- Juan Diego Catholic High School filed a lawsuit against Utah High School Activities Association over a recruitment probe.
- The school claims the investigation intrudes on its faith-based mission and fairness.
- The association is investigating potential rule violations in recruiting international athletes; Juan Diego denies allegations.
SALT LAKE CITY — A lawsuit filed on behalf of the Skaggs Catholic Community Center Tuesday asks a federal judge to intervene in an investigation by the Utah High School Activities Association into recruiting international student athletes by the boys basketball coach at Juan Diego Catholic High School.
The complaint calls the investigation "an intrusion" of the faith-based mission of the school, claims the school cannot get a fair hearing on the allegations from the association, and asks for an injunction postponing a September hearing by the association until the lawsuit is adjudicated.
"The Utah High School Athletic Association … alleges that plaintiffs violated association rules against recruiting foreign students for athletic purposes, including with the use of tuition assistance, subjecting plaintiffs to penalties that will impact, impair or prohibit Juan Diego students' ability to participate in high school athletics," the complaint alleges. "Plaintiffs deny the allegations made by UHSAA."
The lawsuit includes a number of exhibits, including email exchanges between association attorney Mark Van Wagoner, association staff and Zachary Peterson, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Skaggs Catholic Community Center, Juan Diego Catholic High School, Principal Galey Colosimo and boys basketball coach and assistant principal Drew Trost.
Those emails detail months of negotiations between the association and Colosimo, Trost and their attorneys regarding allegations that Trost recruited international student athletes to play basketball by offering them reduced or no tuition. The two sides nearly reached an agreement in January, but a request by Peterson to add this sentence — "Principal Colosimo and Coach Trost both deny any violations of the aforementioned rules, but each has agreed to accept the following sanctions" — resulted in the Utah High School Activities Association revoking the settlement and scheduling a hearing for February.
That hearing was delayed as the two sides engaged in discussions about both the investigation and how a hearing would be conducted. The email exchanges included three major issues for Juan Diego officials: which association members would sit in judgment at a hearing, what information school officials were required to provide as part of the investigation, and what evidence Juan Diego and its attorneys would receive from the association in advance of the hearing.
The association demanded Juan Diego provide information about which student athletes received financial aid, as well as how those decisions were made and reported. The lawsuit asserts that infringing on their right to offer financial assistance to students is a violation of the school's First Amendment rights.
"A fundamental tenet of the Catholic faith and Juan Diego's mission is to make education accessible to all," the complaint states. "Like the Madeleine Choir School, tuition assistance is an essential ministerial function of all Catholic schools in the Diocese of Salt Lake City, including Juan Diego. Juan Diego's outreach to students and families of need is a hallmark of its Catholic identity and its tradition."
It continued, "Juan Diego's international student program furthers its ministerial mission to recognize and promote the Catholic faith while providing its students with diverse educational experiences and opportunities."
The Utah High School Activities Association's rules forbid member schools from offering any kind of incentive or enticement to student athletes, including financial aid or scholarships. The hearing aimed to examine which students received financial aid or scholarships, how those determinations were made, and whether recruiting or transfer rules were violated when it came to student athletes.
The lawsuit asserts that Juan Diego officials don't believe they will receive a fair hearing. They said the association agreed to let Juan Diego choose which members of the association would sit on the hearing panel and then abruptly reversed course.
"In its letter of July 18, 2025, UHSAA again confirmed it had unilaterally withdrawn its agreement to permit plaintiffs to select the panel of judges – the association would choose them," the complaint said. "UHSAA said in its July 18, 2025, correspondence, it would not provide the plaintiffs with full discovery, its exhibits, or its witness list."
And then on July 29, the lawsuit alleges that the association sent a new "Notice of Allegations" that "constitutes retaliation against Juan Diego" because it "sought to receive a fair hearing" by demanding input into the panel and advanced notice of the evidence against the school and its employees.
Van Wagoner said he received both the complaint and motion for a temporary restraining order Tuesday.
"I had been corresponding with Juan Diego's lawyers about the scheduled hearing on Sept. 3, but in their emails they refused to agree to appear at any hearing unless the association changed its procedures in a manner that has never been done," he said in a statement to KSL. "In communication and in the pleadings, Juan Diego has argued that the procedures adopted by the UHSAA for all hearings, was unfair to it."
Van Wagoner added, "The UHSAA cannot give Juan Diego special treatment.
"Juan Diego is a member of the UHSAA, and its school is subject to the UHSAA constitution and bylaws. I can see no reason for Juan Diego to insist that it will refuse to follow the rules it agreed to as a member school," he said.
Petersen did not immediately respond to a message from KSL.
