With the weather a little hotter than expected, athletes had to be well prepared to handle the harsh conditions. Some predictions were met and some surprises took place in the early morning races.
Division 1
In Division 1, Desert Vista girls were the team favorites, however no one expected that they would come in 2nd-6th place finishing as the fastest team in Arizona history. Haley Wolf who placed (2nd) with a time of 18:30 led Baylee Jones (3rd), Emily Crall (4th), Brooklyn Christofis (5th), and Amanda Davis (6th) to a 9 second spread. Kelly Harris placed (12th) and senior Madeline Bucci placed (28th) for Desert Vista. Currently ranked #3 in the nation, the Desert Vista girls not only have a chance to win Nike SW, they could also place well at Nationals. Jesselyn Bries (O'Connor) seemed to be the only who could break away from the DV girls. She ran an impressive 18:04 on the hilly Cave Creek Golf course winning her first individual state title. Chandler girls claimed a runner up trophy led by Mihajla Milovanovic who placed 14th. Caroline Mcleskey (Highland) with a time of 18:45 finished 7th, Freshman Kailey Welch from Mt. View placed 8th, Stephanie Stewart (Desert Mt.) was 9th, and Annie Hancock from Tolleson was 10th respectively.
Division 3
National Ranked #8 Allie Schadler (Rio Rico) broke her own state course record running a time of 17:03 for Division 3. Her sister Samantha Schadler finished soon after placing 2nd (17:58). The Schadler sister's ran the fastest times of the day out of all four divisions. The Salpointe Catholic girls won the team title with Coconino placing second. Teammates Ana Alvarez-Tostado and Zoey Delgado (Salpointe) placed 3rd and 4th to help their team win the state title, both ran under 19 minutes. Chamique Duboise from Window Rock placed 5th running a time of 19:12.
