AZSPORTSNETWORK

With summer upon us most are concentrating on camps this summer:

3A East Baseball All-Conference Awards:

First Team

Ridge Halenar, Payson, sr.
Hunter Haynes, Payson, sr.
Weston Gibson, Payson, so.
Nick Johnson, Blue Ridge, so.
Dustin Simmons, Blue Ridge, sr.
Ty Webster, Blue Ridge, jr.
Billy Young, Show Low, sr.
Clay Hathaway, Show Low, sr.
Trevar MacArthur, Show Low, so.
Robby Martindell, Snowflake, jr.
Kyle Larson, Snowflake, jr.
Spencer Gleave, Round Valley, sr.

Second Team

Tyler Savage, Payson, sr.
Ever Figueroa, Payson, jr.
Tyler Adams, Show Low, jr.
Tyler Vought, Show Low, jr.
Nolan Hatch, Snowflake, jr.
Shawn Walker, Snowflake, jr.
Michael Perry, Round Valley, sr.
Taylor Pacheco, Round Valley, jr.
Daniel Prieto, Round Valley, sr.
Richie Rosales, Blue Ridge, sr.
Nick Williams, Blue Ridge, so.
Jack Jordan, Blue Ridge, jr.

Honorable Mention
Blue Ridge - Justin Espino, jr.; Tyrel Coplan, jr. Payson - Ryan Williams, sr.; Devin England, sr. Round Valley - Josh Walker, sr.; Duskin Donaldson, jr. Show Low - Spencer Mallet, so.; Troy Carpenter, so. Snowflake - Travis Reddick, sr.; Dane Hancock, so.

All-White Mountain Independent Golf

Golfer of the Year
Kyle Jones, Snowflake

Coach of the Year
Steve Schneider, Snowflake

Kyle Jones Snowflake So.
Jordan Henderson Snowflake Fr.
Tobias Weihe Snowflake Sr.
Parker McDonald Snowflake Jr.
Nick Routhier Snowflake Jr.

Golf: Congratulations to Kyle Jones, from Snowflake, repeats as Golfer of the Year on the All-White Mountain Independent Golf team.

Track and Field: At the Meet of Champions Show Low's Justin Butler won 400 meter dash. Butler won the 400 meter dash with a time of 49.49 seconds, beating rivals from Glendale Apollo and O'Connor, and Goodyear Desert Edge from 4A, and 3A Chino Valley. Butler beat second-place Nathan Bolivar of Apollo by 1.3 seconds in the race.

An interesting side note was some Athletes from the 1A North Region also bested athletes from the big schools, as Joseph City's Spencer Baldwin won the long jump and Andrea Klimowski of Flagstaff Northland Prep won the 1600.

More Track and field: Shad Bride who will be playing football at NAU was able to get 2 2nd place finishes at the 2A state championsips this season, which was won by VC in the boys and girls competition. Bride was second in the 100 (11.12 seconds) and 200 (22.96) meter dashes and helped the 4 x 100 relay team to a fourth-place finish.

Northwest Christian: Senior Matt Holtfrerich won both the 100 and 200.

Mogollon sophomore J.T. Maner: Not only is he a tremendous football and basketball player, J.T. also won a state championship in track this season. Maner won the long jump with a distance of 20 feet, 10 3/4 inches, and he was third in both the triple jump and in the 400 meter dash.

1A Track State Championsip: Tempe Prep won both the boys and girls title at the state meet. The Joseph City boys were second overall and the Phoenix Valley Lutheran girls were second in the team standings. Tucson St. Augustine Catholic boys and girls were both third. Each meet had 21 teams which scored points with finishes in the top eight in at least one of the 17 events.

Hello sports fans:

Well for most of us school is out or just about out. With summer time now in place we start looking at the upcoming 2009 fall sports seasons:

Payson Football: From very good resources Payson is wanting to have their head football coach in place at the end of this week. The interviews have been happening and were forced to wait until they know what jobs were available.

