San Juan boys snag top-ten finish at state track and field meet

by Jessica Walker
Contributing Writer
The San Juan Broncos finished their track and field season with several standout performances in the 2022 2A Utah State Track and Field Championships this past Friday and Saturday, May 20-21 at BYU in Provo.
The boys team scored 29 points to finish tenth in the state and the girls picked up 12 points to take 14th. Combined, the Broncos finished in 12th with 41 points.
In a relay where seconds and even milliseconds matter, the boys 4x100 team made every moment count. Besting their Region 19 Championship time and taking second was the quartet of Josh Nielson, Magnum Nielson, Eion Kaer, and Zack Conway.
Magnum Nielson and Conway both also placed in their individual events and in the 4x100 relay. Elevating himself to first place all-time in San Juan history, Nielson threw 152 feet 10.25 inches to finish second in the javelin. He also finished seventh in the long jump.
After setting personal records in the preliminaries of the 100 and 200 meter, Conway qualified for the finals in both events, ultimately finishing eighth in both races.
Closing out a sensational first season in track and field, Hudson Whatcott, a junior, jumped five feet ten inches to place third in the high jump.
Whatcott’s jump was two inches shy of his personal best, set at the BYU Invitational just weeks earlier, but was impressive nonetheless. He also finished eighth in the long jump.
Ryleigh Laws ran the 800 meter in 2:36.39 to finish sixth in the competition. To put her performance in perspective, it represents the highest ranking for a Bronco in the girls 800 meter in a state meet since Kelli Meyer’s fifth-place finish in 2011. Her time trails only two athletes’ times in San Juan history.
In the 100-meter hurdles, Leah Castellon hurdled her way to a personal record in the preliminaries and later a sixth-place finish in the event finals.
The girls 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams also had great success with seventh and fifth-place finishes respectively.
Edward Lyman posted a time of 10:38.75 in the 3200 meter to earn a seventh-place finish. Lyman’s performance defeated two of the athletes who bested him at the region meet and was another double-digit personal record for the sophomore.