Red Mountain's Tyler Mathews, Desert Vista's Hayden Gorovitz tune up for state track

For Red Mountain runner Tyler Mathews and Desert Vista javelin thrower Hayden Gorovitz, Saturday's Division I track and field championships served as a warm up for next week's state meet.

Gorovitz easily won the javelin with a toss of 209 feet, six inches, at the Division I track and field championships. It was far from his state record of 221-8 that he set at college meet in Tucson that he won.

And Mathews, the state-record holder in the 800, won the 1,600 easily with a personal best. He will try to break his own state record in the 800 next week.

The Division I, IV and V track and field championships were held at Red Mountain. The Division II and III meets were held at the same time at Glendale Deer Valley, where Mountain Pointe senior Jayden Davis broke his own state record in the 400 meters at 46.37 seconds in the Division II meet.

All of the top competitors from the divisional meets will come together next Friday and Saturday at Mesa Community College for the Arizona Interscholastic Association's first Open state track and field high school championships, where athletes get a chance to go head to head against the best of the best, regardless of division.

Davis also ran the state's fastest 200 this season to win at 21.29 and was part of two winning relay teams in the 4x100 and 4x400 to carry Mountain Pointe to the team title.

Gorovitz said he's been battling the stomach flu and, after letting loose of one good throw, he reeled it back and made the rest of Saturday's meet a practice session for him.

Next week, when the first Open state championships will be held at Mesa Community College on Friday and Saturday, Gorovitz said he'll try to go for 230 to 235 feet.

"I came in looking to get points for our team and looking forward to next week," said Gorovitz, who repeated his Division I title in the javelin. "So I threw one out there once. Then, ended up going down and breaking it into a practice and working on things for next week.

"It wasn't like my best performances. I'm sick. A little bit of the stomach bug. I kept my form. It was good to have my coach there. And the environment was super fun."

Kori Martin, a junior at Chandler Hamilton, won the 100 and 300 girls hurdles in Division, setting up next week's showdown against state record holder Saira Prince of Williams Field. Prince competed in the Division II meet.

Earlier in the season, they had one of the best races of the season with Prince coming just short of her state record set the previous week at 13.59, and Martin hitting the last hurdle but still finished with the second-best time of the year.

Martin won the 100 in 13.78 and the 300 in 42.76.

"I'm proud of myself, but more I want to go faster," Martin said. "I wanted to come out and execute my races."

Martin doesn't look at Prince as a rival, but she knows how much she pushes her on the track. At Deer Valley, Prince won both the 300 hurdles (42.38) and the 100 hurdles (13.71) in Division II.

"I need focus on my technique, and the end of my race, on hurdles six to 10," Martin said. "I know she's a strong competitor. I want to focus on getting out and maintaining."

Mathews ran a personal record in the 1,600 in 4 minu4tes, 13.45 seconds.

"I just wanted to PR," Mathews said.

Mathews returned Saturday night to cruise to the title in the 800 at 1:51.53.

Laveen Cesar Chavez sprinter Mayen Usoro ran the fourth-fastest girls 100-meter dash in Arizona preps history at 11.54.

She also won the Division I girls 200 in 23.95 and 400 title in 55.90.

"I was just trying to relax and run a strong race," Usoro said.

Emma Baugh, a senior at Highland, was a double winner in the Division I girls 1,600 (5:01.23) and the 3,200 (10:52.51). She also was part of Highland's championship 4x800 relay team.

Mountain Ridge's Miyah Verse won both the D. I girls discus (136-7) and shot put (39-5).

Basha junior Gabriella Garcia, a star softball player, won the Division I girls javelin at 147-8.

In the boys 100 final in Division I, a couple of football players — Valley Vista senior Blaise Nelson and Sunnyslope junior Luke Moga — both hit the finish at 10.50 seconds. That was a personal record for Moga, one of the top quarterbacks in the state, who recently committed to Oregon. Nelson was given the gold medal based on milliseconds.

"Fastest quarterback in the country," Moga said when told he's the fastest quarterback in the state. "Running against a guy like that, he makes you compete. He got me by this much."

They could be in for another showdown next week at the state championships.

"Going from 10.7 to 10.5 (Moga's prelim time to final time), that's not easy," said Nelson, the defending state champion in the 100 dash. "To be able to do that, go neck and neck like that, I'm proud of this dude."

Nelson came back to win the 200 title in 21.38.

Gilbert's Vance Nilsson took home gold medals in both the 110 (14.26) and 300 hurdles (37.42).

Mitch Noble of Mesa Mountain View won both the boys shot (56-1) and discus (171-5) in Division I.

Highland won the girls team title with 92 points with Queen Creek (79.50) second, Chandler Basha (67) third and perennial powerhouse Chandler (65) fourth.

Snowflake racked up 119 points to easily win the Division IV girls championship. Glendale Prep won the Division V girls championship with 82 points.

In boys, Mesa Mountain View won the Division I title with 81.50 points, followed by Chandler (72.50), Red Mountain (66) and Phoenix Sandra Day O'Connor (56.50).

Snowflake boys won Division IV at 92.50 with Chandler Valley Christian (78) second. Eagar Round Valley and Chandler Prep tied for the Division V boys championship, both scoring 76 points. Dalin Walker of Round Valley won the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 and ran anchor on the Elks' championship 4x800 relay team.

At Deer Valley, North Canyon girls won the Division II title with 88 points, followed by Campo Verde and Williams Field.

Mountain Pointe won the boys title in D. II with 86 points, followed by Campo Verde and Canyon View.

Salpointe Catholic won both the D.III boys and girls team titles.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Red Mountain's Mathews, Desert Vista's Gorovitz tune up for state