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KEARNS, Utah (ABC4) — The USA Water Polo’s 2025 Girls Olympic Development Program (ODP) National Championship came to Utah Sunday for the first time in its history.

“The Olympic Development Program is about producing future Olympians but also future great players and great people,” said Brad Peercy, aquatics director at Kearns Recreation Center.

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According to Peercy, the ODP is a pipeline for young players to eventually compete at the highest level, while also being discovered by both college and Olympic coaches.

The tournament brought in 18 teams from across the country representing 13 different regions. Players from Utah also competed on the Mountain Zone team, coached by Mitchell Walker.

Utah woman receives 100 cancer treatments, living far beyond doctors’ expectations

“These athletes have been working incredibly hard for the last several months to progress through the pipeline for this ODP cycle,” Walker told ABC4.com.

According to Walker, one or two athletes from each team will likely be selected to participate in a USA Water Polo camp with a chance to represent Team USA globally by competing in tournaments.

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USA Water Polo says the championship is centered on competition but still focuses on athlete development and experience.

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A handful of players who starred on the diamond in Utah made Opening Day major league rosters for the 2025 season that started this past week.

But what would an all-time starting lineup of big leaguers who played high school or college baseball in Utah look like?

We scoured baseball sources, including Baseball Reference and Baseball Almanac, to come up with an all-time MLB team consisting of players who prepped or played college ball in the Beehive State. The nine position players include a Hall of Famer, All-Stars, World Series champions and even Lou Gehrig’s roommate. We also threw in a manager, designated hitter and closer for good measure.

It’s a well-traveled bunch. All but two played for at least four teams and one played for seven. They’re strong on pitching, a little weak on hitting, though there are a couple of big bats, at least early in their careers.

For this all-time team, we included only players who played high school or college baseball in Utah. We excluded Utah-born players who didn’t actually take an at-bat or throw a pitch in the state. We also left out players with obvious ties to Utah but who never played the game here.

For example, Atlanta Braves legend and Utah resident Dale Murphy attended BYU in the offseason during his career but didn’t play baseball there. Danny Ainge, a Toronto Blue Jays infielder before joining the Boston Celtics, played basketball at BYU, but not baseball. Another, 12-year major leaguer Duke Sims, was born in Salt Lake City but played high school and college ball in Idaho.

We also asked ChatGPT how this all-Utah team would fare on the field. Here’s the (artificial) intelligence report:

“This team would likely perform as a middle-of-the-pack squad in today’s MLB. They have a strong pitcher in Jack Morris, a few key contributors like Wally Joyner, Cory Snyder and Rick Aguilera, and some clutch performers who could shine in postseason moments. However, their offensive inconsistency, lack of elite power, and potential pitching depth issues would make it difficult for them to compete against more well-rounded teams. They’d need to rely heavily on their defense, clutch moments and managing matchups effectively. A solid manager like Herman Franks could help keep the team competitive, but they’d need to find ways to maximize the strengths of their roster in a modern context.”

Several pitchers who just missed the cut, including Bruce Hurst (Dixie High School) and Jeremy Guthrie (BYU), would have brought depth to the starting rotation, while Utah high school and colleges have produced some effective relievers that would have shored up the bullpen.

So, without further ado, let’s play ball. Here’s the all-Utah, all-time, all-MLB team:

Pitcher

Jack Morris (BYU), 1977-94

Morris won the World Series with the Tigers, Twins and Blue Jays, made five American League All-Star appearances and was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2018. He was the World Series MVP after going 2-0 with a 1.17 ERA for the Twins in 1991, including a masterful 1-0 complete-game shutout of the Braves in Game 7. Morris, who played 14 of his 18 big league seasons with the Tigers, had a career 254-186 win-loss record and a 3.90 ERA.

Catcher

John Buck (Taylorsville High), 2004-14

Buck played for seven major league teams during an 11-year career, his longest stint being six years with the Kansas City Royals. He made the American League All-Star team in 2010 with the Toronto Blue Jays. He played much of his last pro season with the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees. He hit .234 with 134 home runs and 491 RBIs in his major league career.

First base

Wally Joyner (BYU), 1986-2001

Joyner captivated fans in his rookie season with the California Angels, earning Anaheim Stadium the nickname “Wally World.” He made his only All-Star Game appearance that year and finished second in Rookie of the Year voting. He had even better stats his second year but could never duplicate those 34 home runs and 117 RBIs again. He returned to the Angels for his final season after stops in Kansas City, San Diego and Atlanta. He amassed 2,060 career hits with 204 home runs, 1,106 RBIs and a .289 batting average.

