San Juan cross country teams finish third, fourth in Region 18 Meet
by Rhett Sifford
Sports Editor
The San Juan High School boys cross country team finished third and the girls took fourth in the Region 18 Championship Meet at the Thunderbird Golf Course in Mt. Carmel, UT on Wednesday, October 8.
The boys race was exceptionally close with San Juan scoring 60 points – just two points out of the team championship. Enterprise and Grand County tied for the win with 58 points.
Platte Lyman returned to the top spot among San Juan runners in fashion as he set a new three-mile personal record at 17:00.3.
That performance was good enough for third place overall, just seven seconds behind race winner River Shaw of Grand County and five seconds behind runner-up Levi Clarkson of Kanab.
Rosendo Martine was the next Bronco across the line, finishing seventh overall with his very nice run of 17:11.6. Jack Kartchner was 15th overall, crossing the line in 17:57.7 for a new personal record.
Cannon Kartchner and Keegan McCullough came home within five seconds of each other to round out the San Juan boys’ scoring positions. Kartchner was 17th with a personal-best 18:18.3 and McCullough was 18th in 18:23.5.
Three more Broncos finished the three-mile race in the top 27, all within 20 seconds of each other. Jeraden Hurst was 24th in 18:38.8, James Gosney was 26th in 18:55.6, and Noah Begay was 27th in 18:58.8.
As she has all season, Sincere Nez paced the Lady Broncos with a fourth-place overall finish, crossing the line in 20:29.8. Ada Lyman was 11th with her run of 22:46.1.
Harmony Oshley and Braylyn Eddie came in together. Oshley took 27th with a season-best 25:56.3 and Eddie was 28th in 25:57.7 for a new personal record. Rose Kartchner rounded out team scoring with her 33rd-place finish in 27:03.2.
Jourdanae McCook crossed the line in 35th place for the San Juan girls with her nice run of 27:14.1, taking over a minute off her previous three-mile personal best. Sierra Black was 39th overall with a 28:04.6.
Though region championship meets used to decide state meet participation, that hasn’t been the case since 2023 when postseason cross country rules were changed by the Utah High School Activities Association.
The 2025 2A Utah State Cross Country Tournament officially got underway with a “first round” Divisional Meet on Tuesday, October 14 at Lakeshore Park in Orem.
That meet occurred after the San Juan Record print deadline. Be sure to check the October 22 issue for full results.
The championship round of the state tournament is coming up October 28-29 at Sugarhouse Park in Salt Lake City.