MHS golf team moves up a spot in Region 16

The very COVIDfriendly 2A golf season just keeps rolling along. This past week on Wednesday, August 26, the Bucks traveled to Sterling, UT to play the Palisades State Park Golf Course in another Region 16 match.

Coming into the match, Monticello trailed region leader Altamont by 60 shots, but the team was hopeful with consistent play they could start chipping away at that deficit.

At Palisades, Boston Freestone led the way with a season low round of 85. Bailey Walker had a good round, carding a 92 on the day. He was followed by Breckyn Hoggard, who shot 102.

Garrett Larsen stepped up in his first match of the year to shoot 112. Alec Christiansen added the final scoring card after he ended the day with a 126. Darren Westcott also made the trip and shot a 132.

After the dust settled, Monticello moved up a spot to fourth in Region 16. So, after three weeks of region play the standings are as follows: Altamont 1,149, North Sevier 1,167, Gunnison Valley 1,191, Monticello 1,227, and North Summit 1,266.

Individually, Monticello still has three top ten players in the region. Boston Freestone stands in second with an 88.30 average, Bailey Walker is third with a 92 average, and Breckyn Hoggard is eighth overall with a 97 average.

The season rolled on this week as the team traveled back to the Roosevelt Golf Course on Monday, August 31. We’ll have those results next week.

Football
It was another rough outing for the Monticello football team as they headed south to take on the 3A San Juan Broncos in Blanding on Friday, August 28.

After a 70-0 loss at Kanab several weeks ago, the Bucks were hopeful they had improved in practice the past few weeks.

But with the backup quarterback getting the start, MHS was unable to get the offense in gear. They also struggled to find the right defensive scheme to stop the Broncos and fell 60-0.

This week, the Bucks go on the road to Gunnison to take on the winless Gunnison Valley Bulldogs. Gunnison Valley dropped its first game of the season to Milford 34-9 and followed that up with a 14-0 home loss to Kanab.

The game kicks off at 7 p.m. Listen to the live broadcast on Redrock Radio 92.7 FM and streaming at redrock92.com. Pregame begins at 6:30 p.m.

Cross country
After an off week, the Monticello cross country teams hopped a bus to Altamont on Wednesday, August 26 for a Region 16 meet in the heat of the Basin.

The Monticello varsity boys started well and placed three runners in the top 10 – pacing the Bucks to a team score of 64 points.

This was good enough for a second-place finish behind 3A Union High School from Roosevelt, which ended the meet with 29 points.

However, Monticello edged out region rivals North Summit (75), Duchesne (94), and Altamont (127).

Teammates Cory Bunker and Alan Pettit finished one and two in the race with times of 16:33 and 16:47. Eric Montague placed eighth with a time of 19:00.

He was followed by Curtis Bunker (25th) and Josh Wheeler (28th) who were the final two scoring times for Monticello after running times of 20:27 and 20:44.

Others running were Bailey Walker (31st, 20:58), Jesse Pettit (33rd, 21:10), Jacob Johnson (37th, 21:40), and Jalen Bradford (44th, 22;13).

For the Monticello varsity girls team, Altamont was the first team race of the year. For some girls on the team it was only the second or third run of the year due to school just getting started this week.

The Lady Bucks had two top ten runners on their way to a third-place team finish, scoring 68 points. Region 16 favorite North Summit won the meet with 28 points, followed by Union with 61.

Monticello’s Adri Bird placed second only a few seconds behind the reigning 2A state champ from North Summit, running a time of 20:34. Teammate Lily Long claimed fourth place with a time of 21:47.

They were followed by Kennedy Brewer (15th, 24:13), Serra St. Clair (20th, 25:11), Shannon Morrison (27th, 29:20), Halle Morrison (29th, 30:06), and Hailey Gillette (39th, 35:54).

The Monticello Junior High boys were led by Kaden Pehrson in third (10:37), Ike Walker in 30th (12:48), and Lincoln Blanchard (16:57).

In the girls race, Monticello placed fourth overall and was led by Lily Burton, who was elbowed into seventh place but still finished with a nice time of 12:53.

She was followed by Ayla Carlin (10th, 13:08), Maura Long (12th, 13:11), Abigail Crowley (25th, 14:54), Alexis Bailey (26th, 15:00), and Margot Johnson (29th, 15:25).

On Friday, August 28 the varsity teams ran a fun night tri-meet against Grand County and San Juan in the San Flats recreation area.

The runners used headlamps and ran down the main road and back. It was good for the runners to get in a fun run without much pressure.

The Bucks host the annual Loyds Lake Classic this week on Friday, September 4. Junior high races start at 3 p.m. with the varsity girls at 4 p.m. and the boys at 4:45 p.m.

Volleyball
The Lady Bucks looked to get their first win on the season when they hosted the Grand Lady Devils on Tuesday, August 25 in Monticello, but the road team played the spoiler, taking three of five games from the home team.

Monticello finally got a much-needed win after traveling to Green River to play the 1A Pirates, sweeping the match 3-0 by set scores of 25-18, 25-9, and 25-23.

This week, Monticello (1-2) will look to avenge their first loss of the season when they host the San Juan Lady Broncos (1-2) in Monticello on September 3 at 7 p.m.