Track season begins with meet in Moab

by Rhett Sifford
Sports Editor
Track and field teams representing San Juan County traveled to Moab on Saturday, March 8 to compete in the annual Red Rock Invitational at Grand County High School.
Three individual athletes and one relay team earned championships. San Juan’s Tripp Palmer sailed over the bar at 6’7” to win the high jump. Teammate Savanna Richmond propelled the discus 110 feet to win.
Monticello’s Marlee Mack sailed 16’5.5” to win the long jump and the Monticello girls sprint medley relay team crossed the line in 4:57.73 to win that title.
Runners-up finishes for San Juan include Cooper Laws’s 44.13 in the 300-meter hurdles, Tripp Palmer’s 175-6 throw in the javelin, and the medley relay.
Mack was the only runner-up for Monticello, finishing in 15.86 in the 100-meter hurdles.
Third-place finishers for San Juan included Andrew Nielson with a 44.17 in the boys 300-meter hurdles, Hayden Shumway’s 83-7.5 throw in the girls discus, and Savanna Richmond with a 31-5.5 in the shot put.
Mack put on an outstanding performance for Monticello with her 48.83 run in the girls 300-meter hurdles.
The San Juan and Monticello boys 4x100 relay teams took fourth and fifth with times of 47.49 and 49.36 respectively. Monticello was fourth in the sprint medley with a 4:11.71. The San Juan girls were fourth in the 4x100 with their 56.35.
Miken Keith was fourth in the javelin with a nice throw of 149-11 for San Juan. Hayden Shumway was fourth in the shot put with a 30-9, and Monticello’s Maron Freestone took fourth in the high jump when she cleared the bar at 4-11.
Brittany Jensen finished fifth in the 3200 meter in 14:16.85, and Marlee Mack rounds out the list of top-five finishers among local athletes, timing 27.52 in the 200 meter.
The top Monument Valley result was a 12th-place finish for Nizhoni Sloan in the javelin.
Hunter Tsinigine threw the javelin 100 feet for 19th for Whitehorse. The Lady Raider 4x100 relay team took 11th place in 1:03.82.
The San Juan teams compete at Carbon High School in Price on Saturday, March 15. Other teams are off until after Spring Break.