving five and a half hours to find grass to play on for a weekend and they came out at the conference championship and played as good as we’ve ever played at the Mountain West, broke a few school records for us, best finish ever for us. . . . We weren’t really planning on this (NGI start). They all were willing to come back from their respective countries.”

For Esteban Jaramillo and Julio Arronte, that meant delaying the start of professional careers. Johansen’s third senior, John Cook, already planned to hold off turning pro until playing the Utah State Amateur and the team’s home course, Logan Country Club in July.

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Arronte contributed a 5-under 67 for Utah State on Friday that went a long way in pulling his team up the leaderboard. Sophomore Enrique Karg did two better, posting a bogey-free round of 7-under 65.

“All of the guys on the team, if you look at our spring and even last fall, any one of them can get it going at any time and just get on the birdie train and today, we had a ton as a team,” Johansen said.

Karg leads the individual race with Utah Valley’s Clement Lepine one shot behind him.

The next 36 holes will be bittersweet for Johansen but fun to watch regardless. This team, he said, has made an impact not just on the program, but on the community. They’re well respected at Logan Country Club, the team’s home course where Johansen is also the golf pro, and they’ve already shown that they have the guts to overcome the realities of a Utah climate that’s not particularly golf friendly.

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“This is a win for us no matter how we finish in the tournament,” Johansen said when asked to look ahead at how an NGI berth positions his program for the future. “It just elevates my program that we’re in the postseason, how well they played today and I’m planning on them playing good the next two days.”

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: National Golf Invitational: Deep Utah State regroups for one last ride

It’s still three years until Utahns elect the next governor, but former Congressman Jason Chaffetz may have already begun to lay the groundwork for his possible return to political office.

Chaffetz created a political action committee, the Utah Victory Fund, early last year and used it to help a handful of candidates and cover expenses to attend county conventions.

In March, he moved $113,634 from his federal PAC, the American Victory Fund, to his state PAC. That money could now be used if he decides to mount a campaign for state office.

“I’m thinking about the potential of possibly running for governor in 2028, but that’s still a long ways off,” Chaffetz said Thursday during a short break from hosting a FOX News radio program.

For the past two years, he said, the money he has moved through the state PAC has mainly been to boost conservatives running for office.

“I want to help the state stay conservative, so I’m helping raise money. I’ve given away some money,” he said. “I want to help conservatives up and down the state.”

Chaffetz has not had to file a disclosure for the PAC this year but said he has about $200,000 in the account. Last year, he made small donations to Derek Brown’s race for attorney general, a few Salt Lake County races and gave money to several county parties.

Jason Perry, director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah, said there are a few signs that indicate a person may run for office.

“One of them is [forming] a PAC,” Perry said, “and [Chaffetz] was in a unique position before he left to put some money into that PAC for use down the road.”

Since abruptly announcing his resignation from the U.S. House eight years ago, Chaffetz has been a regular contributor and occasional host on FOX News television and radio. His name is sometimes floated as a potential candidate for governor or U.S. Senate, and he has kept his options open but never jumped into a race.

If he does decide to run in 2028, Perry said, “Jason Chaffetz comes with a record that people already know, which is going to be an advantage to some degree.”

If Chaffetz makes a bid for governor, there will be competition. Former state Rep. Phil Lyman — who battled Gov. Spencer Cox in a caustic contest for the GOP nomination for governor last year and has relentlessly attacked him since — has said he plans to run again in 2028.

“I do plan on running in four years, and the truth is, I plan on fighting this fight on whatever front,” Lyman told a gathering last November in Orem, where, according to the Daily Herald, he resurfaced allegations of fraud in the 2024 race.

Cox has said this is his last term as governor.

Other possible GOP contenders include his No. 2, Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper; and Republican National Committeeman Brad Bonham.

“It’s going to be a very crowded field,” Perry said, “so you may see someone get to that Republican primary and win with a very low percentage of the vote, so you need to be very strategic.”