O’Connor 7th in Chandler
by Jason Stone

NORTH VALLEY – With many of the state’s top teams on hand, Sandra Day O’Connor’s girls track team received a chance to see how it stacks up at last week’s Chandler Rotary Invitational.

The Eagles girls finished in a tie for seventh, finishing behind host Chandler, Peoria, Mountain Ridge, Xavier, South Mountain and Dobson.

Three O’Connor girls runners placed in the 1,600 to highlight the Eagles’ point scoring. Lindsay Prescott finished fourth with a time of 4:59.36, followed by Camille Olson (fifth) and Aleina Eisenhauer (eighth).

In the 800, both Prescott and Olson scored points. Prescott finished third with a time of 2:18.66, while Olson took ninth.

Nicole Elliott nearly took first in the shot put but fell just short of winner Alishia Asijie of Red Mountain. Elliott’s top throw was 38 feet, 10.75 inches, which was short of Asijie’s top toss of 40‑7.           

Among local boys teams, O’Connor took 24th thanks to the discus event, where Brandon Townsend tossed it 168‑5 to finish second. Townsend’s furthest toss was less than 13 feet shorter than Globe’s Jared Jonovich.

For Boulder Creek, Daniel Lovell turned in the Jaguars’ top performance with a fifth‑place finish in the 1,600. Lovell finished with a time of 4:27.79, which was nearly 10 seconds behind the winner, Horizon’s Jim Walmsley.

BOYS VOLLEYBALL

Volleyball teams back in action this week

ANTHEM – Boys volleyball returns this week after a lengthy spring break. Boulder Creek (13‑3) is scheduled to play at St. Mary’s March 27 before returning to Northwest Region games March 29 against Deer Valley.

Goldwater (0‑5) has a pair of non‑region games prior to this weekend’s Centennial Tournament. O’Connor (2‑7) has three non‑region games before returning to region play April 4 against Mountain Ridge.

TENNIS

Tennis teams enter final stretch of season

ANTHEM – The top local tennis teams heading into the final stretch of the season include Boulder Creek’s girls (10‑1 in dual matches), Boulder Creek’s boys (8‑2) and Cactus Shadows’ boys (8‑1).

All local teams have only region teams remaining on their schedules. The playoffs are set for the first week of April for 5A teams and mid‑month for 4A teams.