Second base

Glenn Hubbard (Ben Lomond High), 1978-89

Hubbard spent 10 years of his 12-year career with the Atlanta Braves, anchoring the right side of the infield with first baseman Dale Murphy for two years before Murphy moved to center field. Hubbard was a National League All-Star in 1983. He is pictured in a 1984 Fleer baseball card with a large python draped around his neck. He played his final two seasons with the Oakland A’s, retiring with a .244 batting average, 70 home runs and 448 RBIs.

Third base

Vance Law (BYU), 1980-89, 1991

Law played 10 years in the majors, including three each with the Montreal Expos and Chicago White Sox. He made the 1998 National League All-Star team as a member of the Chicago Cubs. He holds the American League record for the longest errorless game by a third baseman, playing all 25 innings of the longest game by time — 8 hours, six minutes — in MLB history in 1984. Law retired hitting .256 with 71 home runs and 442 RBIs during his career.

Shortstop

Spencer Adams (Utah, Ogden High), 1923-27

Adams only had 395 at-bats in 180 career games with four teams but he gets the nod mostly because options at short are few and he has an interesting history. He played in two World Series with the Washington Senators in 1925 and on a New York Yankees team in 1926 that featured his roommate Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth. Both Series were losses. For his career, Adams hit .261 with zero home runs and 38 RBIs.

Outfielders

Cory Snyder (BYU), 1986-94

Snyder hit 24 or more home runs in his first three seasons with the Cleveland Indians, accounting for more than half his major league total. He finished fourth in Rookie-of-the-Year voting in 1986. He played at every position but pitcher and catcher with five teams, the majority of time in right field. He batted .247 with 149 home runs and 488 RBIs in his career.

Dane Iorg (BYU), 1977-86

Iorg was a two-time World Series champion, first with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1982, where he batted .529 as a designated hitter. He won a title again with the Kansas City Royals in 1985, including the game-winning hit as a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the ninth in Game 6. He had stops with the San Diego Padres and Philadelphia Phillies. Iorg retired hitting .276 with 14 home runs and 216 RBIs.

Billy Cowan (Utah), 1963-72

Cowan played for six teams, including four years with the California Angels. He finished his career hitting .236 with 40 home runs and 125 RBIs. His lone season with the New York Mets earned him this entry in “The Amazin’ Mets 1962-1969″ by William Ryczek: “I understand that he’s faster than (Lou) Brock. Cowan had the potential to be a star if he could learn to make consistent contact, for his major weakness was the strikeout.”

Designated hitter

C.J. Cron (Utah), 2014-23

Cron has played half his 10 major league seasons with the Los Angeles Angels. He made the National League All-Star team with the Colorado Rockies in 2022, finishing the year with a career-best in RBIs and one home run shy of his career best. Currently a free agent, Cron has hit 187 home runs with 604 RBIs to go along with a .260 batting average.

Closer

Rick Aguilera (BYU), 1985-2000

Aguilera played 19 seasons in the majors, including 11 with the Minnesota Twins. He won the World Series as a reliever with the Twins in 1991 and a starter with the New York Mets in 1986. He made three consecutive All-Star appearances from 1991-93. He amassed 318 career saves, ranking 24th on the all-time list.

Manager

Herman Franks (Utah, East High School)

Franks played six years in the majors with four teams, missing four seasons for military service during WWII. He turned to coaching shortly after retiring as a player in 1949. He managed the San Francisco Giants from 1965-69, teams that featured future Hall of Famers Willie Mays, Orlando Cepeda, Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal and Gaylord Perry. He managed the Chicago Cubs from 1977-79. He compiled a combined 605-521 won-loss record.

About 15 years ago, research emerged on the neurotoxicity of air pollution, using multiple metrics of brain and nervous system function across all age groups. A few years later, more specific research showed a significant association between air pollution, especially prenatal maternal exposure, and impaired brain development in children, including autism and other learning disabilities and behavioral disorders.

Then came more research showing air pollution changes macroscopic and microscopic brain anatomy in children, causing loss of neurons and brain volume in key areas. Gaining entrance through the nose, lungs and bloodstream, pollution particles contaminate the brain in large numbers, millions per gram of brain tissue.

In a study “heard ‘round the world,” we learned the average adult brain is contaminated with another component of pollution: about seven grams of plastic nanoparticles, the mass equivalent of a plastic spoon.

But we also know both of these invasions of brain tissue begin in childhood, if not during fetal development. The plastic particles contaminate our food and water and the air we inhale. Worse still, researchers found there is 50% more plastic in our brains than eight years ago.

