The Grand County High School track and field team had its boys take third and girls fourth at the Eastern Utah Championships on Friday, April 28, in Moab. The Red Devils placed second among 2A schools in both divisions.
In the boys’ division, 3A Uintah placed first with 133 points, followed by Emery with 111, Grand with 99 and San Juan a distant fourth with 69.5. On the girls’ side, 3A Carbon took first with 195.5 points, Emery was second with 99, Uintah was third with 82 and Grand was fourth with 66; Duchesne placed fifth with 56.5.
The Lady Red Devils got to the top of the podium in three individual events, netting more than half of their points for the meet in the three wins. Auburn Jackman won the 400-meter race at 1:03.32, Jayelen Knowles won the 1,600-meter race at 5:46.50 and Halli Stocks won the discus with a mammoth 103-foot, 5-inch throw, besting second place by almost 12 feet. The girls also had a pair of third-place relay performances, running the 4×400-meters in 4:51.13 and the medley in 4:40.20.
Other scoring finishes (finishes in the top eight) came from Alethia Hirt, who placed fourth in the 1,600-meters at 5:58.9, and fifth in the 800-meters at 2:40.69. Knowles placed sixth in both the 800- and 3,200-meter races at 2:41.14 and 13:07.62. Megan Pfnister placed fourth in the 300-meter hurdles at 51.94 and Abby Mason placed fifth in the long jump at 14 feet, 6.5 inches. Hannah Stripeika nearly scored for the Lady Red Devils, finishing ninth in both the 1,600- and 3,200-meter races.
Rounding out a strong afternoon at home, Delaney Olsen placed 12th in the javelin at 76 feet, 9 inches; Jackman placed 13th in the 200-meters at 30.14; and Mason placed 14th in the 100-meters at 14.51.
The boys had two individual event wins, both coming from Ryan Lewis, who won the 800- and 1,600-meter races at 2:09.53 and 4:47.70. Lewis also placed second in the 3,200-meter race at 10:45.74, behind Uintah’s Kedric Palmer, who ran it at 10:39.81. Hot on Lewis’ heels in all three races was Evan Ellison, who finished third in the 3,200-meters at 10:46.25, fourth in the 1,600-meters at 4:51.60 and ninth in the 800-meters at 2:17.91.
Grand also had boys place second in two events as Ruben Villalpando was the runner-up in the 110-meter hurdles at 17.16, and Teddy Park was the runner-up in the high jump at 6 feet, matching the first-place height, but taking second as it took him more tries.
The Red Devils matched the Lady Red Devils’ total of three event wins by taking the medley at 3:55.72 with a combination of Lewis, Taylor Horton, Connor Guerrero and Nolan Ramirez. Grand also placed third in the 4×400-meters at 3:46.83.
Guerrero got on the board in two individual races, taking fifth in the 300-meter hurdles at 44.78, and seventh in the 200-meters at 24.36. Ramirez had one such race, taking seventh in the 400-meters at 54.44. Horton finished ninth in the high jump at 5 feet 2 inches, just behind younger brother Tyson Horton’s eighth place jump of 5 feet 4 inches.
Grand’s Trent Elmore had a pair of scoring finishes, taking fifth in the 400-meters at 54:44, and sixth in the 200-meters at 23.63; Elmore also placed ninth in the 100-meters at 12:00. Teammate Jarom Shumway scored three times, twice in running events and once in a throwing event as he placed fourth in the shot put at 40 feet, seven inches; seventh in the 110-meter hurdles at 18.01; and eighth in the 300-meter hurdles at 46.99. Teammate Jayden Dowd added a fifth-place finish in the discus at 102 feet, 1 inch, and a ninth-place finish in the javelin at 124 feet, 10 inches. Grand also got a ninth-place finish from Mackay Wakefield in the 200-meters (24.70) and a 12th-place finish from Cameron Wakefield in the 800-meters (2:18.44).
The Red Devils are next scheduled to run at the BYU Invitational on Friday and Saturday, May 5 and 6, in Provo as a final test before Grand hosts the Region 15 Championships on Wednesday, May 10, beginning at 10 a.m.
Grand boys take 3rd, girls 4th at Eastern Utah Championships
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