The Grand County High School (GCHS) track and field team won the boys and overall title at the Temple View Qualifier in Manti on Friday, April 5, easily besting the field in the boys division despite not getting the relay contributions to which they’re accustomed.
In the boys division, the GCHS Red Devils scored 130 points, while second place Emery had 91 and Richfield had 67. GCHS tied for fifth in the girls division with 50 points, despite missing several athletes.
GCHS’s boys didn’t compete in the 4×100-meter relay and took 12th in the medley, but did get four points via fifth-place finish in the 4×400-meter relay.
They made up for it in individual action, however, as Eli Hazlett won the 100-meter (11.28), 200-meter (22.51) and 400-meter (50.43) races, and Connor Guerrero won both the 110-meter hurdles (16.10) and 300-meter hurdles (42.54). Guerrero also placed second in the 200-meters (23.24) and seventh in the 100-meters (11.90).
“We were missing soccer players Stacy Randall and Nolan Ramirez, which hurt us especially in relays, but Eli got three first places and Connor won both of the hurdles,” GCHS track and field coach Dennis Wells said. “We put Connor in the 200, which he doesn’t normally run, and he took second and qualified for state.”
Wells said that he may place another athlete in one of the relays Guerrero had been on, and have him continue to run in the 200-meters and both hurdles.
In addition to Hazlett and Guerrero, GCHS got strong running contributions from Corbin Arbon and Malachi Ricks.
Arbon placed third in the 200-meters (23.83), sixth in the 100-meters (11.87) and sixth in the long jump (19 feet, 5.5 inches), while Ricks placed second in the 3200-meters (10:32.15).
GCHS had several athletes excel in field work, getting a win from Carlin Bierschied in the shot put (44 feet, 1.5 inches), and a runner-up from Kaine Allred in the long jump (20 feet, 1 inch).
“Kaine’s getting more consistent,” Wells said. “He got stronger with each jump.”
Austin Johnson placed fourth in the shot put (41 feet, 7 inches) and Jarom Shumway placed fifth (40 feet, 10 inches).
In the discus, Shumway placed third (114 feet) and Bierschied placed fifth (104 feet, 10 inches), and in the javelin Dante Wells placed fifth (135 feet, 1 inch).
For the girls, Kylah Ricks placed first in both the 800-meters (2:29.69) and the 1600-meters (5:32.41), but didn’t run in the 3200-meters, another distance of which she’s the top-ranked runner in 3A. In the 3200, Jessie Anderson took eighth (13:49.15).
The Lady Red Devils’ other big points came from Veda Gritts, who won the shot put (37 feet, 6 inches) and placed second in the javelin (106 feet, 6 inches). She scratched all three of her throws in the discus, in which she’s ranked No. 1 in 3A. Morgan Lewis also scored five points for GCHS, taking fourth in the high jump (4 feet, 10 inches).
The GCHS Red Devils head to Price on Saturday, April 13 for the Eastern Utah Farm Bureau Invitational in Price, beginning at 9 a.m.
“We’ll be missing some of our seniors this weekend so we won’t be as strong as usual, but we’ll be okay,” Wells said.
Hazlett, Guerrero rack up wins in five sprint events
“We put Connor in the 200, which he doesn’t normally run, and he took second and qualified for state.”