Clinical studies show that pollution inhaled by school children on the way to school impairs their working memory on that very same day. Air pollution levels at school, on the day of an exam, is associated with lower test scores. Long-term pollution reduces scores on end-of-year achievement tests, ultimate education attainment and career earnings. Some of these studies involved children in Utah. More frequent air pollution spikes were associated with reduced math and English test scores for third graders in all primary public schools in Salt Lake County.

Air purifiers in school classrooms improve academic performance even when baseline pollution is well below EPA standards. The benefit is even greater than standard interventions such as reducing class size by 30%, “high dose” tutoring, increasing family income with an earned income tax credit or the Head Start program.

Air purifiers help much more than the brain. They reduce respiratory infections, improve children’s overall health and reduce the cost to parents, schools and the entire community of school absenteeism.

Considering this extensive research, Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment (UPHE) began calling for air purifiers in all school classrooms several years ago. The state Legislature repeatedly brushed that off, but then the pandemic happened. Within a few months it became clear that air purifiers could capture particles that harbored COVID-19 viruses, and the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act made available hundreds of millions of dollars to place air purifiers in schools throughout the country to improve the safety of reopening.

In Utah, that money was administered by the state’s Dept. of Health and Human Services, who then asked UPHE to develop and implement the program. We jumped at the opportunity to help control the pandemic, but just as much to help protect student brain development and academic achievement. Over two years, we placed air purifiers in 75% of the state’s K-12 classrooms and over 60% of the day care and pre-K centers; 30,000 air purifiers in all. We advised schools to order extra filters so they would not have to incur any additional costs for three years. The program cost $20 million and was probably the most important air quality initiative with the biggest bang for its buck of any pollution reduction program in Utah in the last several decades.

Unfortunately, this program could be in jeopardy if the state does not step up to fill the void. Schools have started contacting us, concerned about replacement filters. One school shortsightedly suggested they might just throw out the air purifiers if funding for filters did not materialize. With the air purifiers already bought, paid for, placed and working well, the state could maintain this program with yearly replacement of filters for around $2 million, but our pleas for funding so far have fallen on deaf ears.

Our air pollution had been improving for many years, until recently. Now with wildfires and higher ozone already reversing that trend, and inland ports, I-15 expansion, more shrinking of the Great Salt Lake and a new EPA determined to roll back clean air regulations across the board, these air purifiers will be even more important.

We need the public’s help to pressure our lawmakers and the governor’s office to spend this small amount of money that can do so much good statewide for Utah’s school children. If you have a child in school, a day care center or pre-K, you should be calling the state and asking them to fund replacement filters.

If Utah is really the best-managed state in the country, this should be an easy choice. Every Utah child deserves the life-long health benefits and the intellectual and academic benefits of cleaner air at school.

When an Alta High School student reached out to the Utah Lunch Debt Relief Foundation to donate $2,500 to help relieve students’ school lunch debt, DJ Bracken was in disbelief.

“That was the most incredible thing I’d ever heard,” said Bracken, the nonprofit’s founder and executive director.

High school junior David “Van” Hafner used his savings, combined with funds from the Utah Lunch Debt Relief Foundation, to help pay off Butler Elementary School’s over $6,000 school lunch debt.

Bracken and Hafner presented the school with the check on Friday, March 21, marking the 12th school the foundation has helped make debt-free. Now, Hafner is planning to continue working with the Utah Lunch Debt Relief Foundation to help raise the funds necessary to erase three more schools’ school lunch debt by the end of the summer.

“We certainly hope, going forward, that if more students want to come and help their community thrive, and help their fellow students pay down this debt, that is something we can facilitate and would love to do,” Bracken said.

Bracken created the Utah Lunch Debt Relief Foundation in July 2024 and has since raised about $50,000 to address Utah’s $2.8 million school lunch debt. He said it all began when he first learned about the state’s school lunch debt in a news article and couldn’t believe it was true.

“I called my local school district to verify that debt, and they said, ‘Not only is it true that there is that much debt in state; just in your school district, just the elementary schools, there’s $88,000 in debt,'” said Bracken. “And I said, ‘OK, great; send me a list of the schools, and I’m just gonna start paying them off one by one.'”

He began by using his own money to pay Bluffdale Elementary School’s $835 school lunch debt. Bracken then started the nonprofit in hopes others would feel inspired to help the cause. At first, he was worried the issue wouldn’t gain traction in the community, but he was pleasantly surprised when the foundation raised $5,000 on Day 1. Since then, it has continued to gather donations to relieve schools of their lunch debt one by one.

