The Grand County High School track and field team brought home boys’ victories in both meets in which they competed this week, while the girls placed third at the Darrel Gardner Invitational in Castle Dale on Tuesday, March 20, and second at the Blue Mountain Invitational in Blanding on Saturday, March 24.
The Grand boys won both meets despite not having their full team for either meet, with runners on both days either missing the meet or not competing in their normal allotment of events for a variety of reasons. In short-to-medium distance sprinting events, several runners ran different events on Tuesday and Saturday.
The boys scored 147 points to outpace host Emery’s 133 and Richfield’s 111. Sophomore Evan Ellison opened the day with a photo finish in the 3200, placing second at 10:33.24 behind Richfield senior Jonathan Monsen at 10:33.23. Ellison also placed fourth in the 1600 at 4:58.09.
Grand had winners in both hurdle events with senior Ruben Villalpando taking the 110-meters at 17.36 and junior Connor Guerrero taking the 300-meters at 43.22. Sophomore Eli Hazlett placed second in the 400-meter race at 53.37, while also taking third in the 100 at 12.10 and the 200 at 23.87. Guerrero placed fourth in the 200 at 23.93, while junior Trent Elmore placed third in the 400 at 53.94 and fifth in the 200 at 24.09. The Red Devil boys also placed second in both the 4×400-meter and medley relays.
In throwing events, sophomore Jayden Dowd decisively won the javelin at 152 feet, 9 inches, while junior Jarom Shumway placed second in the shot put at 40 feet, 6 inches, and sixth in the discus at 94 feet, 3 inches. Sophomore Carlin Bierschied placed third in the shot put at 39 feet, 11 inches. In the jumping events, junior Teddy Park took second in the high jump at 5 feet, 8 inches; while junior Nolan Ramirez placed sixth in the long jump at 19 feet, 5 inches.
The girls were led to a third-place finish by freshman Kylah Ricks, who won the 3200-meter race at 12:11.63 and the 1600-meter race at 5:47.58, while also running the 800-meter leg of the first-place medley relay, and along with Anika Scherer, Abby Mason and Annabelle Garrett, ran a 4:46.21.
Junior Veda Gritts won both the shot put at 32 feet, 5 inches, and the discus at 97 feet, 9 inches. She placed fourth in the javelin at 100 feet, 3 inches. Teammate Shane Stroder, also a junior, placed second in the shot put at 31 feet, 10 inches.
The Red Devil boys won for the second time in less than a week Saturday in Blanding with 159.5 points, while Carbon had 152 points and Monticello had 81. Carbon won the girls division with 185 points, while Grand was a distant second with 109 and host San Juan was third with 97.
Guerrero led the boys with victories in both the 200-meters (23.98) and the 300-meter hurdles (43.31), while also placing second in the 100-meters (12.13). Ramirez placed first in the 400-meters (54.57) and Villalpando placed first in the 110-meter hurdles (16.53).
Grand’s boys also placed near the top in all three throwing events as Bierschied won the shot put at 43 feet, ½ inch; while Shumway took second at 42 feet, 9.5 inches. Shumway placed second in the discus as well (94 feet, 10 inches), while Bierschied placed sixth (89 feet, 4.5 inches). Dowd again won the javelin (136 feet, 4 inches), with junior Austin Johnson in third (124 feet, 2 inches) and Villalpando in sixth (113 feet, 2 inches).
For the girls, sophomore Ali Hirt won the 800-meter race (2:37.71) and placed third in both the 1600-meter race (5:53.83) and the 3200-meter race (13:19.22). Gritts and Stroder also placed well in throwing events as Gritts won the javelin (106 feet, 1 inch) ahead of Stroder in sixth (79 feet); Stroder won the discus (91 feet, 6 inches) ahead of Gritts in fifth (90 feet, 7 inches); and Gritts placed third in the shot put (31 feet, 11.5 inches) while Stroder placed fourth (30 feet, 11.5 inches).
The Red Devils return to the San Juan High track on Wednesday, April 4, in a tuneup for the Temple View Invitational in Manti on Friday, April 6, at 2 p.m.
Red Devil girls place in top three in both meets
