San Juan County track and field athletes set top marks in meets ahead of spring break

by David Boyle
News Director
San Juan County track and field athletes ran, threw, and leaped their way to another successful week ahead of spring break. A handful of athletes representing the county have top-15 marks in the state of Utah across all classifications.
New to that top-15 mark this past week was San Juan High School’s Sadie Palmer who threw the javelin 113-05.25 at the North Sevier Invitational in Salina on Saturday, March 28. Palmer’s throw is the 14th-best throw of the season.
Tripp Palmer continues to hold the best mark in the high jump across the state with a 6-08 jump, while Cash Palmer has the tenth-best throw in the shot put with a 52-01 mark.
Monticello’s Marlee Mack has three top marks including second-best in the long jump (a 1A girls state record of 18-02.5), 11th-best in the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles (15.43 and 46.02).
The San Juan teams competed in the North Sevier Invitational in Salina on March 28. The Bronco boys finished second at the meet. Numerous outright event winners led the way, including Andrew Nielson who won the 300-meter hurdles and took second in the 110 hurdles.
Cash Palmer also finished first in the shot put and fourth in the discus, while Tripp Palmer was first in the high jump and eighth in both the javelin and long jump.
Brigg Palmer also was first in the 110 hurdles and tenth in the 100-meter dash. The San Juan 4x400 relay team of Kooper Laws, Platte Lyman, Andrew Nielson, and Danny Price also took first.
Laws was also second in the 300 hurdles and seventh in the 110 hurdles. Miken Keith was second in the javelin. Platte Lyman was third in the 800 and fourth in the 1600.
Rosendo Martine was third in the 3200 and fifth in the 1600. Gaige Palmer finished sixth in the shot put and Peter Lyman was seventh in the 3200 and tenth in the 1600.
The San Juan girls finished fifth as a team at the North Sevier Invite. Sadie Palmer led the Lady Broncos with a first-place finish in the javelin.
Sincere Nez was second in the 1600, third in the 3200, and eighth in the 800. Addison Helquist was third in the long jump and fifth in the 100-meter dash. Keezie Flannery was third in the high jump and ninth in the 100 hurdles.
The Lady Broncos also finished third as a 4x100 relay team which included Keezie Flannery, Addison Helquist, Addison Ivins, and Aspyn Ivins.
Ada Lyman was fourth in the 3200 and tenth in the 1600. Aspyn Ivins was fourth in the 300 hurdles and fifth in the 100 hurdles.
Addison Ivins was fifth in the high jump. The Lady Broncos 4x400 relay team finished sixth with Lucy Black, Ava Duke, Faith Flannery, and Hadley Palmer.
Faith Flannery was eighth in the high jump and ninth in the long jump while Taya Chamberlain was ninth in the javelin.
The Monticello Buckaroo track and field team traveled to Roosevelt on Friday, March 27 for the Strata Invitational at Union High School.
The Lady Buckaroos finished sixth at the meet. Monticello was again led by Marlee Mack who took first in the long jump, increasing her state record by two inches. Mack also finished second in the 300 hurdles, third in the 100 hurdles and fourth in the 100-meter dash.
The Monticello girls were fourth in the 4x100 relay with Jane Burton, Myah Lewis, Lariah O’Harra, and Latalia O’Harra.
Madison Adair finished seventh in the discus, Josie Mack was ninth in the 300 hurdles, and Latalia O’Harra was tenth in the 400.
The Monticello boys came home seventh as a team, led by Brandston Mack with an individual championship in the high jump. Mack was also ninth in the 100 and tenth in the 200.
Seth Taylor finished third in the 300 hurdles and sixth in the 110 hurdles. Linden English was ninth in the 3200.
The Whitehorse Raiders competed at the Rock Nation Relays in Shiprock on March 27.
The Lady Raiders were led by Shandiin Roberts who finished second in the shot put, third in the discus and fourth in the javelin. Laylah Benally finished third place in the long jump, and seventh in the high jump.
Hope Palmer and Malia Sam finished ninth and tenth in the discus while Lakayra Begay was tenth in the long jump. The Whitehorse girls were also second in the sprint medley relay and fifth in the 4x100.
The Whitehorse boys were led by Tristan Black who finished 5th in the long jump. The boys also finished second in the sprint medley relay and fourth in the 4x100 relay.
The Monument Valley Cougars competed in Page on March 28
The Monument Valley girls team finished 12th and were led by Samara Sheppard who finished second place in the shot put while teammate Zaira Holliday finished 10th. Holliday also finished 6th in the javelin.
Josiah Gipe led the boys finishing 22nd in the 800 while the boys 4x100 team placed 15th.