However, the foundation does not only intend to pay off school lunch debt; its goal is to eliminate the problem as a whole by advocating for policy change. The Utah Lunch Debt Relief Foundation worked with advocates and state representatives during the recent legislative session to introduce HB100, a bill that would allow students who are currently eligible for reduced-price lunch to receive free lunch and breakfast at school.

“The number is just so significant that even if I had a corporate donor come in today and say, ‘I’ll give you $2.8 million,’ it would just be back next year,” Bracken said. “So we can get things like this passed and still help kids at the same time. That’s how I know the organization is doing what it needs to do.”

Sponsored by Rep. Tyler Clancy, R-Provo, the bill also includes provisions that would prevent students from being publicly stigmatized due to having a meal debt. According to Bracken, some school districts will send students’ meal debt to collections in order to receive payment and then send students home with a collections notice to give to their parents. But this bill requires schools to communicate with parents directly rather than through students.

HB100 gained favor from both the Senate and the House during the legislative session and was signed into law by Gov. Spencer Cox on Tuesday.

“It’s just really significant; I’m really proud to have been a part of the process,” Bracken said.

While he feels significant progress has been made in the last year, he says Utah Lunch Debt Relief Foundation will continue to work as long as there is even $1 of student lunch debt. He expressed that the support the foundation has received is evidence to him that members of the community can work together to make change.

“I think, right now, there’s a lot of cynicism out there — just the current environment we live in — and founding (Utah Lunch Debt Relief Foundation) really showed me that one person can make a difference with the power of other people, too,” Bracken said. “Sometimes, you just take one step in the right direction, and everybody decides to come with you, and it’s really been the case here.”

More information about the Utah Lunch Debt Relief Foundation can be found at utldr.org.

The eldest daughter of disgraced Utah parenting blogger Ruby Franke has taken action to help protect other kids with a new child actor law in her home state.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed the bill that Shari Franke helped promote, HB322, which gives certain payment and privacy protections to minors involved in entertainment, which could include traditional acting, i.e. acting in TV commercials, or acting in social media content.

“I have been working on drafting HB322 that would protect child influencers in our state,” Shari Franke said in a February Instagram post. “This bill would require parents to create a trust fund for their children and require parents to pay children a minimum amount. It would also allow children influencers, at 18, to have any content they appeared in to be removed from all social media platforms.”

Shari added that certain family bloggers and lobbyists in Utah are against the legislation, but wrote that “[i]f family vlogging is as good as ‘ethical’ family vloggers want you to think, they should not fear being mandated to pay their children (because they say the children are already being paid anyway).”

MOMMY BLOGGER RUBY FRANKE ASKED DAUGHTER FOR ONE THING BEFORE ARREST: MEMOIR

Shari Franke details the last word she said to her mother in her new memoir, “The House of My Mother.” (Handout)

“And if children are supposedly consenting to being filmed, why fear the kids would want content removed once 18?” she wrote.

Shari’s support of HB322 is one of many actions she has taken to try and help protect the rights of children whose parents are social media influencers since her mother pleaded guilty to multiple counts of child abuse in 2023 and sentenced to years in prison.

MOMMY BLOGGER RUBY FRANKE’S HUSBAND SAYS ‘SOME CRAZY S–T’ WENT ON IN ABUSE ACCOMPLICE’S $5.3M FORTRESS

Blogger Ruby Franke pleaded guilty to child abuse in Utah. (Instagram/ moms_of_truth)

Democratic Utah State Rep. Doug Owens, who sponsored the bill, explained its purpose to Fox News Digital.

“It’s a bill that has a couple different parts: one is it protects traditional child actors, like in the film industry or making commercials, [it] has their parents set aside 15% of their earnings for when they become an adult, and that is copying a number of other states,” Owens said. “And then it goes further and also includes protections for children in social media content.”

He added that it is “usually” children’s parents featuring kids in their content and, in turn, earning money from that content.

YOUTUBE MOMMY BLOGGER RUBY FRANKE, CO-HOST JODI HILDEBRANDT SENTENCED FOR CHILD ABUSE: ‘DARK DELUSION’

Utah authorities found two malnourished and emaciated children at a home in Utah prior to arresting Franke and Hildebrandt. (Instagram/ moms_of_truth)

“It … requires the parents or other adult to save some of that money for the kids when they get to be an adult,” he said. “And then it also has a third part, which says that if you are a child in content creation, when you get to be an adult and you find that content embarrassing or emotionally damaging in some way, you can have that removed from the website later so that it gives kids some protection for when they get to be an adult.”

