Good day for the Blanding cross country teams at Loyds Lake Classic

The San Juan High School and Albert R. Lyman Middle School cross country teams competed in Monticello Friday, September 3 at the annual Loyds Lake Classic.

First to race was the middle school division, and the ARL Mustangs pulled off a spectacular race. Both the boys and girls teams blew away the competition with two first-place finishes. Each team beat their nearest opponent by about 30 points.

The girls team put five runners in the top ten, including Brittany Jensen (second), Evie McCullough (fourth), Kheirra Keith (sixth), Sariah Sweeten (seventh), and Sincere Nez (tenth).

The boys team raced in a similar fashion with five runners in the top ten as well. They were led by Kyle Begay who raced to a first-place finish. He was followed by Platt Lyman (second), Noah Begay (fourth), Miken Keith (sixth), and Keegan McCullough (ninth).

In the high school division, both the boys and girls teams raced well. In the girls varsity division the San Juan runners had a slew of individual personal bests. Ella Lyman led the female runners, finishing in sixth.

She was followed by Saylor Perkins who ran a personal best by over ten seconds. Sofie Hook followed in 18th. She was followed by Taryn Nielson in 20th. Nielson ran a fantastic race, topping her personal best by several minutes.

Tzosilah Etsitty (21st) and Megan Black (22nd) rounded out the Lady Bronco runners. Both Etsitty and Black also set personal records by several minutes.

In the boys varsity race, Edward Lyman followed a pack of six Grand Junction runners to finish seventh overall with a time of 17:40. Following Lyman was Ryan McCullough in tenth place. McCullough set his fourth personal record of the season with an 18:35.

McCullough was followed by three runners in 14th, 15th, and 16th: Spencer Jensen (19:08), Abe Lyman (19:14), and Daniel Jolley (19:34). Rounding out the varsity runners were Tatum Begay in 19th (21:17) and Dakota Long in 20th (21:32).

In the boys junior varsity division three runners placed in the top ten. Logan Keith raced to a fifth-place finish with a time of 20:28, five minutes faster than his previous best time. Keith’s speedy performance would have put him in sixth place for the Broncos had he raced in the varsity division.

Tayden Bitsoie also placed in the top ten in the JV division with a time of 21:18 and an eighth-place finish. He was followed by Austin Pincock who placed ninth with a time of 21:45.

The Broncos next meet isn’t until September 15 at the Kanab Golf Course. In Kanab, the Broncos will have the opportunity to compete against region teams and preview the region course.