Football Jobs still open: Rio Rico, Patagonia and Douglas are open in the Southern part of the state. payson of course in 3A and Ganado still is deciding for their position as well.

All-Star games: All-star games are coming up in most sports. We will be covering the softball game hopefully if connection is good. Please remember the 1A football will be held in Mogollon. I will try and get websites to you so you can see what is coming up.

Good morning sports fans!

Is it just me or are you still on a high from all of the exciting AZ HS prep state championships this last week!

Valley Christian girls set national record: Kudos go out to the VC coaching staff! Saturday night was celebration time for Chandler’s Valley Christian track and field program. Dan Kuiper, head coach for both the boys and girls teams, watched the girls’ squad set a national record, while the boys surprised many — coach Kuiper included — with their own state title. This was 14 and counting for this tremendous track and field program. The big thing is the girls have rarely been challenged at times. Once again congratulations and how does 15 sound girls!! For results of the 2A VC results go to 2A state track and field results

Joy Christian: Just in case you are not familiar with this school they have quietly become an AIA program and next year they should be ready for all varsity sports. After looking at the 1A track results this is a heads up on the next top school out of the metro who looks like sooner rather than later may start to make its mark at the 1A level.

Track results an indicator: One of the things I like to do is look at the track results to see how some of the teams are doing athletically. I feel that teams that start having success in track will ultimately have success in other programs. You can look at Temp Prep as one of those programs as they now jump up to the 2A level which will be hard at first but look for them to continue to have success as they get use to competing at 2A.

West Wind Prep Football: This year the WWP coach got a new football coach. In the past we have not seen a lot of success based on wins and losses but I saw something in the track results that may be an indication that they may be getting better athletes in that may be able to help in football. In the 4x100 relay they placed very high and as you know this takes 4 fast athletes at the 2A level. For this team to place high in this event shows me they may be on their way to possibly being more successful in football than they have in the past. It may not happen this year but how long before the success of the boys basketball team rubs off and starts attracting more athletes to the football field. In the past in track I did not see hardly any WWP athletes running with success in the sprints so this may be something to look for in the nest few years.

St. Augustine Track and Field: If some of you have not heard about St. Augustine it is time to start keeping track of this school. Not only did their softball and baseball teams show a lot of success at the state playoffs this year but the track teams have quietly become a nice little program in their own right. Actually before softball or any other sports had success the track program at St. Augustine has been very successful over the years. In both the boys and girls they both placed 3rd. I am doing a write-up on this program which will be in another blog so I will not post results of individual teams here but what a great job this weekend for St. Augustine track and field and their coach Al Buhl and the rest of his staff!

Valley Union Softball: Congratulations to the VU softball team this year. They had the chance to fold against Joe City in the championship game down 4-0 early on but these girls showed guts and fought back to take the lead and nearly knocked off the defending state champions. It was a great game and VU showed why you play the games no matter how good the other team is you are facing.

Cody Rosengarten Tombstone: Cody gets his triple crown in track and field over the weekend! What a runner! He takes 1st in the 800, 1,600, and a thrilling victory in the 3,200-meter run. Here is the thing: He is only a junior!!!! Way to go Cody!

Linda Lamb-Coach of the Year Finalist: Coach Lamb from Benson is one of the finalist for Coach of the Year Award given away by the AIA. I can go on and on about what she means to this school but the nomination speaks for itself. We came to know Coach Lamb because of her hard work and dedication helping with the Susan G. Komen Race For the Cure for Breast Cancer. If I knew nothing else of her outstanding record as a teacher and coach this would have been enough for me to throw my vote her way. No matter if she wins the final award or not congratulations to not only an outstanding coach but also an outstanding human being! Great job coach!!!

