On the trail with X Country

SPORTS SHORTS
It was a horse and cowboy show Friday at Loyd’s Lake in Monticello, as the local cross country teams captured every individual and team title in the annual high school race.
Macee Nielson of Monticello “destroyed” the women’s record on the scenic 3.1 mile course, recording a time of 18:56, a time which would have placed her fourth in the boys race.  The old record, 19:33, was sent packing to the showers. 
San Juan’s Katie Hiatt led a sterling pack of Bronco Lady Harriers to the line in second place at 20:58.  The Lady Broncos, Hiatt, Brielle Francom, McKenzie Ward, Kendra Parker, and Kelli Meyer finished 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th and 10th to easily capture the team title over the Lady Buckaroos.  Top ten finishers along with Nielson for the Bucks are Brittany Keith (8th) and Loren Randall (9th).
In the boys race, the Bronco boys subjugated all to their collective will, with Jade Grover capturing first place with a quick time of 17:52, followed by fellow Bronco Taylor Francom in 18:11.   In fact, seven fellow Broncos crossed the finish line in the first nine places, with Dallin Jacobsen, Brandon Deschene, Ty Hosler, Christian Sherrow, and Chase Chamberlain finishing within 15 seconds of each other to place fourth, fifth, seventh, eighth, and ninth.  That’s pack running at it’s best, I believe. 
Only Whitehorse Raider Cordelton Benn (3rd) and Buckaroo Easton Nielson (7th), were able to crack the Bronco horde.
The junior high races belonged to the Buckaroos individually as Bailey Goodwine Maceenielson-ed the junior girls field, finishing 40 seconds ahead of her closest competitor, Sina Yellowman of Whitehorse. 
Cambria Welch ran a fine race to finish third and  Hannah Getter raced her way into an ARL bunch from Blanding to finish sixth.  Elena Mitchell and Nancy Johnson finished ninth and tenth respectively to give the girls from Monticello the first junior high win over ARL in some time. 
Whitney Jacobsen (4), Nizhoni Yazzie (5), Sharla Yanito (7), and Alexia Stash (8) all finished in the top ten to give the ARL girls second place. 
Buckaroo Jens Brewer cruised to a convincing win in the junior high boys race, besting two Whitehorse runners, Tilton Dennison and Jonathon Lewis, by more than 30 seconds. 
Buckaroo Everett Hatch claimed fourth place, just seconds before a wave of blue crossed the line for ARL.  The Blanding boys were just close enough to squeeze out a three point team victory over the Raiders from Whitehorse. 
Mikel Palmer, Cole Chamberlain, Wil Toshonii, Brendon Pugh, and Patten Black claimed fifth, sixth, eighth, ninth, and tenth. 
Antonio Yazzie claimed a seventh place finish for the Raiders.  Twenty of the 34 junior high runners were from ARL, so look for the future of Bronco cross country to stay bright.
Football
“Ok, this is more like it,” came the collective sigh of relief from the Buckaroo football team, after they found the winning column with an impressive  41-26 win over the Layton Christian Soaring Eagles on Friday in far away Layton, UT. 
Kendall Maughan leapt into the game with 126 yards rushing and two touchdowns.  Senior QB Devin Wright also scored twice, on a spectacular 92-yard kickoff return in the first quarter and a 17-yard run in the third quarter. He also gained 93 rushing yards as the Bucks rushed for an impressive 306 yards as a team. 
Jake Duncan caught three passes to keep the Eagle defense off guard.  Wright also led the Buckaroo defense with 10 tackles, followed by freshman Austin Wilcox, who made nine tackles from his defensive end position and Coltan Mussleman, who had eight tackles. 
This week is homecoming for the Bucks as they faceoff against the Rich Rebels in an important 1A contest.
The Broncos are leaving few doubters in their wake as they kept rolling in remarkable fashion with a bruising 18-7 win over 3A Grantsville. 
The Broncos, like the Bucks, didn’t let a long bus ride slow them down as they scored early and then relied on a becoming-legendary defense to stifle the Cowboys’ efforts. 
Stetler Shumway was his usual tackling-dervish self, with 12 tackles.  And the Bronco front line did a number on the Grantsville quarterback, recording six sacks on the night, including two each by Kevin Arthur and Taj Eldredge.  AJ Slavens and Grady Shumway each had a sack as well.  Arthur now has seven sacks on the year with Slavens racking up five. 
This week finds the Broncos on the road again, this time in Kamas for a significant region game against the South Summit Wildcats, a rematch of the 2A title game last year.

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