Archive for October, 2009

    Last year, Aeoleone Bristow from Rio Rico HS won the girls varsity event at the Queen Creek Desert Twilight Distance Festival and afterward said how much she enjoyed running at night, that it "felt faster."
    Well, this year it truly was faster as Brian Shrader (in photo below) (Sinagua HS) and Jessica Tonn (Xavier Prep) set course records enroute to winning the sweepstakes events, Shrader in 14:24.1 and Tonn, the defending 5A-I champion, in an amazing 16:32.3!
    Runners began taking off around 4:30 pm Friday on the looping, light-lined grass course at Toka Sticks Golf Course in Gilbert, enjoying a festival-like atmosphere in the third runnning of this event, and by the time the varsity and sweepstakes races got underway, they were under the lights.
    It was Sarah Fakler, the sophomore teammate of Tonn, that again finished in second place in the sweepstakes (17:22.5).  The duo had a 1-2 finish a couple of weeks earlier in the George Young Invitational and also at the season-opening Scottsdale Running Company Cross Country Festival, in the Gold division.  Mountain View HS runners Brianna Decker (17:36.6) and Sarah Schmidt (17:37.7) finished 3rd and 4th at the Twilight Festival.
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    The Dobson Badminton Invitational may be giving us a peek into the future of 5A state title play later this season as Emily Harris rolled through one of the most competitive events of the season without losing a game enroute to the tournament title.
    Harris, a senior at Desert Mountain HS, is the defending tournament champion - and also the defending state 5A-I champion.  She easily handled Carissa Pappas from Xavier Prep (11-4, 11-2) in the final match to show why she has to be considered a front-runner to also repeat in the quest for a state championship.
    Callie Branyon (Gilbert HS) finished in third place by defeating Sam Bradley (Gilbert HS)and Johanna Anderson (Desert Mountain HS) took the consolation match with her win over Danielle Stewart (Mountain Pointe HS).
    One of the factors that makes the Dobson Invitational particularly challenging is the unusual format of rapid scoring used during the third game of each match, wherein every serve can become a point.
    The doubles title went to Dienna Martinez and Holly Phillips from Mountain Pointe HS.  They defeated Malorie Tardiff and Caeli Barker, 15-11, 15-11, in well-played matches that were competitive throughout.  Brie Forster and Allison Schultz (Horizon HS) won the third-place match, defeating Julia Friedman and Weslie Norris (Xavier Prep), while the consolation match went to Alysa Hinton and Chole Benson (Red Mountain HS).
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