“[I]f you are a child in content creation, when you get to be an adult and you find that content embarrassing or emotionally damaging in some way, you can have that removed.”

— Utah State Rep. Doug Owens

Ruby Franke, a 43-year-old mother of six, and Jodi Hildebrandt, a 55-year-old mother of two, ran a joint parenting and lifestyle YouTube channel called ConneXions Classrooms before they were arrested and pleaded guilty to four of six counts of second-degree aggravated child abuse in a St. George courtroom in December 2023.

UTAH POLICE DISCOVER ‘PANIC ROOM’ INSIDE ABUSIVE MOMMY BLOGGER ACCOMPLICE’S $5.3M DESERT HOME

Utah police found a “panic room” inside Jodi Hildebrandt’s $5.3 million Ivins home, where Ruby Franke sent her children to stay with Hildebrandt. (Washington County Attorney’s Office)

Utah authorities initially arrested Ruby Franke and Hildebrandt for abusing Franke’s two youngest children, a 9-year-old girl and 12-year-old boy, after Franke’s son approached a neighbor for help in 2022, and the neighbor called 911. Some of the abuse occurred in Hildebrandt’s home in Ivins, Utah.

911 CALL REVEALS SHOCK OF UTAH MOMMY BLOGGER’S ALLEGED CHILD ABUSE: ‘SHE’S A BAD LADY’

Prior to ConneXions, Ruby Franke ran a parenting vlog, or video blog, called 8Passengers, centered around her own family of six children and two parents. But the 8Passengers empire came crumbling down once users started to notice Franke’s unusual behavior and punishments for her children. Ruby Franke stopped posting to the 8Passengers YouTube channel after her last video was uploaded on June 5, 2019. 

In earlier videos without Hildebrandt, Franke complained about her children’s school using TikTok to teach dances, the dangers of sleepovers, bullying, and other topics. Some of her videos included her husband, including a “live couples workshop” about managing finances. (YouTube/ ConneXions)

Fox News is not aware of any evidence that Ruby Franke or anyone associated with 8Passengers engaged in any illegal conduct during the period she was actively vlogging on the 8Passengers YouTube channel.

Franke and Hildebrandt were both sentenced to serve up to 30 years in prison.

Shari also wrote a memoir titled “The House of My Mother,” in which she explains how she and her siblings were listed as 8Passengers LLC’s “employees.”

Shari Franke explained how she tried for years to get the Department of Family and Child Services to take action against her mother in her memoir. (Hulu)

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In dozens of YouTube videos and social media posts, Franke and Hildebrandt coached parents in calm voices from a living room couch on how to raise their children in “truth.” In a video posted just before their arrests, Hildebrandt said pain can be a good thing for children of a certain age.

The case has prompted discussions about how parenting and lifestyle blogs often present only a sliver of a person’s or family’s reality, as well as children’s rights to their own privacy if their parent is a social media star.

The Utah basketball program’s roster turnover as it transitions from Craig Smith to Alex Jensen in the head coach chair is reportedly continuing.

On Saturday evening, college basketball recruiting analyst Sam Kayser reported that forward Keanu Dawes is entering the transfer portal after one season with the Runnin’ Utes.

Gianna Kneepkens has made a lasting mark on the Utah women’s basketball program over the past four seasons.

From her immediate impact as a freshman to oftentimes carrying a veteran Utes squad during the 2024-25 season, Kneepkens has played a vital role in one of the university’s most successful athletic programs in recent years.

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She had a career year this season, averaging 19.3 points per game while shooting 50.4% from the field, 44.8% from 3-point range and 89% from the free-throw line.

Kneepkens’ time in a Utah uniform is over though.

On Friday, Kneepkens announced she is entering the NCAA transfer portal and will spend her final collegiate season elsewhere.

Kneepkens expressed her appreciation for the University of Utah, the people she’s come to know while at the school and the education she’s received in her social media announcement entitled, “My next chapter.”

“I have been treated with respect, care, and generosity,” she wrote. “I am a better person and student-athlete because of my time at the University of Utah. I will always be proud of my decision to be a Ute.

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“Life also provides opportunities, challenges, and times of discomfort so people can stretch themselves. After conversations, prayerful discernment, and much introspection, I have decided to enter the transfer portal.”

It’s an unexpected move — the two most likely choices for her next year appeared to be playing one last season at Utah, which would have been her fifth season in the program after a medical redshirt year, or declaring for the WNBA draft and pursuing a pro career.

