Blue Mountain Invitational track and field meet provides spirited competition among local teams

by Rhett Sifford
Sports Editor
The Monticello High School track and field team hosted all the San Juan County schools along with Grand County and Green River this past Wednesday, April 26 in the annual Blue Mountain Invitational.
It was a beautiful day despite a little wind, which of course is very common in Monticello this time of year. The event provided some spirited competition among the local rivals.
The Red Devils came to town and stole the win, scoring a combined 363 points. Monticello finished second in their home meet with 338 points, and San Juan scored 286 points to finish third.
Green River was fourth with 49 points, Whitehorse got fifth with 31 points, Navajo Mountain scored three points to finish sixth, and Monument Valley rounded out the scoring with one point.
The Monticello girls and boys both finished second in their respective divisions, the girls scoring 172 points and the boys collecting 166.
Individually for the host Buckaroos Curtis Bunker led the way with a 31-point day. He won the 1600-meter race, finished second in both the 3200 and 300-meter hurdles, and got fourth in the 110 hurdles.
Berlynn Black was right behind Bunker with three wins on the day in the 300-meter hurdles, high jump, and long jump to score 30 points for MHS.
Marah Long scored 26 points with wins in the 1600 and 3200 and a third-place finish in the 800. Nial Reay won the discus, finished third in the shot put, and got fifth in the 100-meter dash to score 20 points for the Bucks.
Jesse Pettit scored 18 points with a win in the 800 and a second-place performance in the 1600. Robert Morrison finished second in the 200 meter and long jump to bring in 16 points for Monticello.
Chandler Henderson scored 15 with third-place finishes in the 300 hurdles and 110 hurdles and sixth place in the javelin throw.
Shayla Pehrson was third in the 300-meter hurdles and fifth in the discus, scoring ten points for the Buckaroos. And the always reliable long jumper Tommy Sheeran won again, also collecting ten points.
A total of 18 more Monticello athletes scored points in their home event. In addition, all three of the girls relay teams finished second in their respective events. The boys 4x400 team got second and the 4x100 team finished third.
The San Juan boys won their division with an impressive 182 points. Other than the Grand County girls’ 210 it was the highest team point total of the day. The Bronco girls scored 104 points to finish third.
The top individual San Juan athlete on the day was freshman Keezie Flannery who scored 26 points. She finished second in the 300-meter hurdles and high jump, came home third in the 100 hurdles, and was fifth in the long jump.
Zack Conway continued a strong year in the sprints with wins in the 100 and 200. He was also sixth in the shot put, scoring 23 total points.
Edward Lyman also continued to dominate his events, winning the 3200 and 400 for 20 points. Jared Burke won the javelin and got second in the discus to bring in 16 points.
Sophomore Savannah Richmond also scored 16 for the Broncos with a win in the shot put and a third-place performance in the discus.
JD Palmer was fourth in the high jump, shot put, and javelin to score 15 points. Stetson Black contributed 13 points to the San Juan effort with a third-place discus throw, a fifth in the javelin, and a sixth in the long jump.
Three Broncos scored ten points each: Sophomore Rosendo Martine came home third in the 1600 and fifth in the 800; freshman Trip Palmer was third in the high jump and fifth in the long jump; and Leah Castellon won the 100-meter hurdles.
17 more Broncos scored points at the meet. The boys 4x100 and sprint medley teams both finished second. And the girls sprint medley team came home third.
The Whitehorse girls team led the way for their team, scoring 23 points on the day. The boys added eight points to the Raiders’ effort.
Shania Mitchell led the way for her team, scoring a solid 18 points by winning the discus throw and coming up half an inch short in the shot put to finish second.
RueShandin Jim finished sixth in the javelin, scoring three points for the Whitehorse girls. And Lewneil Hascon registered a couple points with her seventh-place performance in the javelin.
For the Raider boys Izay Bob was the only individual to score points. He got a couple for his seventh-place effort in the javelin. And the Whitehorse boys sprint medley team finished third for the team’s remaining six points.
It was nice to see Navajo Mountain back in sports action at the Blue Mountain Invite. The lone Jaguar to score points at the meet was junior Paul Begay, who took sixth in the discuss to register three points.
Monument Valley rounded out the point-getters with an eighth-place performance in the boys 800 meter by freshman Josiah Gipe for one point.
This week the Monticello and San Juan teams will join Grand County and Green River at the 113th running of the BYU Invitational in Provo Thursday thru Saturday, May 4-6.
It’s the longest-running and most prestigious track and field invitational in the Intermountain West. At the San Juan Record press deadline, 3,150 athletes were registered to participate.