Buckaroo harriers host Loyds Lake Classic

It was a hot, sunny afternoon of cross country racing on Friday, September 4 as the Monticello cross country teams hosted a solid field of teams for the annual Loyds Lake Classic.

In varsity action, the Monticello girls were the first to take to the course. They ran well scoring 80 points and claiming a third-place team finish behind 5A Provo (38) and fellow Region 16 opponent North Summit (44). Adri Bird led the team with a third-place overall finish running a 19:49 but getting edged out at the line by the reigning 2A state champion from North Summit who ran a 19:48.

Adri was followed by teammate Lily Long who claimed 8th place overall with a time of 22:27. Kennedy Brewer finished well claiming 17th place in 24:28. Serra St. Clair wasn’t too far behind Brewer coming in 22nd place with a time of 25:20. Shannon Morrsion was the final scoring time running a 29:20 which was good enough for 38th place.

Halle Morrison and Hailey Gillette were the last two Lady Bucks to finish the race running times of 31:21 and 39:39 – 43rd and 46th overall.

The boys varsity race lived up to its billing as a great race. Coming in, John Hunter from Provo High was a known entity having run a 15:03 three-mile earlier this season.

However, the Monticello boys seemed excited at the challenge of running against such a great runner and a very solid Colorado 4A team – Central High from Grand Junction.

When the dust settled, Monticello came in third as a team scoring 90 points to Central’s 34 and Provo’s 69.

Buckaroo Cory Bunker ran a solid race and claimed second, running a 16:26 behind Hunter’s course record time of 16:04.

Alan Pettit came from behind at the end to edge out two Central runners and claim a well-earned second in 16:43. The heroic effort did come at a cost though: he lost his lunch.

Eric Montague claimed 16th place overall for the Bucks, running a 18:39. Teammate Josh Wheeler had a good race, claiming 34th place with a time of 20:31.

Curtis Bunker was the final scoring Buckaroo when he came across the line in 37th place in 20:59. Jalen Bradford and Taw Robinson finished 45th and 49th overall with times of 22:02 and 22:58.

The Monticello boys also ran in the JV race with Jesse Pettit claiming first and Bailey Walker second with times of 20:45 and 21:26.

Jacob Johnson claimed 6th place with Ryan Nielson claiming 10th, running times of 22:31 and 24:49. Mahonri George finished 14th with a time of 24:49.

Fortunately, the junior high kids got to run at their home meet. In the girls race, Monticello’s Lilly Burton finished second overall in the 2.5K race with a time of 11:10 followed by Ayla Carling who finished 6th in 11:45.

Mara Long was close behind in 8th place with a 12:11. Others running were Jane Burton (14th in 13:17), Margo Johnson (18th, 14:14), Abigail Crowley (19th, 14:31), Alexa Bailey (20th, 15:05), and Dani Back (28th, 16:13).

In the boys junior high race, Monticello’s Kaden Pehrson held off an ARL runner to claim first overall with a time of 9:28. Teammate Aaron Gillette claimed sixth place overall, running a 10:46. Bucks Ike Walker and Aaron Nielson claimed 11th and 12th with times of 11:07 and 11:17. Lincoln Blanchard finished 28th, running a 14:36.

This week, the cross country teams travel to Soldier Hollow in Heber City for the 2020 Wasatch Cross Country Invitational on Friday, September 11.

Golf
The Monticello golf team found themselves in Roosevelt again on Monday, August 31 at the Roosevelt Municipal Golf Course for another Region 16 match.

Two weeks ago in Roosevelt, the Bucks stumbled to the team’s worst cumulative score of the season tallying a team round of 435 which dropped them from second to fourth in the region standings.

However, Roosevelt was much kinder to the Bucks this week as the team had the lowest team score of the season putting up a 383. That’s a whopping 52-shot improvement.

The rebound effort was led by Breckyn Hoggard who went low for the Bucks carding an 86. He was followed by Boston Freestone who got around the course in 90 shots.

Bailey Walker was once again a steady third score shooting 93 for the day. Again this week, Garrett Larsen’s 111 contributed to the team’s marked improvement from two-weeks ago.

Alec Christiansen and Darren Westcott also made the trip and shot 116 and 126 respectively.

Despite the much improved day from Monticello, the team remained stalled in fourth in the Region 16 standings.

After four weeks of play, Altamont leads the region with 1,517 shots, North Sevier 1,530, Gunnison Valley 1,558, Monticello 1,612, and North Summit 1,677.

Individually, Monticello has three players in the top five of the region. Boston Freestone still stands in second with an 88.75 shot average and Bailey Walker is third with a 93.33

Breckyn Hoggard moved into the fifth spot after his 86-shot round in Roosevelt improved his shot average to 94.25.

This week, the team traveled to Richfield to play the Cove View Golf Course on Tuesday, September 8 in week five of Region 16 play.

Football
The road warrior Buckaroo football team was on the road again this past week. They traveled to Gunnison on Friday, September 4 to take on the winless Gunnison Valley Bulldogs.

It was a bad news, good news game for MHS. The team unfortunately dropped the game 47-12, but on the bright side they found the endzone for the first time this season, punching in two touchdowns.

The two Monticello second-quarter scores came via a Devin Hatch scamper from three yards out and a Devin Hatch-to-Cedar English 78-yard bomb.

In the game, running back Brevin Olson ripped off some nice runs of 26, 17, 15, and 16 yards.

However, Monticello spotted the Bulldogs 21 first-quarter points and 20 second-quarter points. Despite a near second-half shutout, the Bucks could never get back in the game.

The loss drops MHS to 0-3 on the year and into fourth place in the 2A North Region.

This week, on Friday, September 11 Monticello will finally host a game on the MHS football field. They welcome the 2A South Millard Eagles to town.

Millard is coming off a 27-0 blanking from Kanab last week so it should be an interesting matchup. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

Volleyball
The Monticello volleyball team was looking for their second win of the season when they hosted the San Juan Lady Broncos on Thursday, September 3.

But the road team again played the spoiler, taking three of the four games from the home team.

The Lady Buckaroos came out strong, winning game one 25-23 only to drop the next three 22-25, 20-25, and 20-25 in the non-region loss.

This week, Monticello (1-3) traveled to Grand County (1-0) looking to hand back the loss the Lady Bucks suffered to Grand several weeks ago in Monticello. C/JV/ V games will be held at 4 p.m., 5:15 p.m., and 7 p.m. in Moab.