Arizona's first Open high school state track and field meet could produce records
Can Phoenix Desert Vista's Hayden Gorovitz, Gilbert Williams Field's Saira Prince, Phoenix Mountain Pointe's Jayden Davis and Mesa Red Mountain's Tyler Mathews break their own state records they've set in what has been arguably the greatest single season in Arizona high school track and field history?
Everybody will find out Friday and Saturday, when the Arizona Interscholastic Association has its first Open state championships.
The top 18 boys and girls athletes from each of the five divisions advanced to this historic meet, which will be held at Mesa Community College on back-to-back days in what could be a grinder of championships with no day off between preliminaries and finals.
On April 8, in California, in a one-hour span at the Arcadia Invitational, four Arizona state records were broken.
Prince, a senior hurdler, who has signed with Arizona State, broke the state record in both the 100- and 300-meter hurdles in 13.58 seconds and 41.24, respectively.
Davis, a senior who also has signed with ASU, broke the state record in the 400 meters at 46.45 seconds. He then broke that record last week at the Division II championships at 46.37 seconds at Glendale Deer Valley.
Mathews set the state record in the 800 at Arcadia in 1 minutes, 49.32 seconds.
His time last week in the 800 was 1:51.53.
Gorovitz didn't have a chance to break his own state record in the javelin, because California doesn't sanction the javelin in high school, so he wasn't able to compete at Arcadia.
But earlier in the season, he won a college meet at the University of Arizona, when he launched the javelin 221 feet, 8 inches, entered as an open competitor. That obliterated his state record he set early in the season.
Gorovitz, a junior, held back in last week's Division I meet but made sure he won to give his team points. He was ailing last week. he should be full strength on Saturday when he throws in the middle of the afternoon.
"I'm going to do my regular set of stuff to put me in first and then I plan to really let loose," Gorovitz said.
There are other intriguing story lines to follow this weekend with the heat sheets now out. There could be a girls showdown between Goodyear Millennium's Landen LeBlond and Chandler Valley Christian's Lauren Ping, who are ranked 1 and 2 in the 1,600 and 3,200.
Another great showdown in the girls 100 dash between Laveen Cesar Chavez freshman Mayen Usoro and Avondale Agua Fria junior Stacey Onyepunuka with Phoenix North Canyon's J'Neya Hill the wildcard. Usoro could wind up with gold not only in the 100 but the 200 and the 400. She is ranked No. 2 in the 200 with Hill behind her.
Chandler Hamilton junior Kori Martin, who narrowly lost to Prince in the 100 hurdles at the Hohokam meet, will try to upset Prince in the 100 hurdles finals.
Valley Vista senior Blaise Nelson won't have Phoenix Sunnyslope junior Luke Moga in a boys 100 finals rematch. They finished milliseconds from each other in a photo finish last week at the Division I meet. Moga is not competing this weekend in order to help his Sunnyslope football teammates at a big spring showcase at Legacy Park in Mesa.
More: Oregon commit QB Luke Moga locked in on Sunnyslope football after making splash on track
Can freshman Dash Wasson become new school Crismon's first state champion in the boys pole vault? He competes in Division IV but is ranked No. 1 in the event.
There will be some finals held on Friday in the field events, starting with the girls javelin at 3:30 p.m., Starting at 4 p.m., are the triple jump, pole vault and discus for girls, and the boys long jump, high jump and shot put.
The boys 4x800-meter relay final will begin Friday at 5:15 p.m., as the first running event. Final events that night also will be held for the girls 1,600 and 800 and boys 3,200 runs.
On Saturday, the boys javelin starts at 3:30 p.m., followed a half hour later with the boys triple jump, pole vault and discus and girls long jump, shot put and high jump.
The girls 4x800 relay leads the running events at 5:45 p.m., followed by the hurdles and sprints.
The last running event, the 4x400 relay, is set for 9 p.m.
There will be team scoring for boys and girls.
To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert atrichard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on Twitter@azc_obert
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Stars come out for Arizona's 1st Open HS state track and field meet