Kneepkens will be highly coveted in the transfer portal. She is a career 49.5% shooter, including 43.2% from 3-point range, and has averaged 15.6 points per game over her four collegiate seasons.

The 6-foot Kneepkens has earned a long list of accolades (the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year four years ago and three first-team all-conference honors among them) during her time at Utah and her ability to impact the game in a variety of ways — from shooting to facilitating to rebounding — will be appealing to numerous suitors.

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As she explained in her announcement, Kneepkens is embracing the unknown — much like she did during the 2023-24 season when a broken foot forced her to the sidelines and she stayed active in the day-to-day scheming and game plans even while being unable to play.

“The University has become a large part of who I am due to the love, support, and formation I have received over the past four years. I will carry Utah with me no matter where I am in life,” Kneepkens wrote.

“However, I am taking my grad year to pursue the education that comes with the unknown, seeking a difference that will enhance my educational and athletic journey.”

What Gianna Kneepkens has meant to Utah women’s basketball

Kneepkens has been a linchpin to Utah’s success since arriving in Salt Lake City ahead of the 2021-22 season as part of a recruiting class that included Jenna Johnson and Ines Vieira.

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Along with Kennady McQueen, who joined the program a year earlier and was granted an extra year of eligibility due to COVID-19, those four players have been a part of every team in Utah’s run of four straight NCAA Tournament appearances.

It’s only the second time in program history that Utah has made the NCAAs four straight seasons.

With Johnson, Vieira and McQueen out of eligibility, Kneepkens will be playing without those three for the first time in her career — and it makes sense that her fifth “bonus” season, made possible due to a medical redshirt because of last year’s broken foot, gives Kneepkens a chance to explore and find her best path to finishing her collegiate career.

“Those girls mean everything to me. They’re my best friends. I’m just grateful I have had the past four years to play with them. It’s gonna be weird knowing that we don’t play basketball again together.”

Gianna Kneepkens, on Jenna Johnson, Kennady McQueen and Ines Vieira

“Those girls mean everything to me. They’re my best friends. I’m just grateful I have had the past four years to play with them. It’s gonna be weird knowing that we don’t play basketball again together,” Kneepkens said after Utah’s NCAA Tournament first-round loss to Indiana on March 21.

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”But I know that they’ll hear from me, and I know I’ll hear from them. No matter where we go, what their next steps of life will be, (I’m) so grateful for the relationships (we have).”

What that group of four has accomplished together should be applauded, and it extends beyond the bounds of the court.

“The program just means everything to me. This was my dream all growing up, to be in this spot right here with Utah across the front of my jersey, and then to do it with these type of people, Gianna and my senior class that’s with me, us collective as a whole,” McQueen said after the Indiana game.

“They’re my best friends, and it’s just been awesome. Our conversations off the court, beyond basketball, have just been incredible here.”

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Prior to Kneepkens stepping on campus in the summer of 2021 alongside Johnson and Vieira — and joining McQueen — Utah hadn’t been to the NCAA Tournament in over a decade.

After coming off the bench the first eight games of her college career, Kneepkens joined Johnson and McQueen in the starting lineup during that 2021-22 season, helping the Utes reach the NCAA Tournament, where they advanced to the second round.

Kneepkens earned Pac 12 Freshman of the Year and All-Pac-12 first team honors that year while averaging 11.8 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.

The most successful season for this group of Kneepkens, Johnson, Vieira and McQueen — who also had All-American forward Alissa Pili as a teammate for two years — came two seasons ago, when the Utes earned a share of the Pac-12 regular-season championship and hosted the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

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That team ended up making the Sweet 16, where it lost to eventual national champion LSU. It was the first time in 22 years that Utah made the Sweet 16.

Arguably one of the biggest what-ifs is what the Utes could have accomplished during the 2023-24 season if Kneepkens hadn’t broken her foot eight games into the year.

While Pili, a future first-round WNBA draft pick, headlined that group, there was a tremendous adjustment when Kneepkens was lost for the season.

That team, which started the year ranked No. 5 in the country, still made the NCAA Tournament and reached the second round.

Even though the Utes lost in the first round of the NCAAs this year, Kneepkens was the leader of a veteran group as she experienced a career year, averaging 19.3 points per game while being one of the country’s elite shooters in all three facets.

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Over the final 14 games of the season, Kneepkens scored 20 or more points 10 times, including a career-high 32 in a win over UCF.

She also averaged 5.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.0 steals per game, impacting the game in a variety of ways.

Utah ended up going 4-4 in the NCAA Tournament over the past four seasons with this core group, and that included advancing to the second round three times.

