Saturday Elite Session
Of course, dessert is saved for last with State Champions from around the country set to duke it out against the best Arizona has to offer.
Hurdles
The Girls Hurdles will be an exciting matchup between Arizona superstars like Jai Gruenwald (Chandler, Sr.) and Jae'Nisa Heckstall (Raymond S. Kellis, Sr.), and James Smith (Westwood, Sr.) against Eleanor Roosevelt's Breanna Bernard-Joseph (Sr.) and Lucas Anotado (Sr.). Breanna won the 300m Hurdles last year at Chandler Rotary with a time of 42.14 and has stated that she intends to run into the low 40s this year. On the Boys side, James Smith will be the favorite as the sole athlete to run under 37 seconds this season.
Sprints
Several Golden State athletes headline the sprints in the Elite Sessions. To begin with the girls California State Champ Ariyonna Augustine (Long Beach Poly, Sr.) will return to Chandler, AZ and looking to repeat as the Girls 100m Champ. She holds a PR of 11.57 for 100m and at this year's Simplot Games she ran 7.50 in the 60-meter dash. Then there's Tierra Robinson-Jones (Bishop O'Dowd, Sr.) entered in both the 400m and the 200m dashes on Saturday evening. She currently holds PRs of 53.24 for 400m from the 2017 CIF State Champs. She also won the 200-meter dash at the Simplot Games with a Lifetime Best of 23.84. Finally, there's Asani Hampton (Yucaipa, Sr.) is a CIF State Champion for 200m and has on several occasions run in the 10.40s for the 100-meter dash. He should challenge top ranked Arizona sprinters like Kelee Ringo (Saguaro, So.) and Stacey Boyd (McClintock, Sr.) hoping to lower their marks this weekend.
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(Above: Tristan Forsythe won the 2A Boys 1600m at the PIAA State Meet.-photo by Howard Anderson)
Distance
The boys distance events will provide plenty of challengers for AZ athletes like Jacob Lewis (Boulder Creek, Sr.) who ran 4:18 for 1600 meters two weeks ago at the Brophy AMDG Invite. The favorite looks to be Tristan Forsythe (Winchester Thurston, Sr.) who ran a 4:16 at the 2018 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix. Then there's the returning Champion from last year, Jericho Cleveland (Volcano Vista, Sr.) who ran a 4:13 mile at the New Balance Indoor Nationals only two weekends ago. Will Arizona boys hang with these speedsters to break 4:20? In the Sally Meyerhoff Girls Mile we'll see a handful sub-5 milers including Quinn McConnell (Peak to Peak, Sr.) who ran 4:50 in the Girls Mile at Brooks PR and is the top returner from last year's meet in the event. There's also Bryn Morley (Bigfork, Sr.), a big fish from Montana who ran 4:52 at Brooks PR as a freshman. Looking to hold down the fort for Arizona are State Champions Haley Wolf (Chandler, Sr.) and Abi Archer (Chaparral, Jr.).
Throws
State Record Holder Tyson Jones (Desert Edge, Sr.) will be the outlier for the Boys Shot Put with a PR of 70-04.5 set last weekend at Willie Williams. He also fouled a 72' throw and has stated that he wants to reach into the 74 to 75-foot range. Meanwhile the Girls field looks much deeper with Arizona athletes like Samantha Pond (Chandler, Sr.), Jaztyne Griffin (Desert Vista, Sr.) hoping to dominate the discus and Alexis Jones (Queen Creek, Sr.) and Alaina Diggs (Millennium, Jr.) hope to push their way into the State lead for Shot. Their toughest challenger may come from Leilah Vigil (Grandview, Sr.) who threw 42-9 last year in Colorado.
Jumps
In addition to being a major Arizona contender in the hurdles, Jai Gruenwald will be aiming for the Girls Long Jump State Record of 20-4.5 in front of a home crowd on Saturday night. Two weeks ago, Jai jumped 20-2 at the Brophy AMDG Invite for a new school record. Snowflake HS Seniors Dylan Kay (Sr.)and Jake Hall (Sr.) will be the favorites in the Boys High Jump with PRs of 6-10 and 6-8 respectively. Will this be the day the Lobos see the fall of their High Jump School Record?
Pole Vault
Sevanna Hanson (Desert Vista, Jr.) and Samara McConnell (Perry, So.) are currently tied for AZ #1 with vaults of 12 feet, while Josephina Wright (Corona Del Sol, Sr.) is entered but has yet to open her season. Wright holds a PR of 12-7 from the Arcadia Invitational last year. On the Boys side, Andrew Ference (Salpointe Catholic, Sr.) leads the State by almost 2 feet and his toughest challenger will be Ariel Dyrek (Santa Monica, Sr.) who holds a PR of 15-4 from last year.