High school cross-country: Panguitch wins 5th consecutive girls title, Monticello freshman led the Buckaroos to boys state title at 1A state meet

There was only one word going through Panguitch’s Brooke Albrecht’s head during her race, “patience.”
Despite performing well earlier in the season in her previous years, Albrecht struggled to put it all together at the state meets. So, she made sure this year was different.
“The main thing I’m trying to focus on was just patience,” said Albrecht. “In my past races, I’ve had experiences where I’ve gone out way too hard and paid for it the end. Today I just really tried to settle in the first few miles and then just go if I was feeling good, and I was feeling good.”
The Bobcats’ junior sticked to her strategy and dominated the 1A Girls state meet with a 19:21.02 finish, which was a full 31 seconds faster than second place. Panguitch head coach Danny Yardley was delighted to see Albrecht finally achieve her goals at the state meet.
“Brooke had the fastest time coming in last year and her state tournaments have been really hard,” said Yardley. “She got sick last year, so today for her it was just run while not overthinking it. I’m just so happy for because she’s had some rough days at state in cross country and track, so for her to come through today was awesome.”
Albrecht lead the strong finish for Panguitch, which won its fifth consecutive title and its 10th since 2011. The Bobcats Annie Yardley contributed to Panguitch’s state title with a fifth place finish with a time of 20:10.79. Panguitch ended the day with four of its runners finishing in the top 12.
The boys race was tight up until the end, with Valley’s Warren Spencer taking the individual title after getting some separation in the final 800 yards. Spencer finished with a time of 17:23.32, just about two seconds ahead of Manila’s Daniel Draper.
Spencer knew he didn’t need to get out to an early lead and he trailed for about two miles of the three mile race. However, he kicked it into high gear on the back half of the course and it payed off with an individual championship. It was the only first place finish Spencer had at a meet this year, and as he put it, it was the one that mattered most.
“I couldn’t have hoped for anything better,” said Spencer. “I’m truly blessed and I’m super grateful. My coach had a really good plan to start the first mile pretty slow and then speed up as the race went on and it worked really well.
“At about 800 meters to go, I decided to kick it in. I was in second place at the time and I ended up passing the kid and winning. It was pretty cool for me. First win this season and it was the one that mattered.”
Monticello took home the team championship with a tight finish over Panguitch. Monticello had a score of 59, while Panguitch ended with 61. It was the second consecutive championship for the decorated Buckaroo program, which also earned its 13th state boys cross country title in program history.
Monticello freshman Eli Carling was the top runner for the Buckaroos with a fourth place finish. Though the pack of Monticello runners of Kaden Pehrson, Aaron Gillette, and Kooper Nielson also helped push the Buckaroos over Panguitch for the 2024 state title.
“They care about each other, they work together and they push each other. I think Eli jumping in really helped us pull this together and helped us realize that we could do it again. It was great to have a freshman jump in and lead us to a state championship.
Team scores
Girls individual results (top 50)
Team scores
Boys individual results (top 50)