San Juan track team earns six individual region titles as boys take 2nd, girls 4th

by Rhett Sifford
Sports Editor
The San Juan High School boys track and field team scored 90.5 points to finish second in the Region 15 Championships this past Tuesday, May 7 at North Sevier High School in Salina.
Their performance came in just 15 points shy of the region champion North Summit score. The girls team collected 21 points to take fourth in their division.
The Broncos were third in the region with 111.5 combined points behind North Summit, who scored 272.5, and North Sevier with 177.0.
At the region meet only the top six finishers in each event scored points with eight going to the winner; six to the runner-up; and four, three, two, and one to third through seventh places respectively.
Edward Lyman had a banner day with three individual region championships and one second-place finish, scoring an impressive 30 points for his team.
He won the 800 meter, 1600, and 3200 with times of 2:08.56, 4:42.15, and 10:03.60 respectively. His runner-up finish came in the 400 meter and his time of 52.55 was just .78 off the winner’s pace.
Brigham Nielson took the region title in the 300-meter hurdles, crossing the line in 41.42 seconds. He just missed an additional win in the 110 hurdles when he finished a minuscule .15 of a second behind the winner with his time of 16.11.
Nielson also took fifth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.67 and he was part of the 4x100 relay team that got second in 45.58. So he scored 16 individual points and six team points.
His teammates in the 4x100 were Josiah LaPalmer, Lynnox Benn, and Zack Conway. Speaking of Conway, he took sixth in the boys 200-meter dash with a solid time of 23.70.
Tripp Palmer had a great day in Salina also, winning the region championship in the high jump when he cleared six feet, four inches. He also finished third in the javelin with a 140-7.75 and sixth in the long jump with an 18-10.25.
Jared Burke won the shot put with a 43-foot, two inch effort. He took fifth in the boys discus with a 102-7.25.
The Broncos got runners-up performances in the high jump with Keaton Ivins’s 5-10.0 and the javelin with Miken Keith’s 141-5.0. Ivins also got fourth in the long jump with a 20-1.0.
And the boys 4x400 relay team of Stetson Black, Rosendo Martine, Kalius Benally, and Cooper Laws took sixth with their time of 4:04.20.
Among the girls there were two runners-up finishes with Keezie Flannery jumping four feet, ten inches in the high jump and Savannah Richmond zinging the discus 102 feet, 5.5 inches, which was just five inches shy of the winner’s distance.
Flannery was also part of a fourth-place finish in the 4x100 and a fifth-place result in the 4x400. Her teammates in the 100 were Reaghan Laws, Addison Helquist, and Jordan Jones. Helquist, Laws, and Megan Palmer ran with her in the 400.
Hayden Shumway took fourth place in the girls shot put with a nice 29-foot, four inch effort. And Sincere Nez came home sixth in the 1600 meter with a time of 6:06.57.
Next up for the Broncos is the 2024 2A Utah State Track and Field Meet. It’s this Thursday through Saturday, May 16-18 at BYU’s Clarence Robison Track and Field Stadium in Provo.