Cochran,(Joe City) vs Brink,(St. Augustine) Round 1: Just in case you have been on another planet these 2 young ladies are 2 of the top pitchers in any classification in AZ softball! With both hitting 60mph or above with their fastball they are dominating 1A softball and with both of them being Sophomores, we will see them for 2 more years. The first round goes to Cochran as she won their 1st matchup in a great semi-final game at state but Brink displayed her pitching prowess as well by keeping her team in the game until the very end! Oh yeah-they can both hit the ball! So I am one softball fan who will be looking for RD2 and hopefully they will have this matchup in the state final instead of a semi-final game! Note: I hope both teams stay away from each other until the playoffs

Patagonia Football: With their coach heading over to Pima to join Coach Nugent as he rebuilds his team, Patagonia will be looking for a new HC. They had a lot of success but their do it all RB Soto is heading to PCC with his coach. Not all is bleak for this team as they have a lot coming back and if the right coach comes in they can be a contender again in the South 1A Division.

Camp Verde Softball: Yeah I know I mentioned them before but they deserve all the publicity they can get after shocking the softball 2A world with their upset win over Willcox! I mean not only do they defeat them but to knock off the #1 ranked San manuel team the day before and come back hungrier than ever is quite a feat! Great job Coach Debbie Miller and all her staff! man I love stories like this!!!!!

Whats in a Name: I love this topic. Here is one: James Bond Robinson Paradise Valley High School Student of the Year Boy Finalist Do I need to say more The things parents do while in the throws of Labor Pain is beyond me! I love this name but can you imagine what this poor kid goes through not only in school but when he has to submit his name! I love it!! hey I would have loved this name for many obvious reasons.

Matt Archuleta, Ray HS: Matt quietly went down to the 2A state track meet and became the new Boys 2A Discus State Champion with a throw of 145-01. Congratulations Matt. He also took another medal, 4th place, in the shot put with a throw of 45-04. In my opinion Matt was one of the top 2A athletes in 2A that not many knew about but should have as he has had a nice HS career while at Ray HS. Once again great job Matt!

Hello Fans!

Today is another great day for State Playoff Action. Today we will witness State Championships being realized by some outstanding teams.

Josh King, Tanque Verde Baseball: Josh pitched another excellent game for his team with a complete game as he has willed his team to the state championship. For those of us who have enjoyed watching him pitch all season, was this the last game we will see him pitch in his high school career? OR will we see an encore performance in the championship game ala Bisbee/Amos.

Baseball Pitchers: Note: Pitchers can go 12 innings in two days so some of the aces that pitched yesterday could very well pitch today.

Beauty and the Beast: Coach Patterson, Willcox Softball coach, retired from football only to see himself with the possibility of winning the state championship in softball. Little did he know to get a state title he would be coaching a girls sport instead of sweating with a bunch of ugly lineman.

Hello Fans!

Today is the day! What a great week for playoffs from smallball all the way
to the upper classifications:

Cienega vs CDO Softball: Man what a game this will be!! Is this being covered by COX here in Tucson??? I would hope so! This is a game to see or hear. WE are not sure if we can cover these games. But it is a good one as Fowler is looking to put an exclamation point on her great career with Cash looking to Cash in on a state title. Ouch that was bad huh

Classification Playoffs: I had heard before that they had voted down the 32 team state bracket but a little Birdie yesterday told me that it in fact was passed so this means 32 teams will be in the state tournament and not 24 like I stated last time. I sure hope so because as a former AD this is what I proposed as an AD and actually the same sort of thing for football.

All-State Selections: Get on and vote with TWITTER for your MVP of each classification. WE have decided to do a fan voting to make this more exciting. WE are in fact naming our 4 MVPs from each classification and then having you, the fans, vote on the overall MVP.

Games Today: We will be covering the St. Augustine vs Joe City softball matchup live on air today at 5:30! What a game this will be and we will be giving you live updates on each games in baseball and softball. We also will plan on carrying possibly the Winslow vs Safford and if allowed maybe the Globe vs Chino Game at 3:00pm. WE will post it on TWITTER or on our site.