Brooks Chandler Rotary 2026 Recap
The historic Chandler Rotary Invitational in Arizona was back for its 86th iteration with a new headlining sponsor, Brooks. The elite sections featured teams from all over the southwest portion of the country, including Texas, California, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and of course Arizona’s top competition. We saw new state-leading times, as well as marks posted on national leaderboards, both from in and out of state competition.
The super sophomore Kadyn Hysong out of Shadow Mountain took down Queen Creek’s Dash Wasson in a jump-off between the two nationally-ranked vaulters. Hysong jumped 17' 1" to Wasson’s 16' 7", as Hysong grabbed the U.S. #3 mark while Wasson jumped the U.S. #10. Kadyn is the son of Nick Hysong, who won the gold medal in the pole vault at the 2000 Sydney Australia Olympic games, and is now the jumps coach at Shadow Mountain.
Tyree McSwain of Williams Field is the first to go under 48 seconds over 400m this season, finishing third in the elite section in 47.81. Ejam Yohannes of Loyola(CA) took the win in 46.11, which is the #1 time in California this year, as well as the U.S. #4.
Maddox Bonilla of Casteel bettered his state lead in the 800m and took the win in 1:52.38 over Troy Haymore of ALA Queen-Creek who came second in 1:53.24. The two juniors occupy the first two spots in this year’s state rankings list. Bonilla has already knocked off five seconds from his season best last year, while Haymore has improved nearly seven seconds.
The distance races saw electric battles between Page’s Symond Martin and Hamilton’s Zarian Rodriguez, as Martin defended his Chandler Rotary 3200m win from last year finishing in 9:06.31 over Rodriguez’s 9:08.51. However, the next day in the 1600m, Rodriguez got his revenge and took the win, running 4:12.21 over Martin’s 4:13.21. Alex Bland of Flagstaff broke them up finishing second in 4:13.07. Martin is committed to Northern Arizona University, while Rodriguez is signed to Colorado State University.
Zarian Rodriguez winning the 1600m at Chandler Rotary
The long-awaited matchup between Williams Field’s Malachi Joyner and Basha’s Mason Aughe took place in the throws, as Joyner defeated Aughe in both shot put and discus. Joyner threw 175' 5" in the discus, taking the win and improving his state lead, while Aughe’s 174' 4" was good enough for a Chandler Rotary silver and an improved A.Z. #2 mark.
Ryder Hall of Snowflake took the win in the high jump with 6' 8" and good enough for an A.Z #1 mark. Hall also won the long jump in 23' 4" but not enough to improve his current state-leading mark of 23' 9.5" that was posted at the Thunder Invite earlier this season. His busy Chandler Rotary weekend also included a fifth place finish in the 110mH in 14.68.
Joyner took second in the shot put with a 56' 7.5", good enough for an A.Z. #4. Drew Harisay of Etiwanda(CA) took the win throwing 60' 5".
Amare Holley of Red Mountain continued his undefeated streak in the 200m with a 21.48, two hundredths off his personal best of 21.46 from the Aztec Invitational earlier in the season. A pair of Chandler Wolves grabbed AZ #2 and #3 marks with Josiah Rue’s 21.56 and Robert Barker’s 21.75. Malachi Dawson of Long Beach Poly’s 21.66 split up the wolves on the podium for a bronze finish. Holley also took bronze in the 100m in 10.77. Mark Smith of Williams Field took the win in 10.60. Nobody within the state’s top 10 list ran a personal best in the 100m.
Mark Smith of Williams Field winning the 100m
Girls
Ava Davis of Millenium continued her dominant season, sweeping both the girl’s 100m and 200m dash. She won the girl’s 100m in 11.80, taking down Queen Creek’s Kylee Blair who finished second in 11.90, while coming back in the 200m with a 24.02.
The Mesquite super-freshman Aulani Gleason dropped a huge 54.70 mark to take the win in the 400m. Gleason nearly took two seconds off her personal best to land her an AZ #2 mark. She also took runner-up in the 200m in 24.23, also an AZ #2 in that event. She also helped Mesquite sneak on the Chandler Rotary podium in the 4x400m with a fifth place finish in 3:57.52.
Another personal best over 800m from Queen Creek’s Nicole Ripperdan as she continues her dominant season. She won the elite section in 2:10.64, taking down Arizona State commit Bianca Hurtado who finished second in 2:121.12. Ripperdan is currently undefeated this year over 400m and 800m, and is the state leader in both events. She is committed to Utah State University.
We also saw close battles between Taylor Drewry of Basha and Anna Hastings of Albuquerque Academy(NM) in the distance races. Hastings took down Drewry on night one in the 3200m, taking the win in 10:29.20 over Drewry's 10:31.81. The next day, Drewry got her revenge taking the win in the 1600m in 4:56.25, just edging out Hastings’ 4:56.62. The duo also drug Milanni Pedraza of Catalina Foothills under the 5:00 barrier, posting a 4:57.65 for third place and an AZ #2.
Taylor Drewry and Anna Hastings at the start of the 1600m.
Another close battle between North Canyon’s Rebekah Jhade-Garrett and Chandler’s Imani Galera-Young in the 100mH, with Jhade-Garrett 13.52 just out-leaning Galera-Young 13.53. This is the closest she has been to Jhade-Garrett this season, and also shaved another 0.09 off her lifetime best. Galera-Young also came back to dominate the 300mH to take the win in 42.67, which is a new AZ #1.
North Canyon’s Rebekah Jhade-Garrett winning the 100mH at the Chandler Rotary Invitational
Other AZ #1 marks in the field events consisted of Chandler’s Kyra Hogarth in the pole vault posting a 12' 1", and Seton Catholic’s Brooke Zuluaga with a 145' 0". Both ladies took wins in the event.
What's next?
We’re back at Brophy this Friday for the Brophy Freshman Oliver Invitational with 38 teams, while Saturday’s action consists of the famous Ron Smith Classic at Shadow Mountain High School with 33 teams in attendance. Other big invitationals that weekend are the Greenway Invitational, the Toro Invite at Mesa Mountain View and the Sentinel Invite at Seton Catholic.
Written by: Nate Pestka
