Monticello High boys track team captures second at San Juan County Championships

After a week off for Easter, the Monticello High School boys and girls track and field teams were back in action on Friday, April 9 with a short bus trip to Blanding for the San Juan County Championships.

The boys had a great meet, placing second. They were outscored by only the 3A Carbon Dinos 183-170. 3A San Juan finished fourth at the meet scoring 97 points and 3A Grand County placed fifth with 40 points.

The Buckaroos scored nine points in the speed events as Cedar English and Camden Lewis placed second and sixth in the 100-meter dash with times of 11.83 and 12.13.

In the 400-meter, Eric Montague and Boston Freestone placed first and second, running times of 56.65 and 57.18 and scoring 18 points for the Bucks.

The middle distance of 800 meters was also very productive for Monticello as Alan Pettit and Cory Bunker ran times of 2:15.26 and 2:16.53 to place second and third and collect another 14 points for the team. Jacob Johnson placed eighth in the race with a time of 1:04.52.

The Bucks got another win and ten points when Cory Bunker crossed the finish line in first in the 1600 with a time of 4:59.53.

Teammate Alan Pettit ran a time of 5:19.36 at the same distance to place fifth overall and score another couple points for Monticello. Curtis Bunker ran a 5:45.36 which earned him a ninth place overall finish.

In the 3200, Cory Bunker got his second win of the meet, running a 10:27.59 with Buck teammate Alan Pettit finishing second, crossing the finish line in 10:43.99. The two earned the team 16 more points in the event.

Buckaroo Camden Lewis placed second in the 110-meter hurdles (18.02) and the 300 hurdles (47.32) to single-handedly score another 14 points for the team. Curtis Bunker ran a 55.06 in the 300 hurdles to place tenth.

In the relays, Monticello placed fifth in the 4x100-meter (51.73) and second in the 4x400 (3:53.87) to tally another ten team points for the effort.

The Bucks went one-two and scored 18 points in the high jump with Boston Freestone coming out on top of Cedar English with a jump of 5-10. English was only able to clear 5-8 as runner-up.

In the long jump, two Bucks scored 12 points with Cedar English winning the event with a jump of 21-9.5. Tommy Sheeran took home fifth place when he jumped 18-9.5. Robert Morrison claimed eighth place with a jump of 17-5.5.

Buck thrower Robert Musselman added another ten team points when he cruised to a win in the discus by throwing the disc 105-4. Paul Reay got a top-ten finish when he placed ninth with a throw of 92-10.

Monticello had four Bucks finish in the top ten of the javelin event when Cory Bunker, Cedar English, Eric Montague, and Robert Morrison placed third, fourth, fifth, and ninth place. The first three earned the Bucks another 12 points.

In the shot put, Monticello also had four top ten finishers with Robert Musselman, Tuff Adair, Robert Morrison, and Paul Reay placing third, fifth, seventh, and eighth in the event.

Musselman and Adair earned the team eight important points to secure the team’s second-place overall finish.

The Monticello girls placed fourth at the meet, scoring 45 points – just behind the San Juan Bronco girls who scored 52 points at the meet and placing third. Grand County finished 5th with 43 points.

In the 100-meter dash, Monticello was able to capture one top-15 finish when Sadie Adair ran a 14.53 to place 14th.

In the 800, Lily Long placed fifth overall after crossing the finish line in 2:35.81. Long followed that by winning the 1600 with a time of 5:56.22. Shayla Pehrson also ran a 7:23.08 in the event to place 13th overall.

The 100-meter  and 300-meter hurdles events produced numerous Monticello top-15 finishes as Sadie Adair (11th in the 100 (19.25)), Berlynn Black (14th in the 100 (20.12)), Shayla Pehrson (seventh in the 300 (59.19)), and Hailey Gillette (13th in the 300 (1:19.45)) had excellent performances in the very difficult events.

The Monticello ladies placed fourth in the 4x100 with a time of 59.27 and third in the sprint medley relay running a 5:11.

In the field events, Berlynn Black, Cami Lewis, and Sadie Adair placed second, third and sixth in the high jump with jumps of 4-08, 4-08, and 4-04.

Cami Lewis placed eighth in the long jump with a leap of 14-2.5 and Hailey Gillette placed 14th with a jump of 10-10.5.

In the discus, Monticello placed 11th, 13th, and 14th when Rosy Beh tossed the disc 66-0, Olive English went for 60-3.5 and Lillie Ballard got a throw of 55-8.5.

In the javelin, Olive English placed 14th with a throw of 55-8. Finally, in the shot put, English placed 12th and Lillie Ballard 14th when the two heaved the shot 21-8 and 19-3.

This Saturday, April 17, the teams will travel to Vernal to compete in the Uintah Invitational at Uintah High School.

Baseball
After capturing their first win of the season last week, the Monticello baseball team (1-7, 0-3) hopped a bus on Friday, April 9 for a 2A Central division doubleheader against the Millard Eagles in Fillmore.

Coming into the games, Millard was last in the 2A Central standings with an 0-3 division record. They were 1-9 overall. 

Game one started quickly for the home team as the Eagles jumped out to an early 2-0 first-inning lead. They held Monticello scoreless in the bottom of the first and added three runs in the second to increase their lead to 5-0.

After Monticello again failed to score in the top of the third inning, Millard drove in five more runs to stretch their lead to 10-0.

The Bucks finally scored a couple runs in the top of the fourth inning but the Eagles had another good inning, increasing their lead to 14-2. That would be the final score as Monticello was unable to score in the top of the fifth.

For the game, Monticello managed two runs on seven hits while recording one error. Logan Draper and Paxton Christensen had a double each in the game with Christensen driving in one run.

Mason Atwood drove in the other run. Thomas Fullmer recorded the loss from the mound. The Eagles collected 15 hits in the 2A Central win.

Game two started exactly the same as game one earlier in the afternoon with the Eagles holding Monticello scoreless in the top of the first inning while scoring runs of their own to take a 2-0 lead.

But this time Monticello scored a run in the top of the second inning and shut out Millard in the bottom half of the inning to trail by just one run, 2-1.

A scoreless Monticello half of the third inning led to a five-run bottom of the third for the Eagles as the home team surged ahead 7-1.

Millard added a run in the fourth inning and two more in the fifth while Monticello was unable to get a runner on base.

The Bucks didn’t score again until the top of the sixth when they brought three runners across the plate. But MHS gave up four runs in the bottom of the inning and Millard sealed a 14-4 win to sweep the doubleheader.

Thomas Fullmer had the big Monticello hit of the game when he took an Eagle pitcher deep in the sixth inning with a three-run homer. Paxton Christensen suffered the loss from the mound.

Monticello (1-9, 0-5) faced the North Sevier Wolves (5-6, 1-2) at home on Tuesday, April 13 with fourth place in the 2A Central on the line.

The Bucks will get another shot at the Millard Eagles at home on Friday, April 16 hoping to improve their record in the division.

Girls golf
The Monticello girls golf team finally got its season started on Tuesday, April 13th with a match at the Palisade State Park Golf Course in Sterling.