Chandler endures marathon day before big night under the lights

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

For the Chandler High cross country program, the biggest obstacle in preparation for its most significant early season challenge Friday at the Cool Breeze Invitational might have been just getting from Arizona to its destination in Southern California.

What was anticipated to be a seven-hour bus ride wound up taking 11 hours from departure to arrival after a hose clamp broke on the bus’ turbo boost, forcing the team to stop Thursday afternoon in Indio and wait for another bus to arrive to transport the athletes, coaches and chaperones to their hotel near the meet in Pasadena.

“By the time they got off the bus, they couldn’t wait to go for a run and get their strides in,” Chandler coach Matt Lincoln said. “Since we arrived at the hotel four hours later than expected, it was too dark to do our strides at the (nearby) park, so we had to do them in the hotel parking lot.”

A little adversity won’t be enough to distract Chandler – one of the top three programs in Arizona, along with Desert Vista and Xavier Prep – when it competes at Brookside Golf Course in a 3-mile girls seeded race at 9:40 p.m. that features three reigning California state champions in host Claremont (Division 2), Foothill Tech (Division 4) and Flintridge Prep (Division 5).

Claremont swept both boys and girls seeded titles last year.

Chandler, which placed second at the state meet last year after winning its first Division 1 championship in 2015, will also square off against California powers Saugus, Arcadia, Anaheim Canyon, JSerra, Mission Viejo, Corona Santiago, West Ranch and Serrano. Junior Kelli Hines of Mission Viejo returns after winning the seeded race last year in 16:54.75.

The Wolves, who attended the Santa Clarita Valley Invitational in 2015 and the Running Center So Cal Invitational last season, are led by juniors Morgan Foster, Mihajla Milovanovic and Becca Taylor in addition to senior twins Kerri Welch and Kylie Welch.

“The reason we chose Cool Breeze is because we knew there were going to be a lot of ranked teams from California and this is a great tuneup meet for us, especially racing at night, to get ready for Desert Twilight (on Sept. 29 in Casa Grande, Ariz.),” Lincoln said. “We know that everyone is going to have to run well in order for us to have a chance to win against such a strong field.”

Chandler faces an even bigger challenge in the 10 p.m. boys seeded race, especially with a young team that finished 13th in the Division 1 state final last year, but has aspirations of placing in the top three this season.

Senior Christopher Ruiz leads the Wolves against a field that features reigning California state champions Claremont and Foothill Tech, along with Saugus, West Ranch, Arcadia, Crescenta Valley, Mira Costa and Simi Valley.

Crescenta Valley senior Colin FitzGerald returns after winning the seeded race last season in 14:55.86.