(T.J. Green edges out Trey Johnson in the 110 Hurdles-photo by Harold Smith)
Day 3 of the AIA State Championships concluded
the State meet with several nail-biting finishes and quite a few underdog performances.
Throws
Last year Sierra Valdivieso (Skyline) won the Division II Discus. This year as she and her team competed in Division I, Valdivieso launched
the Discus 140' to win the DI contest, while AZ #1 Elijah Mason (Desert Vista,
Sr.) tossed 61-01.5, almost 9 feet ahead of runner-up and DV teammate Deshon
Toney (Jr.).
Jumps
In the Girls Long Jump, Chandler Wolves
Jai Gruenwald (Jr.) and Tiana Poirier-Shelton (Sr.) took podium finishes once again.
This time Jai won with a Jump of 19-10.25, while Tiana earned third place in
19-03. In the Boys Triple Jump, Pinnacle's Max Barrett (Sr.) came out of the nowhere
to jump a massive PR and school record mark of 47-03.25 to snatch the victory.
Finally, Highland's Cierra Tidwell (Highland) cleared 5-06 win the High Jump.
(Max Barrett take 1st, Ivan Hinson 2nd, and Ben Novak 4th; not pictured Imani Lee 3rd)
Hurdles
T.J. Green (Chandler, Sr.) & Trey
Johnson (Tolleson, Sr.) went neck and neck through a -3.6 headwind, down to the
finish in which Green won the title by a hundredth of a second. Chandler's Edwin
Adams (Sr.) finished 3rd in the Highs and later won the
Intermediates, with Elisha Brooks (Brophy) taking 2nd and James Smith
(Westwood) all finishing within a half-second of one another. Jai Gruenwald
(Jr.) doubled down to secure victories in both the 100 and the 300 Hurdles.
First she won the highs in 15.03 facing a -5.3 headwind. Then she ran 44.17 in
the lows to win by over 2 ½ seconds!
Sprints
Tolleson's Trey Johnson returned for victory
in the 100, running 10.96 through an even heavier -4.6 headwind. In the 400 Morgan
Parzych (Hamilton) cranked out 56.03 to win D1 Girls 400 meters, the fastest
time of the day among girls. Anaya Bailey snagged the 100 and the 200 State Titles
running 12.23 in a -4.3 headwind and then 26.20 in a -5.9 for 200.
Distance
Hociel Landa (Brophy) led the Division I
1600 from the front. David Nelson (Hamilton) took control after halfway until
200 to go. He and Landa hammered down the homestretch, until Landa managed to
outkick Nelsen in 4:27.51 to 4:27.62. In the 2nd heat of the Boys
800, Daniel Lozano (Boulder Creek) made a huge break with 300 meters to go and
captured his 2nd straight 800 State Title in a time of 1:58.66. For
the Girls 3200, Haley Wolf (Desert Vista) drafted off Sarah Carter (Xavier) and
Jess Bries (O'Connor) until the final lap when she broke away to win her first
individual Track and Field in 10:52.58.
Relays
Earlier Saturday afternoon, Chandler Boys
took 1st in the 4x400 running a new AZ #1 of 41.03. The Mountain Pointe
Pride ran 41.47 to place 2nd and Red Mountain finished 3rd
in 41.67, also a season best for the Lions.
Ryan Bender capped off the Boys Division
I Championship, anchoring his Desert Vista Boys 4x400 squad to the final Boys
Title in 3:21.09, the fastest 4x400 time of the night. The Chandler Girls shut
it down in the 4x400, blasting 3:52.12. The Hamilton Lady Huskies finished 2nd
in 3:58.87 followed by Xavier in 4:01.63.
Teams
At the end of the
day, the relentless wind could not stop the onslaught of Chandler blue podium
crashers which sealed the deal for both the Wolves' girl and boy teams.
Chandler Boys beat Desert Vista for the team title by only 2 points with 100 to
98. On the Girls' side, Chandler accumulated a grand total of 187 to win the
Girls team title by over 100 points. (Chandler Girls win Division I with 187 points-photo by John Hays)
