Strong outings for the San Juan track team in Vernal and Monticello

Over the course of the past two weeks the San Juan High School track and field team got solid performances at the Uintah Invitational in Vernal April 17 and at the Blue Mountain Invitational in Monticello April 24.

The boys finished seventh and the girls tied for eighth for a combined result of seventh out of 15 teams in Vernal. Both teams finished third to combine for third place out of eight teams in Monticello.

We’ll take a detailed look at both events, focusing on top-ten results at Vernal and top-five in Monticello. Shae Nielson continued her excellent senior season in Vernal with wins in the 300-meter hurdles and 100 hurdles.

She has been one of the best hurdlers in the state all season long and owns the eighth-best 300 hurdle time in the state at 47:34. She ran the event in 48.94 in Vernal.

Nielson also finished fifth in the 200-meter sprint with a time of 28.27 and ninth in the 100 with a 14.00.

Alex Shumway got a nice sixth-place finish in the 100 hurdles with a 19.34 and Leah Castellon rounded out the San Juan scoring in that event with an eighth-place result in 19.48. Castellon also tied for tenth in the 300 hurdles with a time of 56.06.

On the boys side at the Uintah Invite, Landon Black finished fifth in the 100-meter sprint in 12.36. Jensen Grover got a strong third-place finish with a 25.56 in the 200 and Black finished sixth in 25.85.

Brigham Nielson led the Broncos in the 300-meter hurdles with an eighth-place finish in 48-11. Jensen Grover got fifth in the 400-meter with a 55.71.

In the high jump, Tyler Winn cleared five feet, two inches to finish fifth. Magnum Nielson got a 17-05 long jump and Winn leapt 17-01.75 to finish seventh and eighth respectively.

In the shot put, Chance Hoggard got an impressive 42-02.5 to finish second and Jensen Grover earned ninth place with a put of 37-06.

In the boys javelin, Magnum Nielson got second place with a nice toss of 153-01. And in team events, both the girls and boys finished fourth in the sprint medley relay and the boys got fourth place in the 4x100.

The Monticello track team had not hosted an event on the MHS track in 28 years, but on Saturday, April 24, the Blue Mountain Invitational in Monticello was finally renewed after recent renovations were made to the facility.

San Juan athletes had an excellent day at the event despite windy conditions. Once again, Shae Nielson dominated the girls hurdle events, winning the 300-meter and 100-meter. She finished second in the 200-meter sprint also.

Brigham Nielson had a good day for the boys with a win in the 300-meter hurdles and a second-place finish in the 110 hurdles. Chance Hoggard won the shot put with a 40-05.5 and finished fifth in the discus.

Magnum Nielson also stood out for the boys with second-place finishes in the long jump and javelin, sixth place in the 100-meter sprint, and ninth in the 400.

Daniel Jolley finished third in the 300-meter hurdles and fourth in the 110 hurdles. Leah Castellon was third in the girls 300 hurdles, fourth in the 100 hurdles, and fifth in the high jump.

Landon Black picked up a couple fourth-place finishes for the Broncos in the 100 and 200-meter sprints. Abby Jacobson was fourth in the girls 300 hurdles and seventh in the 100 hurdles.

Daniel Williams was fourth in the boys discus and seventh in both the shot put and javelin. Ella Lyman got a fourth-place finish in the girls 800-meter. She was seventh in the high jump and ninth in the 100 hurdles.

Tyler Winn got fifth place for San Juan in the boys long jump and seventh in the high jump. Emily Jacobsen was fifth in the girls 800-meter and tenth in the 100.

In team events, the boys came home second in the sprint medley, the girls 4x100 team earned third place, and the boys 4x100 got fourth.

The teams head to Price for the Eastern Utah Championships on Friday, April 30. The BYU Invitational is set for the following weekend, Friday and Saturday, April 7-8.

Boys soccer
The San Juan boys soccer team picked up their first-ever varsity win, 4-2 over South Sevier in Blanding on Tuesday, April 13. It was the Jensen and Jensen show with brothers Cameron and Spencer scoring all four goals in the victory.

Cameron got a hattrick to impress the home crowd and Spencer added the other tally. Sadly, the next three games were not as kind to the Broncos as Richfield, Emery, and Carbon all served up Region 12 shutouts.

San Juan ended their regular season with a 1-11 record this past week and are currently awaiting the release of the final 3A RPI standings and official state tournament seedings.

The tourney begins this Friday, April 8. Tune in to Redrock 92 for updates on the Broncos’ opponents, game times, and tournament progress.

Girls golf
The Lady Bronco golf team played two matches in as many weeks, with a trip to Price/Helper to play the Carbon Country Club on Thursday, April 15 followed by a semi-home match against Region 12 teams at the Hideout on Wednesday, April 21.

At Carbon Isabel Young tied for fourth place with a nice round of 91 while BrinLi Bowring tied for 15th with a 110.

Three golfers participated in the round at the Hideout, and it was a struggle in high afternoon winds, especially on the back nine. Still, the Lady Broncos got reasonably solid performances.

Young shot a 99, good enough for eighth place out of 28 golfers. Bowring carded a 116 and Kalea Chamberlain shot a 131.

With one regular season match remaining, Young is ranked #3 in Region 12 and Bowring sits in the number 11 spot. The team plays the Cove View Golf Course in Richfield this Thursday, April 29 with Regions coming up next Monday in West Jordan.

Baseball & softball
It was a tough two-week stretch for San Juan stick-and-ball sports. The baseball team suffered two losses to Grand and one to North Sanpete and the softball team dropped three to Carbon, Emery, and Grand.

For the baseball team, all three games were very competitive. On Tuesday, April 13, the Broncos and Red Devils battled to an exciting 12-12 tie at the end of seven innings in Blanding. But Grand beat the home team to the punch, scoring a run in the bottom of the eighth to win 13-12.

When the teams met in Blanding again three days later, they were again tied 7-7 at the end of five innings before the Red Devils scored three in the sixth to take home a 10-7 win.

In Mount Pleasant on Thursday, April 22 against North Sanpete, the Broncos rallied from down 7-2 to score three runs in the final two innings but came up just short in a 7-5 loss.

The losses were a bit more lopsided for the softball team – 16-0 at Carbon on April 13 and 14-1 against Grand at home this past Tuesday, April 20.

But sandwiched in between, the Lady Broncos were in the hunt in a 10-8 loss to Emery in Blanding on April 16, falling just short in a late-inning comeback effort.

For the softball team, that concludes their regular season and they’re awaiting the start of the 3A state tournament next Saturday, May 8.

The baseball team has one final Region 12 doubleheader on the road at South Sevier to close out their regular season this Friday, April 30.