Contributing Writer
More than 500 high school and middle school runners flooded to the Carbon County Golf Course last week to compete in the Carbon Cross Country Invitational. Busses from all over the state filled the parking lot, and runners enjoyed the plush terrain underfoot.
The lady Dinos placed 3rd as a team. Only Juab and Uintah High Schools outpaced Carbon’s girls. Regan Hansen crossed the finish line 5th, running the 5K in 20 minutes 10.6 seconds. Emma Haddock was close behind earning 11th place at 21:14.6 and following with a time of 21:29.7, Grace Broadbear finished 15th. “It was really fun to have so many spectators there, and that really helps us to run faster. Our coaches put a lot of work in for that meet, and it ran really well,” Hansen added .
James Bryner and Jacob Jewkes led Carbon’s boys varsity team with times of 17:44.9 and 17:47.8 respectively. Overall the boys placed 4th, behind Uintah, Grand and Payson. Having the home course advantage bolstered the Dinos, “I love the course. It doesn’t have a lot of hills and our team always runs well on it,” explained Bryner. In JV, Shane Scaugaard, a sophomore, led the Dinos placing 8th, running 19:29.9.
Mont Harmon, Helper and Pinnacle competed in the middle school division. Mont Harmon Pirates placed 6th. Their top runners were Boyd Bradford (18th) at 10:29:17 and Easton Humes (21st) with 10:30.9. Alex Callahan ran for the Helper Rams coming in at 11:06.4. Pinnacle Middle School’s team made a nice showing coming in 9th. Michael Schmitz ran a 11:28.5 and Dalton Peirce crossed the finish line at 12:24.6.
Stuart Foster Invitational
In Huntington on September 18, Carbon varsity boys swept the top 9 places at the Stuart Foster Invitational, stealing first from the other teams with a low score of 15. With the gold, Jacob Jewkes ran 18:41.8 and James Bryner brought home silver running 18:43. Anthony Jones, Adam Morley, Ammon Wilson and Mackinnon Lyman followed close behind. Pinnacle High School placed 3rd as Landen Hardy earned 10th individually.
The varsity girls came down to a battle between Carbon and Pinnacle High Schools. Regan Hansen outpaced the pack by 2 seconds with a time of 21:13.8 to take 1st place. Shannon Baker came in 2nd. Third and fourth went to juniors Astasia Gomez and Megan Swasey. The Panthers came in next with Savana Dart and Kaeley Taylor.
“It was a small meet. We ran a loop around the reservoir. It was beautiful even though it was windy,” Hansen said.