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SALT LAKE CITY — Last year, it was about making a name for himself as he took home the 5A first singles state championship. This year, Hardy Owen had even more to prove as he defended his title.
A five-star recruit representing Brighton High, Owen committed to play tennis at BYU. According to tennisrecruiting.net, Owen is the No. 1 recruit from the Class of 2022 in Utah, and the No. 45 recruit in the United States.
Before embarking on his journey at BYU, though, Owen has other plans; he has been called to serve a church mission to the Republic of Croatia beginning this summer.
Even though he will be focused on his mission, Owen plans on practicing in order to be prepared for the next level when he comes home.
"I always keep tennis on my mind," Owen said. "I'll be thinking about it a lot. I'll focus on living in the moment, but when the time comes, I'll be ready."
Brighton was well-represented on Saturday, with two other players participating in the singles championships. Senior Parker Hopkin took home the second singles title while freshman Ty Parrish took home the third singles title.
The @bengalsbhs boys tennis team left it all out on the court at the 5A state Tennis Championships, walking away with three individual titles in 1st (Hardy Owen), 2nd (Parker Hopkin), and 3rd (Ty Parrish) singles. The team took 2nd place overall, losing to Skyline by 1 point. pic.twitter.com/sMMgcKFqPF
— Canyons District (@canyonsdistrict) May 21, 2022
"We have a fantastic team," Owen said. "A lot of the guys on the team have been my friends since the beginning. We got into tennis when we were young, so it's been great to all be a part of this team."
Owen has strong family ties to the sport of tennis; his brother Redd holds three first singles state titles of his own from 2017-19.
Although it was Brighton who dominated the singles events, Skyline High won the first and second doubles events. That allowed Skyline to walk away with the state title with 21 points to Brighton's 20.
5A boys tennis state tournament
First singles championship
Hardy Owen, Brighton, d. Jack Hinkle, Woods Cross, 6-1, 6-1
Second singles championship
Parker Hopkin, Brighton, d. Dean Weaver, Skyline, 7-6(11), 6-2
Third singles championship
Ty Parrish, Brighton d. Tai Jansen, Skyline, 6-2, 6-0
First doubles championship
Michael Cherchio/Gunnar Wollar, Skyline d. Spencer Linthorst/Jake Fankhauser, Olympus, 6-3, 6-1
Second doubles championship
Kyle Rasmussen/Sam Stewart, Skyline d. Cole Ritchie/Ty Greenwood, Wasatch, 6-1, 6-2