Kneepkens will graduate from the University of Utah in May, and she’ll have a grad transfer year to continue her pursuit of becoming a pro basketball player.

Her impact at Utah, though, will long be remembered at Utah.

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“Gianna came to us in 2021 as part of a special recruiting class with Jenna Johnson and Ines Vieira, and they immediately made our program better,” Utah first-year coach Gavin Petersen said in a statement in response to Kneepkens entering the transfer portal.

“They were instrumental in elevating Utah women’s basketball to the position it is in now, and after four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances they leave Utah together.”

What it means for the immediate future of Utah women’s basketball

With Kneepkens’ departure, Petersen will have to replace all five starters next year as he heads into his second season as Utah’s head coach.

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In addition to Kneepkens, the Utes primarily started four seniors this year, including Johnson, McQueen, Vieira and Rhode Island grad transfer forward Maye Toure.

Specifically along the guard line, Utah will look quite a bit different beginning next season, though a couple familiar faces will be back, barring any further transfer portal movement.

Maty Wilke, a former Wisconsin transfer with two years in the Utah system, started 19 games over the past two seasons when other players have gotten hurt, and she’s made plenty of critical plays over her time in Salt Lake City, none bigger than her game-winning half court shot against BYU in overtime on March 1.

She’ll be a senior next season with experience in the Big Ten, the Pac-12 and now the Big 12.

Brooke Walker showed promise as a true freshman point guard. She ended up averaging 10.6 minutes per game and shot 42.6% in a limited role this season and should expect to take on a bigger part of the mantle going forward.

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There were two other guards on this year’s roster, true freshmen Kylie Ray and Grace Foster. Ray has also entered the transfer portal, according to On3 Sports’ Talia Goodman, while Foster played just six games in her freshman season while dealing with injuries.

The Utes are also bringing in a pair of top 50 guards in their latest recruiting class.

Five-star point guard Leonna “LA” Sneed is ranked No. 26 in ESPNw’s top 100 in the 2025 recruiting class, while four-star guard Avery Hjelmstad is ranked No. 47 nationally by ESPNw.

Both players should get their chances to make an early impact at Utah.

Expect the Utes to be extremely active recruiting in the transfer portal this year, not just along the guard line but in the post as well. Toure was Utah’s top rebounder and best post scorer, but she was a grad transfer and is out of eligibility.

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Another transfer from last season, former Michigan forward Chyra Evans, missed all of this season due to injury.

The most experienced front line player coming back is small forward Reese Ross, who has shown growth over her first two seasons at Utah and will be in line for an expanded role.

She averaged 7.8 points and 5.0 rebounds per game this season.

Samantha Crispe will be a senior in her third year in the program, and she averaged nine minutes per game this year. Another freshman, small forward Ella Todd, is also coming into the program this year.

“That’s why I think we have a connection and that’s what makes her so good, though. She will not rest until, I mean, if there was an open gym, she’d probably go shoot free throws, to be honest. That’s the competitive fire and that nature that I love about her and how that feeds off into our program. She’s just the ultimate competitor.”

Utah coach Gavin Petersen, on Gianna Kneepkens

Utah, still, will need to go searching for a good amount of help in the transfer portal, particularly to help fill leadership and experience positions across the roster.

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Finding shooting and an impact at as many levels as Kneepkens was able to accomplish — not to mention her leadership qualities and work ethic — will be difficult.

Following what ended up being Kneepkens’ final game in a Utah uniform, the Utes’ NCAA Tournament loss to Indiana, Petersen described what makes her the “ultimate competitor” — and something the coach and player share.

“We focus on what we did wrong. It might be a small glimpse, it might be outweighed 20 to 1, but we’ll dwell on that one,” Petersen said.

“That’s why I think we have a connection and that’s what makes her so good, though. She will not rest until, I mean, if there was an open gym, she’d probably go shoot free throws, to be honest. That’s the competitive fire and that nature that I love about her and how that feeds off into our program. She’s just the ultimate competitor.”

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The Utah system and its ability to produce success — which it has with four straight NCAA Tournament appearances — will be greatly challenged this next season.

While Petersen understands what Utah is losing in Kneepkens, he’s also confident in the future of a program that has made reaching the NCAAs its standard.

“Our coaching staff is going to strive hard to live up to the new standard, which we’ve established. It’s not going to be easy, but we welcome that,” he said after the Indiana loss. “We’re going to roll up our sleeves. Our player development is second to none. We take pride in that, and we’re going to hit the offseason with those returning and our newcomers coming into our program.

