Xavier Prep’s Gators will be the No. 2-seeded team out of 16
for the Division I state volleyball tournament as the brackets were announced
by the Arizona Interscholastic Association on Friday (Oct. 30).
Xavier, which finished 31-7 during the regular season with a
three-game sweep of host Mesa High on Thursday (Oct. 29), will open state
tourney play at home on Tuesday (Nov. 3) at 6:30 p.m. against No. 15 seed
Peoria Liberty.
If the Gators win, they would host a quarterfinal game on
Thursday (Nov. 5) at 6:30 p.m. against either No. 7 Peoria Centennial or No. 10
Tempe Corona del Sol.
Semifinals are Nov. 7 and finals are Nov. 10, both at
Gilbert Mesquite.
Cross country
dominates
The XCP cross-country team on Friday (Oct. 30) showed that
it will be a force to be reckoned with at the upcoming state meet with a
dominating effort in the Division I, Section II meet at the Rose Mofford Sports
Complex in Phoenix.
All of Xavier’s runners finished in the top 10 of the
81-runner field, giving the Gators 19 points. Phoenix Sandra Day O’Connor
finished second with 62 points.
Junior Sarah Carter won the 5,000-meter event with a time of
17 minutes, 57.56 seconds. Senior Tessa Weiss was second at 18:15.59, senior
Jane Miller was third at 18:24.09, sophomore Caroline McClelland was sixth at
19:04.18, freshman Helen Innes was seventh at 19:12.66, sophomore Caroline
Liddy was eighth at 19:21.91 and senior Shannan Higgins was ninth at 19:28.91.
Team scores were Xavier 19, Sandra Day O’Connor 62, Glendale
Mountain Ridge 80, Phoenix Pinnacle 151, Phoenix North Canyon 155, Anthem
Boulder Creek 175, Glendale Ironwood 176, Surprise Valley Vista 257, Peoria
Centennial 257, Goodyear Millennium 267, Surprise Willow Canyon 271 and
Avondale Westview 308.
The Division I state meet will be held Nov. 7 at the Cave
Creek Golf Course in north Phoenix.
Golf looks for No.
33
Xavier’s storied golf program looks to add another
championship trophy beginning Monday (Nov. 2) and continuing Tuesday (Nov. 3)
in the Division I state tournament at the Aguila Golf Course in Laveen. Tee
times are 7:30 a.m. both days.
Xavier has won 32 state titles and four in a row under Sr.
Lynn Winsor, who is the co-coach along with Tui Selvaratnam.
Four Xavier players have a realistic chance to earn medalist
honors, following in the footsteps of former teammate Madison Kerley, who won
it all in 2014.
The top Gators are junior Elizabeth Calderelli, senior
Mikayla Fitzpatrick, junior Emily Mahar and senior Alisa Snyder.
Other players are sophomore Madeline Brown, freshman Emily
Cons, sophomore Lauren Faulkner, freshman Laura Lu, freshman Holly Otlewski,
junior Lily Worden and freshman Eve Worden.