High school cross country: Panguitch sweeps 1A boys, girls state titles

Panguitch might’ve lacked the front runners at Tuesday’s 1A cross country state championship, but it made up for it with depth, and the result was a couple of state championships.

Depth carried Panguitch’s boys and girls cross country teams to 1A state titles at Sugar House Park, a fifth straight title for the girls and the first title for the boys since 2016.

The top finisher for Panguitch’s boys was Josh Perez, who finished in 10^th place, but its other three runners finished in 13^th, 14^th and 27^th place as the Bobcats tallied 64 teams to slip past Bryce Valley by two points. Monticello finished third with a 72.

Two weeks ago at the Region 20 championships, Bryce Valley nipped Panuitch by three points, but the Bobcats got some redemption on Tuesday at state to claim their first boys cross country state title since going back-to-back in 2015 and 2016.

“Sometimes over the years, we’ve had kids that did cross country to train for another sport, but these guys do cross country because they love cross country and want to do well in cross country,” said Panguitch coach Danny Yardley.

One of the biggest keys for Panguitch has been the emergence of Panguitch senior Brayden Frandsen, who Yardley jokes has kind of been their JUCO transfer. He didn’t run cross country his freshman and sophomore year, but he did the past two season and his 27^th place finish on Tuesday was critical to beating Bryce Valley.

“We didn’t have him the first years with the last two kind of got it figured out, but he was the difference today,” said Yardley.

The 1A boys individual title belonged to Manila senior Daniel Draper, who pulled away late to finish with a time of 16:37.70. Rich’s Dax Jolley — who Draper lost to at region a couple weeks ago — finished second with a time of 16:44.21.

Draper finished in second place a year ago after leading for most of the race. He tried running a smarter race a year later to conserve energy for the home stretch, which he did pulling away in the final 400 meters.

“Last year the winner told me that I should stay back, run slower than I thought should for most of the race and pull forward at the end. So I tried that this year,” said Draper.

He said the win made up for the frustration of coming of so close a year ago.

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For the girls race, the individual title was never really in question. Rich junior Lyda Taylor went out fast and never slowed down in a dominant 55-second victory.

“I feel I’ve done that every race, just gone out fast, so I was just gonna do it in because that’s what I’m used to, and usually it’s pretty successful,” said Taylor, who won with a time of 19:14.64. Panguitch’s Halle Albrecht finished second in 20:09.46, with Bryce Valley’s Gen Syrett in third in 20:18.35.

Taylor finished sixth at state last season, but put in the work this past summer by running the flat and hilly terrain around Randolph to be prepared for the tough course at Sugar House Park. It paid off in dominant fashion.

For Panguitch’s girls, most of its depth was at the front of the pack. Along with Halle Albrecht’s second-place finish, Brooke Albrecht finished in fourth place, with Annie Yardley in fifth.

Panguitch’s final placer was Sophie Woolsey in 22^nd place as the Bobcats won with a team score of 33 points. Milford finished second with 45 points.

“A lot of them have been battling injury, and so they’ve been on the bike a lot, and just trying to keep going with as much as they could, without being able to actually run,” said Panguitch coach Megan Albrecht. “To have them show up today, to be able to run was so, so huge and so big for them. So it’s been hard battling injuries, but it happens, they really come out on top.”

Class 1A Girls State Championship

Team scores

1. Panguitch, 33
2. Milford, 45
3. Wayne, 71
4. Valley, 73
5. Bryce Valley, 76
6. St Joseph, 111
7. Whitehorse, 126
8. Piute, 128
9. Rich, 129
10. Monticello, 167

Girls individual results

1. Lyda Taylor, Rich, Jr., 19:14.64
2. Halle Albrecht, Panguitch, So., 20:09.46
3. Gen Syrett, Bryce Valley, Fr., 20:18.35
4. Brooke Albrecht, Panguitch, Sr., 20:26.49
5. Annie Yardley, Panguitch, Jr., 20:47.33
6. Ava Snedegar, Wayne, So., 20:51.40
7. Paige Smith, Rich, Sr., 20:58.17
8. Dakota Monroe, Milford, Sr., 21:14.01
9. Kloe Crofts, Valley, So., 21:19.21
10. Lydia George, Milford, Jr., 21:30.50
11. Allie Carling, Monticello, So., 21:36.67
12. Alania Grundy, Wayne, Fr., 22:05.06
13. Halli Rowley, Milford, Sr., 22:14.08
14. Skylee Pectol, Milford, Fr., 22:16.77
15. Miranda Beesley, Bryce Valley, Fr., 22:18.35
16. Kytalin Roundy, Valley, Fr., 22:25.29
17. Maria Yellowman, Whitehorse, So., 22:34.03
18. Laylah Benally, Whitehorse, So., 22:50.26
19. Anysia Pinchak, St Joseph, Jr., 22:52.52
20. Krystalia Nelson, Valley, Jr., 22:54.46
21. Destri Morrill, Piute, So., 23:02.34
22. Sophie Woolsey, Panguitch, Fr., 23:07.54
23. Kira Platt, Bryce Valley, Sr., 23:10.18
24. Jenna Erickson, Wayne, So., 23:20.36
25. Shauna Jessop, Water Canyon, So., 23:22.66
26. Paislee Nelson, Altamont, Jr., 23:33.28
27. Samantha Russo, St Joseph, Sr., 23:36.24
28. Kassidee Cox, Valley, So., 23:38.08
29. Cambria Torgrimson, Wayne, Fr., 23:42.60
30. Elayna Wood, Mount Vernon Academy, So., 23:49.40
31. Sydney Remund, Piute, Fr., 23:53.54
32. Ava Volpe, St Joseph, So., 23:53.56
33. Campbell Jones, St Joseph, Sr., 23:55.79
34. Alycia Sedillo, Milford, Sr., 23:56.41
35. Jenna Platt, Bryce Valley, So., 23:56.56
36. Braylee Randall, Piute, Fr., 23:57.18
37. Kamrie Peterson, Wayne, Fr., 23:58.47
38. Teka Triplett, Manila, Fr., 23:59.98
39. Hannah Clark, Whitehorse, Sr., 24:21.02
40. Danilynn Springer, Piute, So., 24:35.03
41. Caitlin Jones, St Joseph, So., 24:38.38
42. Mikaylah Gillette, Monticello, So., 24:40.69
43. Marissa Richardson, Tintic, Sr., 24:41.78
44. Summer Atene, Monument Valley, So., 25:01.11
45. Emma Baker, EskDale, So., 25:12.61
46. Kenadi King, Piute, Sr., 25:15.72
47. Grace Tebbs, Panguitch, Jr., 25:19.92
48. Bostyn Randall, Piute, Fr., 25:21.34
49. Raquel Triplett, Manila, Fr., 25:30.00
50. Aniston Talbot, Piute, Fr., 25:51.15

