Sports
SPORTS
THE CHANDLER ARIZONAN | WWW.CHANDLERNEWS.COM | MAY 29, 2022
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S’Niyah Cade shines in track championship BY JAKE BROWN Contributing Writer
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fter a long week of preliminaries, the track and field state championships concluded on Saturday with 19 track events across four divisions. Desert Vista’s boys ended up winning the 2022 Division I title with 107 points. Perry’s girls won the Division I title with 87 points, edging five-time defending champion Chandler in the process. But the Wolves were well represented at the state meet alongside other Chandler schools. “I wasn’t expecting to win state, so it was exciting,” Chandler freshman S’Niyah Cade said. “My mentality is just to focus on what I have to do for the next three years.” A freshman phenom, Cade burst onto the scene onto the scene at the Nike Chandler Rotary meet when she ran
Chandler freshman S’Niyah Cade, “middle,” took the Arizona high school track community by storm this season after winning the 100-meter dash at the Nike Chandler Rotary. She followed up that race with a gold medal finish at the state track meet last Saturday at Mesa Community College. (Dave Minton/Staff) right past the competition in the 100. Cade takes after her mother, Keri Suell, who was a track star herself at Chan-
dler and ran an 11.69 in the 100 back in 2002. Suell said earlier in the season she believes Cade can be just as good, if not
better than she was in high school. She nearly made that happen Saturday as she won gold in the 100 with a time of 11.84 seconds. The five-time defending champion Lady Wolves were edged by district rival Perry on Saturday for the state title. It was the first championship for the Pumas, who were led by senior Taylor Loveall’s strong performances in distance events, which included a gold medal run in the 3200-meter last Wednesday. Chandler’s boys also placed second at state just a year after winning the title. The Wolves were led in part by Khaymin Westbrook’s second place finish in the 110 hurdles. The 4x100 relay team of Sammie Hunter, Geramiah Flunder, Otis Knapper and Michael King captured gold to help Chandler.
see TRACK page 30
Hamilton cruises to 6A baseball title win over Chandler BY ZACH ALVIRA Arizonan Sports Editor
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amilton felt down and out in the quarterfinals when it lost by a run to a Queen Creek team that got hot at the right time. Then, the Huskies were given a second chance. An investigation by the Arizona Interscholastic Association found Queen Creek hadn’t used an approved device to count pitches during its matchup the previous Saturday against Chaparral. The Bulldogs recorded 55 pitches for their starter, Chaparral, using an approved device recorded 64. The difference required an extra day of rest, which would have made him ineligible to pitch against the Huskies. He came in to close and won them the game forcing Queen Creek to forfeit and allowed Hamilton to move on.
Hamilton’s baseball team was given new life last week when Queen Creek was forced to forfeit its win over the Huskies in the playoffs. Hamilton took advantage, winning two more games and the title over rival Chandler Tuesday night at Tempe Diablo Stadium led by starting pitcher Kole Klecker, “middle.” (Dave Minton/Staff)
Huskies coach Mike Woods called it an “unfortunate” circumstance. But it gave his players new life which they utilized to make a run to the championship and cap it off with a 11-1 run-rule win over rival Chandler Tuesday night at Tempe Diablo Stadium. “Crazy week to say the least,” Hamilton coach Mike Woods said. “But they responded so well when we got a second wind there. We played good baseball all year long. We were on top all year long. We have no apologies, we played well. Tonight was our night, it wasn’t Chandler’s night but give them credit, they had a great run. “I’m just happy for the kids, man.” Hamilton’s bats came alive early, scoring three runs in the first inning. Gavin Turley found home after he was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom half of the
see BASEBALL page 30
