By Greg James | [email protected] 

Mountain Ridge High School opens this fall, and it hired a stable full of proven, successful coaches. 

The Sentinels fall sports season begins in a few  weeks. Its teams have been preparing all summer despite the school not being finished. Many teams have been practicing at neighboring schools. They will compete in Region 7 against Alta, Lehi, Mountain View, Orem, Timpanogos and Timpview.

Mike Meifu begins his tenure as the Sentinels head football coach. He takes over after serving for four years as head coach at West Jordan High School. His experience as a running backs coach at Snow College helped him revitalize the Jaguars offense.

The Jaguars appeared in the state tournament in all four years while he was at the helm. Meifu’s reputation is a high-power passing offense. He threw the ball 59% of the time last season. 

“My family and I have watched the school being built from day one,” Meifu said. “We could not be more excited to now call Mountain Ridge our home.”

Boys and girls soccer coach Eric Arthur comes with a background of six years coaching at West Jordan High School. He graduated from the University of Utah and taught math for the Jaguars.

“Success on the field and in the classroom comes from preparation,” Arthur said in a press release. “It’s not enough to want it on gameday is a phrase that has stuck with me from when I was in high school.”

Bryan Nicholson steps in as the head volleyball coach. His tenure at Herriman High School ended with a deep run in the state playoffs last season, where the Mustangs placed eighth.

Nicholson graduated from Utah State University. He coached and taught in Idaho for four years before returning to Utah to coach at Riverton High School and was Herriman’s first and only volleyball coach.

The cross country team will be led by James Barnes. He was the 2016 5A coach of the year. 

Barnes has coached track and cross country for 14 years, the last nine at Herriman where he helped teams win 12 state championships, 28 region titles and several individual athletes have gone on to compete collegiately. 

The girls tennis coach is David Johnston, and boys golf coach is Ryan Avila. The athletic director is Sam Rogers.

The Sentinels’ school colors are scarlet red, gray and white. 

Football is scheduled to open its season Friday, Aug. 16 against Olympus in its first home game (at press time it was unsure if the field would be ready).