Chandler star Ky Westbrook could be meet-time decision at Sun Angel

Chandler is staying home this week, but it is more to get its top athletes healthy.

The perennial girls power will be running in the Sun Angel Track and Field Classic on Thursday and Saturday, but it could be without its biggest star, senior Ky Westbrook.

Westbrook is nicked up and will be evaluated this week to see if she can run, coach Eric Richardson said.

"It's just one of those things," Richardson said. "It's an occupational hazard. It's part of the game."

Westbrook is the state-record holder in the girls 200 meters (23.37 seconds) and shot put (47 feet, 9 inches).

This season, she leads the state in the 100 (11.64 seconds) and the 200 (24.42).

Chandler also is trying to get sprinter Tope Williams healthy. Williams ranks third in the 200 (24.98) and third in the 100 (12.05).

Every year, Sun Angel runs head to head with the prestigious Arcadia (Calif.) Invitational. Chandler might have gone to California this year if there weren't injuries to be concerned about.

"A lot of kids are nicked up, and we felt it would be more productive to stay here and pull it together," Richardson said.

Some of the state's top athletes will be at Arcadia.

They include Phoenix North Canyon junior Jasmine Stauffacher-Gray, Phoenix Brophy Prep senior Bobby Grant and Phoenix Arcadia senior Tim Duckworth.

Stauffacher-Gray will run in 300 hurdles, an event she only started competing in at the end of last season. In her first race of the year, Stauffacher-Gray nearly took down the state record of 42.01, set by Oro Valley Canyon del Oro's Jaide Stepter in 2011. Stauffacher-Gray ran it in 42.27 at the Rattler Booster Invitational at North Canyon.

Grant will run the boys 300 hurdles. He comes in with momentum, after establishing a season-best 37.12 at a small meet last week.

Duckworth may be competing in both the pole vault. Last week, at the Greenway Invitational, Duckworth cleared a state-best 6 feet, 10 inches in the high jump. He won both the high jump and the pole vault at the Chandler Rotary Invitational. He is tied for best vault in the state this year at 15-6.