San Juan County cross country teams perform well in Moab, Dolores, Newcomb

by Rhett Sifford
Sports Editor
All four schools representing San Juan County descended on Moab on Wednesday, September 23 to compete in the annual Red Rock Invitational hosted by Grand County High School. The event featured 266 varsity athletes from 12 different schools
All the local teams had good showings, with two athletes registering runners-up finishes. In the boys race Eli Carling brought home the silver medal for Monticello with a 16:09 run, just 20 seconds behind race winner River Shaw of Grand County.
Likewise, Sincere Nez crossed the line 19 seconds behind girls race winner Hadley Kasprick of Grand County to finish second in 19:28.
The Monticello girls had the tightest finishing group among local teams, scoring 138 points to finish in fourth place. Allie Carling paced the team in 14th place overall with a run of 22:11. Latalia O’Harra was 30th overall with a time of 23:33.
Murryn Suttlemyre finished in 37th for the Lady Buckaroos with a time of 24:27 and Xymenah Alvarado was 11 seconds behind in 41st. Brenna Baxter crossed the line just six seconds behind Alvarado in 42nd.
In addition to Sincere Nez’s strong finish for San Juan, Harmony Oshley was 44th overall in 25:16 and Braylyn Eddie was 47th in 25:45.
Eihaazbah Dejolie crossed the line 63rd in 28:17 and Delilah Tahy was 87th in 34:54. The Lady Broncos were eighth as a team with 175 points.
The Whitehorse girls were seventh as a team three points ahead of San Juan. Mariah Yellowman paced the team with a solid 15th-place finish in 22:18. Lakayra Begay was 26th with her time of 22:56.
Kaitlyn Mitchell finished 38th overall for the Lady Raiders, Mikey Little was 64th in 28:27, and La’Rayia Robinson rounded out the top five in 86th with a 43:39.
The Monument Valley girls did not register a team score, but they did have two athletes who battled hard and finished the race. Summer Atene came in 16th overall with a time of 22:21 and Kaleigha St. Germaine finished 55th in 26:32.
In the boys race San Juan finished fifth with 134 points led by Jeraden Hurst in 17th overall with a time of 17:37. Keegan McCullough crossed the line 25th overall in 18:01.
Jack Kartchner was 28th overall for the Broncos with his time of 18:13, James Gosney took 30th in 18:21, and Oren Bradford was 34th with a time of 18:35.
The Monticello boys were 22 points behind San Juan in sixth place led by Eli Carling’s second-place performance. Charlie Welch was 23rd overall with a time of 17:55.
Linden English came home 26th for the Buckaroos in 18:08, Gabe Long was 44th in 19:30, and Christian Hunt was the final points-scoring runner for Monticello in 61st with a time of 20:50.
The Monument Valley boys were 11th in Moab with Caleb Cly finishing 52nd overall in 20:11, Darnell Benally 56th in 20:27, Memphis Black 60th in 20:50, Jake Deswood 66th in 21:54, and Andre Amado 80th in 33:58.
Whitehorse came home 12th as a team with Hyatt Thomas crossing the line 58th in 20:35, Braxton Kinsel 69th in 22:40, Harley Jim 70th in 22:42, Aiden Smith 76th in 27:15, and Brayden Kinsel 77th in 27:36.
San Juan and Monument Valley took the remainder of the past week off while Monticello and Whitehorse closed out a busy week with trips to Colorado and New Mexico respectively.
On Friday, September 25 the Buckaroos traveled to Dolores, CO to run in the Boggy Draw Bear Chase. The boys team finished second behind the host Dolores Bears.
As he has all season, Eli Carling paced Monticello with a 16:38 run to finish second, 13 seconds behind race winner Joseph Padilla of Dolores.
Charlie Welch was next across the line for the Buckaroos with a sixth-place finish in 18:01. Linden English was just four seconds behind Welch in eighth overall.
Gabe Long was 17th with a time of 19:39, and Christian Hunt took 20th with a time of 20:30.
Though the Monticello girls didn’t take a full team, they still made an impact on the race with all three Lady Buckaroos crossing the line in the top ten.
Allie Carling was third overall in 21:37 just 32 seconds behind the race winner. Murry Suttlemyre came home seventh with a time of 23:50, and Brenna Baxter was eighth in 25:11.
On Saturday, September 26 the Whitehorse cross country team hit the road for Newcomb, NM for the Skyhawk Invitational hosted by Newcomb High School.
To say the Lady Raiders made an impact on the race would be an understatement. Lakayra Begay won the race outright with a time of 23:53 and teammate Laylah Benally was second in 24:47. Begay crossed the line 1:02 ahead of the third-place runner.
Mikey Little was 19th overall in the race for the Whitehorse girls with a time of 29:54. Katie Whitehair came in 26th in 43:22 and Emily Bahe was five seconds behind in 27th overall. The Lady Raiders took second as a team behind team champion Thoreau, NM.
The Whitehorse boys did not have enough runners to register a team score, but they did get strong performances from the four athletes who competed in Newcomb.
Braxton Kinsel was 28th overall in 24:47, Aiden Smith was 35th in 27:54, Brayden Kinsel was 36th in 28:57, and Jacob Dedman was 39th in 43:23.
This week will bring a reunion of sorts for all the San Juan County teams. The San Juan Broncos will host all of them along with several other teams from around the state at the annual John Thornton Invitational on Wednesday, September 30.