Monticello golf team grabs second place in season-opening match

The Monticello High School girls golf team finally got their season off the ground when they traveled to Sterling for a region match at the Palisade State Park Golf Course on Tuesday, April 13.

To say the 2021 team is young and inexperienced is spot on, however, what the team lacks in experience it makes up for in grit, determination, and a great attitude according to head coach Nathan Chamberlain.

Coming into this past week’s match, Olivia Chamberlain was the only golfer to have played 18 holes of competitive golf. Her experience showed and served her well as she took home medalist honors in the match shooting a 100 on the day.

Lady Buckaroo Amy Lewis played a round of 121 followed by Amy Rogers who got around the course in 134 shots and Jade Nielson who carded a 135. Gabi Dowell and Karyme Alvarado only played 9 holes at Palisade in preparation to play more holes in future matches.

Those Monticello rounds were good enough to propel the Lady Bucks to a second-place team finish for the match with a score of 490, just two shots behind region-leading Gunnison Valley. North Summit and Altamont finished third and fourth with scores of 501 and 528 respectively.

Hoping for warmer weather, the girls are set for a busy week this week with two more region matches on the slate.

First, the team played on Monday, April 19, at arguably the finest public golf course in Utah – Hobble Creek in Springville. They’ll play the Roosevelt Municipal Golf Course on Wednesday, April 21.

Track & field
On Saturday, April 17 the Monticello track and field teams hopped an early bus and traveled to Vernal to participate in the Uintah Invitational at Uintah High School.

The boys team finished third overall in the 14-team field made up of mainly 1A, 2A, and 3A teams with 4A Cottonwood participating as well.

Cottonwood won the meet, scoring 111 total points, followed by 3A Carbon with 106 and Monticello with 93. San Juan placed a distant fourth place, scoring 47 points.

The Monticello boys showed well in the speed events at the meet. In the 100-meter sprint, Cedar English placed sixth overall with a time of 12.44.

In the 200 sprint, Eric Montague had a nice race, placing second with a time of 25.48. He followed that with a third-place finish in the 400. Teammate Tommy Sheeran placed eighth with a time of 57.14.

In the middle distance of 800 meters, Alan Pettit had a great race, running a 2:13.34 to finish in third. Teammate Cory Bunker placed just behind Pettit in fourth with a time of 2:14.25.

Not surprisingly, Monticello faired very well in the distance events at the meet. Cory Bunker swept the 1600 and 3200 with times of 4:43.94 and 10:24.96.

Buckaroo Alan Pettit also had a strong race in the 3200, placing third with a time of 10:37.14. Curtis Bunker finished just outside the top ten with an 11th place finish in 12:03.83.

Monticello won the medley relay, running a 3:59.61 and placed second in the 4x100 with a time of 46.88.

The Buckaroo boys had a great day in the field events. Cedar English won both the high jump and long jump with a 5-11 and 21-03 respectively.

Robert Musselman also had a good day, placing fourth in the shot put with a 39-04 distance and eighth in the discus with a throw of 100-02. Cory Bunker was fifth in the javelin with a throw of 138-08.

The girls team had limited participants at the meet. In fact, we could only find one girl who participated and that was Shayla Pehrson. She finished 21st in the 1600 and 300 hurdles. Her best finish was 11th place in the 3200 with a 14:58.21.

This week, Monticello will have their first home meet in 28 years when they host the 2021 Blue Mountain Invitational on the new MHS track Saturday, April 23. If you get a chance, swing by and support the Buckaroos.

Baseball
The Monticello baseball team enjoyed a couple home games this past week when they hosted the 2A Central North Sevier Wolves on Tuesday, April 13 and the Millard Eagles on Friday, April 16. 

The first game of the week started well when Monticello jumped on the Wolves in the bottom of the first inning to take a 2-0 lead. However, in the top of the next inning, North Sevier seized control of the game by driving in four runs while holding the Bucks scoreless.

Both teams were blanked in the third inning, but North Sevier exploded for five runs in the top of the fourth. After being held scoreless again in the bottom of the fourth, MHS gave up three more runs in the fifth inning to drop the game 12-2.

Monticello ended the game with three hits that produced two runs while the team committed three errors.

Devin Hatch had the hit of the game when he took a North Sevier pitch deep for a one-run homer. He was also the starting pitcher and ended the game with a tough loss to drop to 0-4 on the season.

On a blustery Friday in Monticello, the Bucks welcomed the Millard Eagles for another 2A Central matchup. Again, Monticello started the game well, matching a first-inning Millard run with one of their own.

The game was still close when Millard edged ahead 2-1 after the first two innings of play. The third inning proved to be Monticello’s unraveling when the Eagles drove in eight runs and the Bucks only managed one in response.

Millard added another run in the top of the fourth inning and, unable to score, the Bucks slipped further behind 11-2.

The two teams traded runs in the sixth inning and Monticello managed a run in the bottom of the seventh. But it was too little too late and the Bucks fell 12-4 to the visitors.

Offensively, Monticello got four runs on six hits in the loss. Javlin Robison ended the game with one RBI and Thomas Fullmer had a double for the hit of the game.

The Bucks struggled defensively, mishandling seven balls for errors. Thomas Fullmer started the game on the mound and fell to 0-2 on the season. With the losses the Bucks dropped to 1-11 on the year and 0-7 in 2A Central play.

Their homestand continued this week when the division-leading Gunnison Valley Bulldogs visited Monticello for a doubleheader on Tuesday, April 20. On Friday, April 23 the Bucks travel to Salina to play the North Sevier Wolves.

San Juan Record

49 South Main St
PO Box 879
Monticello, UT 84535

Phone: 435.587.2277
Fax: 435.587.3377
news@sjrnews.com
Open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday