68th Chandler Rotary Invitational 2008

Saturday night at the Chandler Rotary Invitational, Xavier Prep teammates sophomore Jessica Tonn (above right), and junior Sarah Penney (above left), thrilled the stadium packed crowd with one of the best races of the night as the pair raced into the top ten times in the nation for the 800m. Tonn's time of 2:14.78 earned her the 8th place spot while Penney's time of 2:14.89 put her in 9th. The 800m race was not the only race the girls ran, Penney anchored the 4 x 800m to a first place finish of 9:47.99 and Tonn won the 1600m in a time of 5:02.

As the sun went down and the lights came on at the Arcadia Invitational in California, two Arizona runners toed the line for the men's 800 Invitational. Two weeks ago at the Chandler Rotary James Eichberger (Catalina Magnet) and John Kline (Desert Vista) gave the stadium crowd a race to remember.

With the boys scattered across 7 division in most events the girls are a little different. Three Footlocker Cross Country finalist will be competing in the 5A-I division for the state title in the 1600 and 3200m races. The 1600 is scheduled for Saturday evening and top seeded sophomore Jessica Tonn (Xavier Prep,4:52.44) will be racing Nadya (Mountain Ridge, 5:05.17) and Nastia (Mountain Ridge, 5:06.04) Bishton along with teammate, Sarah Penney (junior, Xavier Prep, 4:54.74). All four runners plus freshman, Kristina Vanderhout, will face each other in the 3200 event tomorrow evening. Lindsay Prescottfrom Sandra Day O'Connor will be hoping to add a few more state titles (4A Division I) to an already impressive resume.