Chandler Rotary
March 26-27, 2010 @ Austin Field Chandler High School, AZ
History Of The Meet: The Chandler Rotary Track and Field Invitational enters it’s 70th year this year. The meet has developed into one of the largest Invitational in the southwest with teams coming from Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. This year close to 90 schools and 2500 athletes will participate in the two day meet.
It wasn’t always like that. On March 21, 1941 the sleepy little town of Wickenburg hosted the first Wickenburg Rotary Relays. Seven schools attended the meet including Chandler, Buckeye, Tempe and the host Wickenburg team. Nine months later the United States was in the War, and a year later the second annual Wickenburg Rotary was held; it would be the last time the meet was held outside of Phoenix.
In 1943 with gas rationing and travel hard to come by, the Rotary Club of Chandler brought the meet to Chandler High school. The meet continued to be a relay meet featuring ten to twelve boys teams. In 1985 a bold move was made to add a girls division to the meet. Prior to that, the norm was for girls track meets to be held separately from boys. Even the girl’s state meet was held on a different weekend than the boys. The meet grew from 20 to 50 schools and then in the recent years as many as 85 schools have been represented at the meet. Schools from Nevada, California and even from Canada have attended along with the current three states from outside of Arizona.
Innovation has always been the goal of meet management for the Chandler Rotary Meet. Chandler was the only invitation in Arizona that allowed the Javelin to be thrown (as exhibition) and was the first 5A school to compete the Triple Jump as a scoring event.
Several years ago the meet was split into the current two sessions. Friday is what we call the Open Session and Saturday is known as the seeded session.
In years past many top 10 US marks have come from the Chandler Rotary. In 2008 Bryce Lamb (Chandler) and Will Claye (Mt. Pointe)landed in the top five in the Long Jump and the Triple Jump. Larissa Matthews (Chandler) had one of the top 5 marks in the 100 hurdles and John Kline (Desert Vista) and James Eichberger (Catalina Magnet) participated in the race of the night with a nail biting finish in the 800 meter run to put them into the US#2 and US#3 spots at the time. 2009 also brought top marks with Bryce Lamb once again making it into the top 10 in the US.
Who To Watch!
Serene Williams (Sr., Peoria) was the Chandler Rotary 100 meter Dash Champion in 2009 but she will face some fierce competition from sophomore Jasmine Todd (Chandler), who placed 2nd last year and Shannon Jacobs (Highland) who finished 3rd.
On the boys side, sophomore Trae Armstrong (Deer Valley) comes into the meet with the fastest 100 meter time of 10.81. He will be challenged by Darrion Freedman (Sr., Copper Canyon), Breyen Miller (Sr., Aqua Fria) , Martwon Weaver and Anders Battle (Sr., Desert Vista) to name a few.
The Milesplit Mile
The races being looked at with much anticipation will be the boys and girls mile. Jessica Tonn (Sr., Xavier) leads a strong group of milers with the from Arizona, Colorado and Texas. Tonn's Pr in the Mile is 4:56.43 and 4:50.42 in the 1600. This will be her first race of the season. Teammate Sarah Fakler (FR) just ran her first 3200 two weeks ago with a 10:50.86. Emily LaValley (Sr., Classical Academy,CO) has an 800 time of 2:14.57. Ashley Workmam (Sr., Queen Creek), Kristina Vanderhout (Jr., Notre Dame), Kat Robinson (Sr., Nederland, CO) and Sara Beth Miville (Jr., Ironwood Ridge) have all broken 5:15 with Andrea Klimowski (Sr., Northland Prep) just a second behind. All runners will be looking to move closer to the 5 minute mark.
The boys mile race could be a scorcher with the top four milers in Arizona battling for the #1 spot. Sherod Hardt (Sr., Queen Creek) has the fastest 1600 time to date with a current US#1 4:11.49. Brian Shrader (Sr., Sinagua) is second with a 'Pr' of 4:12.07 and a current US#4 time of 4:14.80. with Ryan Yazzie (Sr., Tuba City) in 3rd (4:16.71) and Steve Magnuson (Sr., Ironwood Ridge) 4th (4:18.29). The added distance the mile brings could change the strategy of the race and the outcome. The entire field is fast and the top runners will push the pace and each other. If the race goes out fast, the 1993 record of 4:12.99 set by Westwoods Webb Shelly could easily fall.
A clock will be set up at both the 1600 and the mile mark.
The girls 800 meter run could be a photo finish with Tess Berghoff (Jr., Arcadia), Katie Penney (Jr., Xavier) and Ashley Workman (Sr., Queen Creek) all entering the race with times around 2:18.00.
The final heat of the boys 800 meter run is going to be a barn burner! Steve Magnuson is also entered in the 800 and will be facing off against Danny Tarango from (SO., El Paso Burges, TX) and Dylan Souza (Jr., Catalina Foothills). Tarango has the fastest 800 time of 1:54.81 with Magnuson at 1:55.82 and Souza at 1:56.08. Jesus Rivera (Sr., Sedona Red Rock) is right in there with a 1:56.14 as is Lindon Claridge (Jr., Flowing Wells) and Jared Gonzales (Sr., Chandler) with 1:56.73. All 16 runners have run under 2 minutes so it's going to be fast!!
2009 State Champion Shaylah Simpson (Sr., Desert Vista) and Alex Bishop (Sr., Brophy Prep, AZ State Runner UP) lead the Pole Vault event for the girls and boys. Simpson just broke the Arizona State Record at the Nike Indoor Nationals last weekend with a jump of 13-2.25. Bishop cleared 16 feet for the first time 2 weeks ago at the Gatorade Invitational. Riley Crosby (Sr., Centennial) will also be in the hunt for the top spot after clearing 16 feet at a dual meet on Wednesday. Shaylah Simpson's Journal of Nike Indoor Meet.