Devon Allen isn’t the type to get overly excited.
Following each race on Saturday, the Brophy track star would let out a quick burst of emotion, but soon return to the task at hand.
After all, he had a lot of work to do.
Allen won a pair of state titles on Saturday and came a whisker away from two more, thrilling the crowd at the Division I state track meet at Mesa Community College.
Click here for complete results from the Div. I track and field state championships
As expected, Allen captured the 110- and 300-meter hurdle state titles. He dueled Deer Valley sprinter Trae Armstrong in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, losing both by a hundredth of a second.
Allen started racing around 2 p.m. and returned to the track about every hour for his four races.
“I’m a little tired now but I’ll be ready in about 30 minutes,” Allen said after his third race.
Armstrong and Allen have battled for the past three years on the track, culminating in these performances.
Both sprints were too close to call at the finish, with Armstrong winning the 100 in 10.48 seconds and the 200 in 20.74 seconds. The duo finished with the third and fourth fastest times in state history in the 200.
“I had no idea (who won the 200),” Armstrong said. “I saw it (on the score display), and I was like, ‘Woo’. It was a relief.”
Allen won the 110-meter hurdles in a time of 13.58 seconds and the 300 in 36.94 seconds.
While Allen and Armstrong headlined the meet, it was the steadiness of Chandler which led it to the state championship with 107.5 points, beating out Brophy (63 points) and Mountain Pointe (46). Travis Colby won the discus with a throw of 171 feet, 3 inches and Shawn Collins won the shot put with a distance of 58 feet, 8 1/2 inches, while teammates Dominic Nappe and Colby finished second and third.
The likes of Paul Perkins and Javon Williams helped garner crucial points on the track, including a victory in the 4x400 relay.
Perkins gave Allen a scare at the turn in the 300-meter hurdles and finished second. Williams pushed Armstrong in the 400 meters, also coming in second.
Williams blamed himself for a crucial gaffe last year when Chandler’s 4x400 meter relay team was disqualified for throwing the baton, and he wanted to make up for it.
“It cost us the state championship last year, so I wanted to do all I could to put us in position to win the state championship this year,” Williams said. “I was in lane eight so I knew I was going to have to run for my life.”
Williams also finished in fourth place in the 200.
The Mountain Pointe boys 4x100 meter relay team set a state record with a time of 40.46 seconds.
Anchor Ben Trotter flew down the back straightaway all alone with the crowd urging him on. His relay mates — Travonn White, Paul Lucas and Kejavon Moore — jumped into each other’s arms after the record time was displayed.
“You can’t have a good four-by-one without good chemistry,” Trotter said. “These are like brothers to me.”
White and Trotter also did well in the long jump, finishing 1-2. White won it with a jump of 24 feet, 5 1/2 inches.
The Corona del Sol 4x800 relay team of Nate Rodriguez, Nick Creasman, Cody Jackson and Patrick Bush pulled off the upset in the finals by beating favored Highland by less than a second.
Gilbert’s Zack Peschke won the high jump by clearing 6 feet, 8 inches.
Reach Kyle Odegard at (480) 898-6834 or kodegard@evtrib.com. Follow his blog at http://blogs.evtrib.com/varsityxtra, or find him on Twitter @Kyle_Odegard.
Chris Huch posted at 8:28 pm on Sun, May 13, 2012.
Lots of exciting races in all divisions, for sure. Corona boys' winning the 4x8 really isn't an upset. Nate (1:53), Cody (1:55/56), Nick (1:55/56) all qualified for the 800 at state. Put Patrick Buck (not Bush) who runs 2:02 (2:01 split yesterday) and they were the fastest team on paper and in the meet. The 8:15 qualifying time they ran was from early in the season. It's sorta like saying Mountain Pointe's 4x1 relay win was an upset. Far from that if you'd seen them run at all this season. Those 4 boys just fly.
liliwang posted at 9:56 am on Tue, Sep 11, 2012.
Dans mes cours de fran?ais lundi, il ya une femme sud-africaine, une femme éthiopienne, une Hollandaise, une femme britannique et moi. Notre professeur, Esther, est suisse et a été adolescent pendant le WW2 ici. Tout d'apprendre le fran?ais ensemble, nous avons tous des accents et des interprétations différentes de mots qui est vraiment amusant et Esther qu'elle juge sa le?on d'anglais en même temps.La semaine replique montre dernière, Esther a demandé ce que la dame d'Afrique du Sud pensé de leadership de Nelson Mandela, et c'était une éducation vraiment bien pour moi d'entendre de première main de quelqu'un qui a vécu là pour entendre parler de ses propres expériences. Avant de vivre à Genève, je n'avais jamais eu cette chance - tout que j'ai apprise était de films et de livres.Dans mon groupe, la photographie, il ya trois dames des Pays-Bas, quelques Américains, l'un du Royaume-Uni, l'un de l'Australie, et l'autre BRM montre du Brésil. Nous apportons tous choses différentes à la table. J'apprécie vraiment combien de temps les femmes des Pays-Bas prennent pour savoir comment vous faites et d'apprendre à votre sujet. J'ai toujours senti aussi beaucoup plus dans un tourbillon que je ne suis pas s?r si je l'ai fait assez avec les gens.