PCHS Athletic Director wins state’s highest honor after championship year

PARK CITY, Utah — Jamie Sheetz, who oversees 24 Park City High School Miners sports programs, 58 teams, nine activities and 20 clubs, has been named High School Athletic Director of the Year by the Utah High School Activities Association.

“We’re all continuously striving at Park City High School Athletics to create the best experience possible alongside these student-athlete’s high school education,” Sheetz told TownLift. “As many opportunities as we can support these kids to enjoy, we want to be here to help families with that.”

Now in his 12th year in this position, Sheetz earned his bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from the University of Michigan, then studied sport behavior and performance at Miami University in Ohio before completing his master’s degree in education at Missouri State University. In addition, Sheetz is currently working on a doctorate in Sports Leadership through Concordia University in Chicago.

His extensive board service includes a three-year term on the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association — “AKA the N triple A” — from 2019-2022, the largest organization for high school athletic directors nationwide. He served 10 years on the Utah Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association board, including as president in 2017, professional development coordinator and certification coordinator. After scaling back his commitments — “I got rid of everything, except one I was on because it was just time to let somebody else do it” — he now serves only on the UHSAA’s Sports Medicine Advisory Committee.

A former Brighton High School baseball player, Sheetz understands the student-athlete experience firsthand.

Elite Athletics Program

Park City High School has produced Olympians Anders Johnson, Josie Johnson, Ashley Farquharson, Rosie Brennan, Casey Dawson and Haley Batten, who have represented the U.S. in Summer, Winter and Youth Games. Current and former Miners competing at Junior Worlds or World Championships level include Augie Roepke, Hannah Baldwin, Wes Campbell, Maddie Keiserman, Sydney Palmer Ledger and Nate Gendron.

This year, 26 seniors committed to college sports, with eight heading to Division I schools: Abby Hanton (Louisiana Tech, soccer), Finley Weldon (Iowa State, gymnastics), Rawson Hardy (Georgia Tech, golf), Sebastian Bodily (Navy, football), Justin Michaelis (Rice, football), Al Hopkins (Utah Tech, soccer), Gretchen Lane (Vermont, swimming) and Pace Swenson (Jacksonville, rowing).

While the gymnast and rower compete outside Sheetz’s official purview, he remains equally proud of all student achievements.

Championship Success

Six Miners teams reached state championships this year, with four capturing Utah titles: boys golf, boys swimming, girls swimming and girls volleyball (second place). Boys track finished second and girls track took third. Both lacrosse teams advanced to late playoff rounds.

Under Sheetz’s tenure, the Miners have won 55 Utah state championships with 38 second-place finishes. The coaching staff has earned national recognition, with recent Coach of the Year awards going to golf’s George Murphy, lacrosse’s Mickey Clayton, soccer’s Chip Cook and volleyball’s Matt Carlson.

Supporting Student-Athletes

Sheetz suffered a career-ending back injury during a summer baseball tournament in Denver while in high school, giving him unique empathy for student-athletes facing similar challenges.

“It was actually during a game we were playing in a summer tournament in Denver,” he said. “Like many other people, I was run out of the game when I got hurt, so I went right into coaching, something that happens to the vast majority of athletes.”

With numerous high-performing athletes, accommodating their extensive travel schedules requires significant coordination. “I thank the teachers for juggling it all because it’s not necessarily easy for the faculty, perhaps no one more so than Ms. Esquivel who manages the student attendance,” he said. “However I know my colleagues and I are on the same page as far as wanting the best for these kids.

“Any time we can support these teenagers in not just their academics in the building but also educate the whole child out in the world, the better off they might do when they graduate,” Sheetz said.

Despite competition from other Park City schools focused on athletic travel accommodations, Sheetz maintains a collaborative approach. “Whatever’s the best choice for those families for whatever reason, for their schedule, for whatever they’re trying to accomplish in the sports world is what’s most important for every kid in the community, no, there’s no competition there,” he said.

Community Partnerships

Park City’s unique athletic landscape includes numerous specialized organizations that Sheetz embraces rather than competes with. The Park City High Schools Mountain Bike Team draws students from multiple district schools, while external organizations manage state-level mountain bike racing.

“They’ve got that sports scene efficiently locked down, Their events are not small and they’ve got it all figured out with the huge number of registrants, they are big races. The amount of detail that goes into that, I can’t imagine the UHSAA, or, you know, Park City High School trying to manage that, it would be almost impossible, and that outside organization gets the job done, like it’s no problem for them.”

Similarly, Park City’s abundance of winter sport clubs allows elite skiers to train at appropriate levels rather than competing in high school programs. “It’s great that there are so many competitive clubs from which these students can choose. They get so good, so fast that it just makes sense this way. I couldn’t imagine some of these skiers who get to represent their country on the global sports stage one weekend then coming back home and racing at a high school level the next weekend, it would sort of be a waste of their energy.”

Future Additions: Esports and Flag Football

This fall, esports joins the Miners lineup as an official lettered activity, featuring Mario Kart, Super Smash Brothers and Rocket League, with potential additions like League of Legends next year.

“The University of Utah has one of the most successful programs in the country in terms of esports. So its finally begun to bleed out into the high schools. Esports have been talked about for about five years now, since COVID. It’s actually considered an activity similar to like debate or drama or music, and the there was enough interest that the UHSAA has now sanctioned it. They’ll host a state championship and competitions, and everything.”

The format offers unique advantages: “For most of the you have teams of teams of five, so you could have, multiple teams playing at that at that level, probably three or four or five varsity teams,” Sheetz said. “One of the many exciting things about it all is that they don’t really need to travel to away schools. You don’t have to pay for a bus, you don’t have to pay for officials, you don’t have to get out of school. So that’s going to be kind of neat to see how that goes.”

Looking further ahead, girls flag football — making its Olympic debut in Los Angeles 2028 — represents another potential addition. “Girls flag is gaining a lot of traction across the country, I think you’re going to see this fall some schools setting them up as clubs to try to grow it so that it can eventually be considered. The UHSAA has a certain standard for something to be called an ’emerging’ sport before they offer to sanction it. So, they’ve got to get it going first. But, I already know that here in Park City we’ve got girls that are going to begin participating in earnest this fall.”