“I want to give this group something in five years to come back to, and hopefully we’re hosting (the NCAA Tournament first and second rounds), and it’s just something that they can continue to be proud of.”

Most of the world breathes dirty air, and only 17% of cities globally meet the World Health Organization’s pollution guidelines, according to a recent report. The world’s smog is especially harmful to young lungs and brains. Nearly 2,000 children under 5 are dying every day from air pollution (second only to malnutrition as a cause of death in that age group) and many more suffer from asthma and cognitive impairments.

We may think this only applies to kids in Bangladesh and Senegal. But children are struggling to breathe right here in Utah. We can do more to protect them.

Salt Lake City and its suburbs rank among the nation’s most polluted cities for both ozone and short-term particle pollution. Our future — like our valley — at times looks hazy and grim. But we can’t allow ourselves to feel terrified to the point of paralysis. Our anxiety should spur us toward action, not despair, and our conversations surrounding air quality should focus not only on the gravity of the problem but the solutions that will dig us out. We need hope, but not the wishful kind. We need action-oriented hope.

Last week, scientific, legal and medical experts gathered at the University of Utah College of Law for the annual Wallace Stegner Symposium to discuss solutions to northern Utah’s harmful air. These experts encouraged Utahns to make individual decisions that will lead to cleaner air in their homes and neighborhoods. We should avoid using inefficient gas-powered yard equipment like mowers, leaf blowers and other potent neighborhood polluters. If possible, we should cook on electric stoves in favor of gas-powered units, which often leak methane and benzene even when turned off.

Additionally, we have to stop spraying so many pesticides near our homes (no matter how annoyingly persistent or even downright charming a polo-clad salesman may be). Pesticides should be used to deal with actual pest problems. But our preventative chemical spraying is out of hand and bad for our health.

Individual behavioral changes are needed, but sweeping legislative change is far more important. Policy is the most important tool in cleaning up our air.

Vehicles are a top source of pollution in northern Utah. Presenters at the symposium were clear that we need to reduce the amount of pollution spewed out of tailpipes. “Electric cars are the obvious choice,” said Logan Mitchell, an air quality scientist and energy analyst at Utah Clean Energy.

With help from the Inflation Reduction Act, Utah is beginning to invest in solar energy, which — if scaled up — will reduce the pollution coming from buildings and homes. But we need to invest more in electric vehicles if we want cleaner air.

The U.S. spends billions each year on fossil fuel subsidies. It’s time to redirect those subsidies toward EVs. Utah lawmakers should beef up incentives to purchase EVs in the state. We also need to invest in charging stations for EVs to be viable.

But even with mostly EVs roaming Utah cities, we would still not be in the clear. The parched lakebed of the imperiled Great Salt Lake sends arsenic-laced dust to nearby communities when the wind blows. Kevin Perry, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Utah, was one of the first researchers to deeply analyze the potential harms of the dust. Though two consecutive wet winters saved the lake from complete collapse, Perry says many “dust hotspots” remain exposed. He is calling for more monitors to track the spread of that dust. But the state Legislature only allocated $50,000 for monitors this past session.

We need greater investments in data collection so that we can make better decisions for the future. More importantly, we simply need to get more water to the lake — especially in years that see above-average snowfall. State and local lawmakers are responsible for curbing water consumption across municipalities and farms by promoting efficient water use in lesser quantities. We should be vigilant in reminding our representatives of that responsibility. In other words, let the phone calls begin.

It is important to acknowledge how far we have come as a country and region to improve air quality. Experts at the symposium lauded the Clean Air Act as an extremely effective piece of legislation that helped us emerge from the incessant smog of the mid-1900s.

But there’s danger in getting so caught up in how far we’ve come that we forget how far we still have to go. On one hand, despair will get us nowhere. But too many Utahns have adopted an artificial brand of hope that assumes things aren’t as bad as experts say. Gov. Spencer Cox often falls into this camp. He chides scientists for peddling “doomerism.” But his position of power requires so much more of him. We need his leadership — not his penchant for happy talk.

True hope begets action.

To close the conference, the Stegner Center’s co-director, Brig Daniels, recited the words of the symposium’s namesake, Wallace Stegner. “One cannot be pessimistic about the West. This is the native home of hope. When it fully learns that cooperation, not rugged individualism, is the quality that most characterizes and preserves it, then it will have achieved itself and outlived its origins. Then it has a chance to create a society to match its scenery.”

Utah is beautiful. It will be even more beautiful when we clean up the smog — giving Utah’s kids a cleaner, more pure horizon.