Five state records fall at inaugural Open finals, including Mathews improving own 800 mark and contributing to 4×800 relay all-time best for boys champion Red Mountain; Littlewood caps return from foot injury with memorable long jump effort for girls winner Queen Creek, Prince twice lowers girls 300 hurdles standard, Davis fastest in boys 400
By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor
Arizona crowned Open state track and field champions May 12-13 at Mesa Community College, and the inaugural boys and girls team winners both had all-time performances contributing to their victories.
Junior Tyler Mathews not only lowered the state record in the 800 meters, in addition to contributing to an all-time Arizona prep performance in the 4×800-meter relay, leading Red Mountain to the boys team title with 45 points.
Desert Vista, led by javelin champion Hayden Gorovitz, was runner-up with 41 points and Mountain View Mesa took third with 37 points.
Senior Catherine Littlewood produced the state long jump record for Queen Creek, which prevailed with 56 points, holding off Highland with 52 points and third-place Hamilton with 51 points.
There were a total of five Arizona all-time prep marks achieved at the meet, along with Saira Prince of Williams Field in the girls 300-meter hurdles and Jayden Davis of Mountain Pointe in the boys 400.
Littlewood produced a wind-legal performance of 20 feet, 7 inches (6.27m), surpassing the 2018 mark of 20-6.75 (6.26m) achieved by Jai Gruenwald of Chandler High in the Division 1 state final.
Littlewood also took third in the 400 meters in 57.12 seconds, along with finishing fourth in the 100 hurdles in 14.25 and contributing to a fourth-place finish in the 4×100-meter relay in 47.49 seconds.
Viann Vanderwall secured second in the triple jump final with a personal-best 38-10.75 (11.86m), in addition to clearing 5-4 (1.63m) in the high jump for Queen Creek, which also had Jade Berry place second in the javelin with a 142-8 (43.48m) performance and Nicole Ripperdan grab fourth in the 800 at 2:15.35.
Chloe Bingham also scored in the high jump with a 5-2 (1.57m) clearance and Alexis Dellamonica achieved a throw of 119-10 (36.54m), both earning eighth-place finishes.
The Bulldogs also finished sixth in the 4×800 relay in 9:35.43.
Mathews clocked 1:48.72 in the 800 final to lower his 1:49.32 mark from April 8 at the 55th Arcadia Invitational, in addition to joining William Bergman, Roman Smith and Matthew Hamilton to run 7:41.40 in the 4×800 championship…
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