Oscar Mills sprints towards the finish line at the Husky Invite. AZ Milesplit Photo.
The Chandler Rotary is upon us. Every year for most of our lifetimes, and most of our parents lifetimes teams have been coming together to compete in the sport of track and field. This truly is a special event in the world of track and field.
Potentially the top male athlete in the event this year is Mountain Pointe's Paul Lucas. His 10.42 and 20.84 times stand head and shoulders above all others in the event. However, as last week proved he is not unbeatable as Brophy's hurdling phenome, Isaiah Oliver, was able to take him down over the 400m meter distance. Look for both Isaiah and Paul to focus on the specialty events at Chandler though.
Other top sprinters that should challenging for a spot on the top all time 100m performances at the meet are Jullian Clark of Copper Canyon, Weston Barlow from Queen Creek and D.J. Ware from Chandler. Jullian Clark has dusted the West Valley competition so this should be his first real challenge of the year. D.J. Ware was in PR shape last week at the New Balance Indoor nationals and looks to lower his 100m time of 10.73. The two hundred should feature many of the same. In addition Isaiah Ford of Desert Vista, Thomas Graham from California and Mojave Nick from Buena all look to figure in the mix has well.
In the 400m if neither Paul nor Isaiah toe the line look for Oscar Mills who dominated the field at the Husky Invite last week to head the pack. Paul is currently on the start list and would be the hands down favorite if he did race. With that being said, Oscar sports a PR of 48.92. Having only been training for two weeks due to a hamstring injury, it will be interesting to see if Oscar can compete with Paul just yet. Oscar's state performance from last year would indicate he can hang with the best of the best when he is at full strength. Out of state athletes Chris Polk and Stefon Goudeau on paper pose the toughest competition for Oscar and Paul.
The returning event winners this year are Paul Lucas (100m, 200m) and Mar'yea Harris (400m), though Mar'yea is not on the heat sheets. In such a strong field it is typical to have relatively few event winners returning. Look the upper classmen to shine again as it is common, especially among boys, for upperclassmen to dominate the power events.
Heat sheets, schedules and more information can be viewed here