Manti High School

In the first few years that Manti High had a basketball team, it defeated nearly every opponent and placed third in the State Invitational Tournament.[1] The men's basketball team won the 2A state title in 1966, 2003, 2008 2015. They won 3A in 2018 and 2020.

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Manti High School was the 2A state football champion in 1999, 2003, 2011, and 2012.[6][7]

Manti's women's softball team won the 2A state title in three consecutive years, from 2005 to 2007.[8] They also took state in 2009, and 2012.[9][10]

Manti High School won the Utah State class 2A baseball championship in 1987, 1991, and 1996 [11] Manti was also the 2A state champion in 2003. Its most recent baseball championship was in 2015 [12]

Manti's drill team, the Templarettes, took the State title in 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2013.

In 2012 the boys' tennis team placed first at state.[13] The team also claimed 11 state titles in 53 years under coach Wilbur Braithwaite.

In 2008 the school officially began to sponsor a boys' soccer team. The team placed first in state in 2012.[14]

The tradition of having an "M" representing the high school on the mountain likely originated in an attempt to imitate the "Y" for Brigham Young University in Provo or the "S" for Snow College in Ephraim. Originally the "M" was on Duncan Hill in 1919. In 1928–29 the block M was made in its current location out of plain rocks over about an acre of land. In 1930 the "M" was whitewashed to enhance visibility and has been whitewashed in every weather-permitting year since. The whitewashing tradition was originally called May Day in 1942 but has since been shortened to M-day. In 1977 the class of 1978 created the number "78" to the right of the "M" for their graduation year.[18] On M-day (which typically takes place the last week of school), freshmen, sophomores, and juniors clear vegetation from around the M and whitewash it to keep it visible. In addition, the juniors change the number to the right of the "M" to the last two digits of their graduation year. As a tradition, the outline of the "M" is often lit up during homecoming week.

The letter-lighting tradition began in 1931. Each year during homecoming week, students from each class fill white paper bags with dirt and place a candle in each. These bags are used to outline shapes for their class (S for seniors, J for juniors, S for sophomores, and F for freshmen). The bags are laid out in the nearby fairgrounds in the grandstand arena, and at night the candles are lit. Letter-lighting at the current location in the fairgrounds began in either 2001 or 2002. Previously letter-lighting took place by students collecting cans, filling them with used motor oil, and outlining their class letters on the mountainside up Manti Canyon over the old gravel pit. When the tradition began in 1931 the letters were arranged vertically with the senior "S "at the top.[18] Later the letters were arranged to be horizontally in line with each other. The tradition also included a bonfire and hot-dog roast at Brox's Campgrounds. The indefinite moving of the tradition to the fairgrounds in 2001 or 2002 was due to worries about fire and environmental damage from the oil.