Carlan Naisant of Marcos de Niza dazzled at the Chandler Rotary Invitational, tossing the javelin 192 feet, 7 inches.
Courtesy photo
In the 76 years of the Chandler Rotary Invitational, there has been much to be seen.
Whether it was Chandler's Bryce Lamb and Mountain Pointe's Will Claye battling in the triple jump in 2008, Brophy's Devon Allen posting a time of13.62 seconds in the 110 hurdles in 2012 or the dominant performances by Desert Vista's Dani Jones and Chandler's Ky Westbrook in recent years, there always seems to be something that leaves an impression.
This year there was something that had never taken place in the Rotary event.
The javelin event was competed in both the boys and girls for the first time. It was considered an exhibition, as girls used a 600-gram javelin and the boys had an 800-gram javelin.
The state still doesn't recognize it in state competition, but there has long been a push to get it in as part of the event schedule. The performance on Saturday showed there is good reason to think the event can flourish in Arizona.
Marcos de Niza (Tempe) sophomore
Carlan Naisant won with a toss of 192 feet, 7 inches, which was thought be the second-best throw in the nation for his age group this season.
"I was feeling good and my form was good," he said. "There are some things I can work on, but it was a pretty good throw."
He was followed his by brother
Marcus Naisant at 186-01 and
Ryan Shaver of
Bradshaw Mountain (Prescott Valley) was third at 169-01.
Maja Ahmann of
Chaparral (Scottsdale) took the girls gold medal at 120-02 with
Sierra Rodriguez of
Flowing Wells (Tucson) (107-03) and
Ryann Tanuz of
Santa Fe (N.M.) (106-0) was third.
The event is gaining traction, as 24 boys and 15 girls competed on the day.
Westwood (Mesa) coach James Smith is one of the biggest proponents of adding javelin to the event and he has seen progress toward getting it in Arizona competitions.
"Each year it gets a little closer," said Smith, who coaches the Naisant brothers with the Arizona Flames. "We will give it a shot again for next season. Having it in events like this only helps."
The hold-up for the most part is the cost of the javelin, logistics of the event based on safety concerns and lack of coaches.
"This has been a long time coming," Smith said. "We will keep pushing for it."
Carlan Naisant has goals of getting close 210 feet this year.
"I just have to get stronger in the weight room, perfect my technique and work on my plant foot," he said.
Carlan Naisant is no stranger to winning javelin events, as he started throwing it in club competition six years ago. He set the Junior Olympic meet record a few years back with a toss of 185-9. As a sophomore, he hopes to have a chance to compete for a high school state championship before he graduates.
"I was happy when I saw they were adding it," he said. "Getting a chance in events like this and HoHoKam shows it can be done. Hopefully it happens."
Here is a look at some of the other results from the meet:
*
Cade Burks set a
Perry (Gilbert) record and state-leading time (4 minutes, 18.28 seconds) in the elite mile for a fourth-place finish.
* The
Mountain Pointe (Phoenix) girls won the 400 relay with a school-record time of 47.10.
*
Allie Schadler of
Rio Rico won the girls elite mile in 4:54.
Baylee Jones from
Desert Vista (Phoenix) was second in 4:57.
* Mountain Pointe's
Kayleigh Conlon took first in the elite shot put with a throw of 45-8 to break the mark by 2 inches that was owned by Chandler's Hannah Carson.
*
Campo Verde (Gilbert) had two school records set, as
Andrew Wasserbeck cleared 12 feet in the pole vault and
Alaina Kautz finished the mile in 5:18.01.
Jason P. Skoda, a former Arizona Republic sports writer and current Prep Sports Director for Times Media Group, is a 20-year sports writing veteran. Contact him at jskoda1024@aol.com.
