The Chandler Invitational has a unique scoring system. The top runner per team from each of the four class races is scored for the team so if your team wins the freshman, sophomore, junior and senior races then your team will have 4 points. If your team has a runner place 4th in the freshman race, 2nd in the sophomore race, 10th in the
junior race and 15th in the senior race - then your team will have 31 points.
In the senior boys race Rio Rico runner Oscar Amaya took an early lead in the race but Marcus Wheeler (Corona del Sol) caught Amaya around the 2.5 mile mark and with 800 meters to go had a slight lead.
The Rio Rico team trains in much cooler conditions so the high humidity of the day caught Amaya and teammate Carlos Villarreal a little off guard. "I just died in that race," said Amaya after the race. "We train at a little higher altitude and it's much cooler," Villareal agreed with a laugh.
Wheeler relied on his strong kick - winning the race in 15:42.67 with the fastest time of the day. Amaya finished 2nd in 16:03.55 followed by Hamilton's Seamus White (16:05.26) and Villarreal (16:13.79).
On the girls side Lauren Ellsworth from Highland and Ali Kallner from Chaparral approached the final 800 meters together but Ellsworth outkicked Kallner in the final 100 meters winning the race in 18:59 for the fastest time of the day. Kallner finished 5 seconds behind in 19:04 for the second fastest time of the day followed by Kelly Naumann (Corona del Sol) in 19:25 and Allyson Girard (Highland) in 19:40)
For the first time each race was scored individually (scoring the top 3 runners) to determine a team winner. In the senior boys race - Corona del Sol were the victors with 19 points. Corona had runners in 1st, 4th and 14th.
And the Highland girls won the senior girls race with 11 points - with runners at 1st, 4th and 6th.
The junior boys hit the final 800 meters with 4 runn
ers in a tight group leaving everyone guessing who would end up on top. It was Cade Burks from Perry who outkicked Sagura's TylerBeauchamp for a 16:27.09 win. Beauchamp's 2nd place time was 16:29.40 followed by Abdi Aden from McClintock in 16:32. Jacob Toller (Mesa Mt. View) finished 4th in 16:58.77.
Alexis Nichols from Chandler won the girls race with a clear lead at 800 meters to go. Nichols won the race in a time of 20:13 over Mesa Mt. View's Madelyn Gherkins who finished in 20:36. Madison Biggs, also from Mesa Mt. View, finished 3rd in 21:00 followed by Sunrise Mountain's Paige Hildebrandt in 21:03.
Mesa Mountain View boys won the junior boys race with 19 points placing runners in 4th, 7th and 8th.
Mesa Mountain View also won the girls race with 19 points and runners at 2nd, 3rd and 14th.
Slade Sumners from Corona del Sol had a commanding lead with 800 meters left in the sophomore race. As part of the Corona del Sol 2013 State Championship Team, Sumners knows how to race - finishing in 16:36.29. Sumners's teammate Liam Kovatch finished 2nd in 17:14.16 followed by Michael Barney from Saguaro (17:22.91) and Ethan Burton from Perry (17:40.85).
Alexandra Schadler from Rio Rico won the girls sophomore race in 19:35 just 3 seconds faster than Chaparral's Emily Crall who finished in 19:38.
Both Sumners and Schadler won the freshman races in 2013.
At first the Perry boys were announced as the team winners but then...........
A computer glitch moved them into 2nd place. At least we got a great photo!!
And then Corona del Sol was announced as the real winners of the sophomore race with 11 points placing runners at 1st, 2nd and 8th.
The Rio Rico girls won the sophomore race with 23 points placing runners in 1st, 9th and 13th.
In the freshman race Robby Foste
r from Shadow Mountain looked comfortable with 800 meters to go and went on to win in 17:44.01 beating 2nd place David Nelson from Hamilton by almost 4 seconds. Nelson was in 3rd place with 800 to go but had a late surge to finish 2nd. Carson Klepinger from Mesa Mountain View finished 3rd in 18:05.04 followed by Will Daschback from highland with 18:38.26.
In the girls race Ava Hamilton from Chandler took an early lead and won the girls race in 19:38 followed by Alaina Kautz from Campo Verde (20:29), Emma Merritt from Hamilton (20:39) and Elizabeth Lopez from Seton Catholic (21:40).
The Corona del Sol boys won the freshman race with 33 points placing runners in 7th, 12th and 14th.
The Campo Verde girls won the freshman race with 17 points placing runners in 2nd, 6th and 9th.
The Highland boys won the overall meet with 28 points. Highlands points came from a 4th place finish (Will Daschbach) in the freshman meet, a 10th place finish (Derek Weech) in the sophomore race, a 5th place finish (Carlin Resendez) in the junior race and a 9th place finish (Logan Jones) in the senior race. Mesa Mt. View finished 2nd with 29 points followed by Corona del sol with 38 points.
Highland girls won the overal meet with 24 points. Highlands points came from a 5th place finish in the freshman race (Rachel McCleve), a 3rd place finish (Marisa Kennedy) in the sophomore race, a 15th place (Tessa Murdock) in the junior race and a 1st place finish (Lauren Ellsworth) in the senior race. Corona finished 2nd with 25 points followed by Chaparral with 38 points.
