Duel between Jones, Ellsworth highlight championships

• Desert Vista's Danielle Jones and Highland's Lauren Ellsworth split distance races.
• Chandler's Ky Westbrook won four individual titles, giving her 12 for her career.
• Chandler won the team title in the last event, the 4x400. It was Chandler's 9th straight title.

Two state records fell Saturday, and neither came from highly decorated Ky Westbrook.

Westbrook ended her brilliant high school career at Chandler with four more individual state championships during the Division I girls track and field championships at Mesa Community College, giving her 10 in her career (12 including relays).

But the biggest excitement came in the 1,600- and 800-meter duel between Phoenix Desert Vista junior Danielle Jones and Gilbert Highland junior Lauren Ellsworth.

Jones outran Ellsworth down the stretch to take the 1,600 in a state-record time of 4 minutes, 48.73 seconds, breaking former Phoenix Mountain Pointe star Sara Gorton's 4:49.11, set in 1999.

Later, Ellsworth, trailing Jones in the 800 all the way until the final 300 meters, set the state record at 2:07.61. The old mark was 2:08.61, set by Phoenix Xavier Prep's Natalie Johnson in 2007.

Jones' late-season surge is a remarkable story.

She didn't begin competing until the Arcadia (Calif.) Invitational, because of a stress fracture in her tibia bone. She rehabilitated through workouts in a pool.

Her only other 1,600 race before Saturday's state-record performance was at Arcadia. She showed everybody then she was back in a big way with a splashy 4:49.12, just off of Gorton's record.

Jones was battling the wind down the stretch to get the record.

"It kind of made me push harder," she said.

Ellsworth said she never felt entirely confident she would catch Jones down the stretch in the 800. Jones faded at the end, finishing second at 2:10.69.

"I knew I had to kick at the 200 and the 100 to hold her off," Ellsworth said.

Westbrook battled a knee issue all season and wasn't at full strength for state. But she was strong enough to win the 100 hurdles, the 100 and 200 dashes and the shot put.

She ran the 200 in 24.33, almost a second slower than her state record time of 23.37 set last year at state.

Westbrook, who signed with Southern California, won her first 100 hurdles title in 14.17 seconds. Her 100 time was 11.69. She claimed the state shot put title with a heave of 45 feet, 7 3/4 inches.

"My goal for this track meet honestly was just to have fun," Westbrook said. "The records are always nice. But I just wanted to have fun my senior year, the last time."

Westbrook paved the way for Chandler's unprecedented ninth consecutive Division I championship. But it was closer than usual. Chandler needed to win the final event, the 4x400 relay, to edge out Desert Vista, which didn't have a relay team in the final. Chandler's relay team comprised of junior Arniesha Mitchell, senior Tope Williams, freshman Anaya Bailey and senior Imani Adams, who combined to finish in 3:52.74, nearly three seconds faster than Oro Valley Ironwood Ridge.

Chandler scored 129 points. Desert Vista had 123.5.

It doesn't appear there is no slowing the Chandler girls down in the future. An all underclassmen team, led by junior Taylor Patton, won the 4x100 relay title.

"It was great to show people what we can do," Patton said. "Ky is a great athlete. But its' good to show what we can do without her."

Phoenix North Canyon junior Jasmine Stauffacher-Gray turned in maybe the most difficult double of the night. After winning the 400 meters in 54.12 (second fastest in Arizona all-time), she had to get ready for the 300 hurdles, which comes right after the 400.

Stauffacher, chasing former Oro Valley Canyon del Oro star Jaide Stepter's state mark of 42.01, tripped over the final hurdle. She got back up and crossed the finish in first at 43.81.

"I think I left (to get over the hurdle) a little early," Stauffacher-Gray said. "I was getting tired. I think I can still get the state record, it's just a matter of when."

westbrook wins 4 more state titles

At Mesa Community College

• Phoenix Desert Vista junior Danielle Jones, coming back from a stress fracture in her tibia bone this season, broke Sara Gorton's girls state record in the 1,600 meters, winning in 4 minutes, 48.73 seconds. Gorton ran 4:49.11 for Phoenix Mountain Pointe in 1999.

• Gilbert Highland junior Lauren Ellsworth broke the state record in the 800 at 2:07.61. The state mark was 2:08.61 by Natalie Johnson of Phoenix Xavier Prep in 2007.

• Chandler senior Ky Westbrook won four more state titles, giving her 12 in her brilliant high school career. She captured the 100 hurdles in 14.17 seconds, the 100 dash in 11.69, the 200 in 24.33 and the shot put with a toss of 45 feet, 7 ¾ inches. Westbrook was a four-time state champ in both the 100 and 200 dashes.

• Phoenix North Canyon junior Jasmine Stauffacher-Gray tripped over the final hurdle in the 300 hurdles, but got up and finished to win the state title in 43.81. She was coming back from the 400, which she won in 54.12 seconds, which ranked her second all-time in Arizona.

— Richard Obert