2017 Brophy AMDG Meet Preview

Tomorrow afternoon, Brophy will host their first invitational this season and though the Broncos have already opened their season, their neighbors and female counterpart squad, the Xavier Gators have yet to compete in 2017.

The meet will kick-off with the Girls 4x800, in which Chandler will race Xavier for the first time since they placed 2^nd and 3^rd respectively at XC State Champs. Since then the Welch sisters have been a tremendous addition to the Chandler Wolves and it will be interesting to see what their distance squad could do in a relay. The Xavier will have a relay team made up of two sprinters, Leila Grant (So.) and Kinsey Ehmann (Jr.), and though Ehmann ran 2:25 last year for 800 meters, spectators look forward to watching them hold their own against distance athletes. Also making her return to competition is the 2015 Cross Country State Champ Sarah Carter (SR.) who had to cut her Senior XC season short due to injury. We wish her the best this season and anticipate her return to prime racing status.

      (Morgan Foster, Becca Taylor, and Kylie Welch Photo by Anna Rodriguez)

Anaya Bailey (Sr.) Armani Harris (Fr.) just dominated the 100 meters last week at Aztec, and while the Chandler sprinters are ready to rock any meet they attend there are teams with a few power players that could give them a run for their money. One of those is Mountain Pointe's Brittany Patterson (Sr.) who finished 3^rd to Bailey and Harris last week in Tempe. Finally, there's the Freshman-phenom Jadyn Mays out of North Canyon who has already broken through State Champ qualifying standards the Long Jump, the 400 and the 200 meter dashes.

The boys' 110 Hurdles will come down Edwin Adams (Sr.) and DeCarlos Brooks (So.) of Chandler and Koa Tuipala (So.) of Desert Ridge. Adams took 1^st in the High Hurdles last week in 14.82 while his teammate Brooks finished 3^rd. Tuipala is ranked 5^th in the State currently, with his 15.21 performance at the Desert Classic in Queen Creek. Though he leads the State in the Intermediate Hurdles, James Smith (Westwood, Jr.) will try his hand in the 110s. Smith and Adams will race each other again later that evening in the 300 Hurdles.

The Distance races will largely be led by Chandler girls and the Brophy boys. Morgan Foster, Kylie Welch and Becca Taylor have already run 5:13 for 1600 and we will likely see at least part of Morgan's and Kylie's 800-meter speed at the Brophy Sports Complex, maybe running close to 2:10. Becca Taylor and Kerri Welch will attack the 1600 for the Lady Wolves, along with Xavier's Sarah Carter. Taylor Mollenhour (So.) of Mountain Ridge will also run the 1600 and have the opportunity to race under 5:20 after opening her season at the Richard Thompson Classic against the Chandler trio. Hociel Landa (Sr.) and Zack Beall (So.) will lead the charge for the Broncos in the 800 meters while Luke Mason (Sr.), Drew Burns (Jr.) and Anekin Hetman (So.) will represent the home team in the 1600. Last year Luke ran 4:24 at this meet only 4 seconds off the meet record. If challenged by David Nelsen (Hamilton, Jr.) and Reier Gilbertson (Mountain Ridge, Jr.) a sub-4:20 race could be on the horizon.

The Boys Long Jump will feature Noah Figueroa (Hamilton, Sr.) currently ranked 2^nd in the State with a jump of 23' 7", Jimmy Kenyon (Mountain Ridge, Sr.) who placed 2^nd to Figueroa in the Long Jump at the Richard Thompson Classic and Donjae Logan (Desert Ridge, Jr.) who placed 6^th in the Long Jump last year at State Champs. Logan opened his season last week with a mark of 22' 2" at Desert Classic. On the Girls' side of the LJ, Jadyn Mays (North Canyon, Fr.), Jai Gruenwald (Chandler, Jr.), and Nura Muhammad (Mountain Pointe, Sr.) lead the ranks having cleared the 18' barrier and will all compete against each other tomorrow.

(Figueroa and Kenyon, Photo by Anna Rodriguez)

Kayleigh Conlon (Mountain Pointe, Sr.) will lead the throws on the girls' side with marks of 135' 5" for Disc and 44' 4". Samantha Ponds (Chandler, Jr.) ranked 2^nd only a little over a foot behind Conlon in the Disc will be her toughest competition. Kali Hathcock (Desert Ridge, Sr.) and Hannah White (Hamilton, Sr.) could also put up some strong performances in the Shot. Hathcock threw 37' 5.75" at Desert Classic to match her personal best from State last year, and White is ranked 7^th in the Shot, just behind Hathcock. Meanwhile the guys to watch in the throwing events will likely be Matthew Pola Mao (So.) from Mountain Pointe, Austin Jackson (Sr.) out of North Canyon and Sebastian Coleman (Sr.) of Desert Ridge. Matthew was the top freshman in the shot put last year and this could be a breakthrough year for him. He placed 2^nd in the Shot last week at Aztec with a mark of 52' 6". North Canyon's Austin Jackson was third with a throw of 52' 2.75". At Queen Creek, Sebastian Coleman opened his season with a mark of 51' 10" in the Shot.

        (Matthew Pola Mao, Photo by Alan Versaw)