Panguitch Posts

This is an old news article. The events in this article happened in Panguitch in March 2022.

The Panguitch Third Ward has a new bishopric! Bishop Markay Englestead and counselors, Josh Chappell and Devin Albrecht are being released. The new Bishop is Clint Albrecht and his counselors are Mark Henrie and Alberto Vasquez. Both those released and those newly called are fine men with great families!  

Laura Boshell was recently released from the First Ward primary presidency and sustained to be secretary in the stake primary presidency. Kami Savage was called to fill Laura’s vacancy as a counselor in the First Ward presidency.

Our boys and girls Bobcat basketball teams made a good showing at the state tournament, with the boys finishing in second place and the girls placing third. It has been an entertaining season watching these two teams play some excellent ball! Their teamwork has been phenomenal, and their execution of different plays has been fun to see materialize successfully. Congratulations on a fine season! 

One of the best parts of both the boys and girls teams is that they are both made up of some great individuals who have exemplified good sportsmanship and team support and who have put in hard work to improve their skills. As a community we can be very proud of each of them and thank them and their coaches for representing their community so very well!

Congratulations to the Piute Thunderbirds for their state championships, both the boys and girls!  Both teams were deserving of their victories and played some excellent ball games! Again, some great kids made up these two teams as well. 

It was fun to see the sportsmanship displayed by several of the teams, especially during the last day of the tournament. The Bryce Valley Mustangs, the Moquis from Escalante and the Valley Buffalos also played well in the tournaments as did the Wayne Badgers teams! We are already looking forward to next year!

High school track and girls softball are now the sports to look forward to!

I thought it might be fun to get an update on some of the former high school athletes in our area who are now making a name for themselves in college sports. I only have information on four local college athletes so if you know something about others, please let me know and I will include them in our next article. 

Of course we know that Whittni Orton Morgan (husband Mason) has excelled in cross country at BYU and has now graduated but has signed a contract with Adidas and will continue to run professionally! What a career she has had! 

Kapri Orton Sylvester (husband Beau) is still competing in the high jump at Idaho State University and is just starting the track season. In high school, Kapri jumped higher than any girl in the state. She is 5’7” tall and has jumped 5’10” so far in college. And she still loves what she does! 

Darri Frandsen Dotson (husband Garrett) just finished up her college basketball career at SUU.  In the game against Weber State, Darri was named the MVP and was selected to be on the third All Conference team finishing out this year leading her team in season average points and rebounds! 

Cassie Howard Franklin, former Panguitch High athlete, has a son, Cameron, who runs track for UVU. He competes in the 400 and in the 4X4 relay and the medley relay. He holds the current UVU record for running the four fastest times in the indoor 4X4 race! Cameron was an excellent athlete at Valley High School not many years ago. We congratulate these former high school stars and wish them continued success in their college athletics and in their academics!     

A dear friend and former school mate, Craig Barney from Hatch, recently passed away. We will miss Craig. I remember when the Hatch kids started coming to Panguitch for school in the late 50’s. As long as I can remember these “kids” have been some of the best of people who are still “the salt of the earth” type people. Craig and his wife Terry have raised seven fine sons who have gone out in the world and made a difference for good. Our hearts go out to Craig’s beautiful family and the Hatch community.

We have a new business in town: Small town Sips! It is located on the west side of Panguitch Drug and is owned and run by Megin Torgerson. We took a car load to the grand opening and I have to say that the drinks are sooo good! And they sell cookies, too. It is drive-up only. We wish the business good luck and can certainly give it a thumbs-up from our experience there! 

Please call me with news!  676-8023. Thank you!

– by Pam Yardley

See more Panguitch Posts from April and June 2022 here.