BEAR RIVER HIGH - March 2, 2021
Jefferson Kowallis and Kace Jones are this week’s featured Headliner Athletes of the Week at BRVNEWS.com - sponsored by Chanshare Farms. Thank you for supporting local journalism and high school sports in the Bear River Valley!
JEFFERSON KOWALLIS
This week’s featured Headliner Athlete of the Week at BRVNEWS.com goes to Jefferson Kowallis for taking fourth place in the 4A state swim meet on Feb. 13 and breaking a Bear River High School swim record along the way.
Jefferson took fourth place in the 4A state meet’s 100-yard breaststroke event with a time of 1:02.43. His time in the state preliminaries race of 1:01.28 was fast enough to break a new Bear River High record. His record setting finish in the preliminaries was nearly three seconds faster than his seed time going into this year’s state finals.
“Jeff had an amazing year. He was focused on a goal and he didn't waiver from that goal. When he was at state, he was confident when he swam,” said Danny Esplin, head coach for the Bear River High boys’ swim team.
“I knew he would be fast, but he shocked me how fast he went. It almost didn't seem real when it happened,” Esplin added.
Jefferson also took 13th place in the 4A state swim meet in the 200-yard IM at 2:12.18. He was also a contributing team member to the Bears’ 200-yard medley relay team that finished in 10th place in state this year.
Jefferson is a senior at Bear River High and is the son of Kendall and Kristen Kowallis.
KACE JONES
Kace Jones, a senior at Bear River High School, is this week’s featured Headliner Athlete of the Week at BRVNEWS.com for his contributions to the Bear River boys’ basketball team this season.
Kace led the team in points scored this season – 228 to be exact and dominated in defensive rebounds (100), offensive rebounds (62) and blocks (17) for the Bears in the 2020-21 season. Bear River High finished the season on Feb. 26, against Dixie High School in St. George during the second round of the 4A state playoffs.
Kace, a multi-sport athlete, is the son of Nathan and Rachel Jones and has committed to play college football for Utah State University after graduation.