Feb. 2023 | Vol. 20 Iss. 02
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FORMER STUDENT-ATHLETE TURNED HILLCREST MENTOR NAMED UHSAA 5A COACH OF THE YEAR By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com
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very season-ending banquet, Hillcrest High cross country coach Scott Stucki tears up. The team waits for the moment from the mostly stoic coach. This year, some thought it may be when the school Athletic Director Scott Carrell surprised Stucki with the announcement that the longtime coach was named Utah High School Activities Association’s 5A Coach of the Year. But they were wrong. The tears and hugs came when Stucki talked about his runners. “I always break down when I talk about the seniors, but I never know which one it will be,” he said. Many times, it’s not for the top runners. It may be for the runner in the back of the JV squad who has demonstrated outstanding leadership, or it may be one of those runners who overcame injury or when a runner moved up into the varsity squad when few believed. Stucki was honored at a luncheon Jan. 11 in front of his peers and the UHSAA and received a wooden plaque. Hillcrest’s most tenured coach has at least 67 seasons—he hasn’t kept it tallied—of UHSAA coaching experience. He coached 27 seasons of girls’ and boys’ track and field, 25
seasons of girls’ and boys’ cross country, and 15 seasons of boys’ basketball. In addition, he has coached 10 seasons of nonsanctioned indoor track. Stucki estimates “well over 1,000 kids” he’s coached. He also served four years as president of the Utah High School Track Coaches Association. “I’m really excited for Scott,” Carrell said. “To have a coach with his tenure and commitment and the reputation he has throughout the state, it says a lot about his character and what he does for the kids here.” It was 1987, just a few years after graduating high school when Stucki fell into coaching. “I had started officiating indoor track meets at Idaho State since I competed in long and triple jump,” he said. “The Hawthorne (Middle School) head track coach mentioned that he needed help, because he was coaching Continued page 7 Hillcrest High coach Scott Stucki gives then senior Derek Croft his splits during his April 2022 race at Juab High School in Nephi, Utah. (Julie Slama/City Journals)
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