Class 1A Boys State Championship

Team scores

1. Panguitch, 64
2. Bryce Valley, 66
3. Monticello, 72
4. Water Canyon, 95
5. Milford, 107
6. Manila, 111
7. Rich, 112
8. Tintic, 115
9. Whitehorse, 136
10. Valley, 142

Boys individual results

1. Daniel Draper, Manila, Sr., 16:37.70
2. Dax Jolley, Rich, So., 16:44.21
3. Josiah Thompson, Water Canyon, Jr., 16:59.47
4. Nolan Cox, Valley, So., 17:03.64
5. Eli Carling, Monticello, So., 17:12.95
6. Kooper Nielson, Monticello, Sr., 17:15.07
7. Taj Morse, Bryce Valley, Jr., 17:15.08
8. Fidel Pena, Tintic, Jr., 17:15.34
9. Masen Brown, Tintic, Sr., 17:21.17
10. Josh Perez, Panguitch, Sr., 17:30.86
11. Ethan Begay, Whitehorse, Sr., 17:30.89
12. Boden Syrett, Bryce Valley, Fr., 17:35.75
13. Lincoln Henrie, Panguitch, Jr., 17:42.61
14. Curtis Henrie, Panguitch, Jr., 17:46.41
15. Vincent Pace, Dugway, Sr., 17:49.63
16. Elam Etsitty, Whitehorse, Sr., 18:07.58
17. Kamdon Spaulding, Milford, So., 18:09.11
18. Matthew Allred, Water Canyon, Jr., 18:09.50
19. Scott Wakefield, Rich, So., 18:21.73
20. Charlie Welch, Monticello, Jr., 18:27.87
21. Blake Peterson, Wayne, Sr., 18:34.61
22. Clay Gray, Bryce Valley, Jr., 18:35.83
23. Rylan Hallows, Wayne, So., 18:39.65
24. Trexton Spaulding, Milford, Sr., 18:40.78
25. Chris Beesley, Bryce Valley, Jr., 18:41.02
26. Chase Bistline, Water Canyon, Jr., 18:41.87
27. Brayden Frandsen, Panguitch, Sr., 18:49.42
28. James Cook, St Joseph, Fr., 18:57.69
29. Zadok Griffin, Escalante, So., 19:02.78
30. Noah Peck, Altamont, So., 19:14.32
31. Logan Platt, Manila, Jr., 19:18.80
32. Josiah Gipe, Monument Valley, Sr., 19:19.61
33. Trenden Thompson, Milford, Sr., 19:21.82
34. Arturo Fernandez, Bryce Valley, Fr., 19:22.54
35. Sebastian Mendez, Milford, So., 19:24.12
36. Dallin Lee, Valley, Jr., 19:32.80
37. Hutson Robinson, Rich, Fr., 19:36.59
38. Levi Platt, Manila, Jr., 19:37.73
39. Xander Griffin, Escalante, Jr., 19:41.93
40. Hyatt Thomas, Whitehorse, So., 19:44.99
41. Hudson Burningham, Panguitch, Fr., 19:47.18
42. Linden English, Monticello, Fr., 19:47.50
43. DJ Potter, Manila, Jr., 20:02.84
44. Parker Henrie, Panguitch, Fr., 20:02.88
45. Preston Arnold, Altamont, So., 20:02.94
46. Aleihs Hayes, Pinnacle, So., 20:10.77
47. Alex Conder, Tintic, Jr., 20:16.79
48. Jonathan Platt, Bryce Valley, Jr., 20:18.36
49. Mosiah Allred, Water Canyon, Sr., 20:19.07
50. Ammon Lacey, Valley, Jr., 20:23.12