VarsityXtra

Chandler High’s Bryce Lamb, a two-event champion last month at the 5A Division I state track meet, has been named recipient of the Gatorade Arizona boys track and field athlete of the year for 2009.

Lamb, a 6-foot-1, 195-pound senior, won the triple jump (leap of 52 feet, 6 1.4 inches) and the long jump (24-1 1/4) helping Chandler to a runner-up finish at state.  Lamb is set to attend Texas Tech this fall to compete in track and later, possibly football.  Lamb also captured the award in 2007.

Jeff Tallman, who coached Phoenix North Canyon to back-to-back Metro Region titles in 2008 and 2009, has been hired as the next baseball coach at Chandler High.

Tallman takes over for Jon Watson, who resigned in May to become head baseball coach at Poston Butte in the Florence school district. Tallman posted a 46-41 record in three seasons at North Canyon. The Rattlers did not lost a region game in two years and qualified for the state tournament the last two years.  North Canyon was 21-8 this past season.

A few notes from Tempe Marcos de Niza coach Roy Lopez:

- Running back/linebacker Ramon Abreu was offered a scholarship on Saturday from San Diego State. He was offered by Arizona State earlier this month. Abreu will likely be a cornerback in college.

- Wide receiver Justin Rodriguez is getting major interest from a variety of colleges, including Nebraska, ASU, Arizona, Colorado State, Colorado and San Diego State. Once he shows his academics are in order, the offers should start rolling in.

- Former linebacker Anthony Rose was one of the first Arizona State commitments last year, but he didn’t qualify academically. Rose will play at Glendale Community College this season, and if he can get his grades up, ASU will honor his scholarship, Lopez said.

Arizona high school football teams have had quite the showing at the San Diego State Passing League tournaments the past two weeks.

Chandler Basha beat Chandler Hamilton in the finals two weeks ago, and Phoenix Brophy knocked off Tempe Marcos de Niza this past weekend.

The Arizona squads had to beat some tough California competition to make the finals.  Marcos de Niza advanced past an Oceanside team which has won five straight Division II state titles.

“The (California college) coaches were saying we’re definitely going to get out there” to recruit in Arizona, Marcos de Niza coach Roy Lopez said.

Given the enormous budget cuts in Higley, Gilbert and everywhere else, Jennifer Burks knows she may be walking into an ulcer, but that was no reason to shy away from becoming Higley’s new athletic director.

Besides, she already knew what was coming. Burks has been at the school since it opened in 2001. She was the boys and girls cross country track coach for the past eight years (eventually the job was split and she was the girls’ coach), led the track program last year, an assistant track coach for four years prior and golf coach for one year.

Burks replaces Anthony Malaj, who’s moving to the Higley district office  to help with maintenance and operations of the district’s buildings and facilities.

Mesa Red Mountain has added former Mesa Dobson head coach Tom DeMassa to its football staff, according to coach Jim Jones.

Demassa will work with the Lions defense. He’s also joined the teaching staff at Red Mountain.

Red Mountain retained offensive coordinator Rodger Schenks, added former Mesa Mountain View offensive line coach Jerry Wheeler and could add former Mountain View and Gilbert High coach Jesse Parker to its defensive staff.  Parker has helped out the program on defense this spring and summer, but has yet to commit for this fall, when practice officially begins Aug. 3.

Phoenix Xavier junior Jessica Tonn became the third Gator to be named Gatorade Arizona Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year.

Tonn won the 800-meter run with a time of 2.14.84 seconds, won the 1600-meter run in 5:01.30 and won the 3200-meter run in 10:56.93 at this year’s 5A Division I state championship meet. The 5-foot-6 junior distance runner also anchored the winning 4×800-meter relay squad at the state meet.

She was also the cross country runner of the year in fall and carries a weighted 4.18 grade point average.

Tonn automatically becomes a finalist for the national track athlete of the year which will be decided later this month.

Former Mesa Mountain View and University of Arizona  pitcher  Brad Mills is set to make his major league debut Thursday for the Toronto Blue Jays in Philadelphia against the world champion Phillies.  Mills, a left-hander,  was drafted in June 2007 by the Blue Jays in the fourth round.  He’s pitched this season for Toronto’s  AAA team, the Las Vegas 51s, where he is  1-8 with a 4.48 earned run average. His best outing of the season came 10 days ago when  he threw seven shutout innings and struck out 11 in beating Tacoma. Mills received an academic scholarship to Arizona, but walked on and made the Wildcats roster in 2003. A degree and baseball career. Impressive. Next up — Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard.

After coaching a team full of experienced players the last two years, Scottsdale Saguaro coach John Sanders will have to start almost completely anew in 2009.

The Sabercats return just three starters and will rely on a host of sophomores and juniors.

While last year’s team knew what he wanted in practice, Sanders has to spend much more energy explaining things this year.

“They were on auto-pilot most of the time,” Sanders said of the 2008 team. “Those kids had it so wired, they knew what I wanted. These kids are all wide-eyed puppies. They’ll be big dogs some day, but right now they’re pups.”

While the personnel has changed, the goals remain the same. The Sabercats have won the past three 4A-I titles and have a winning streak off 33 games.

It’s not lost on the players filling the shoes of the departed players.

“They know (the winning streak) won’t last forever, but they don’t want it to end on their watch,” Sanders said.

Every skill position player from last year will need to be replaced.

At quarterback, there is a position battle between Teddy Ruben – brother of former Saguaro quarterback and  Gatorade Player of the Year Tim Ruben – and Kyle Faunce, a transfer from Indiana.

D.J. Foster is just a sophomore, but will be counted on to make plays, likely at wide receiver.

Like in past years, Saguaro’s strength will be in the trenches. Linemen Jordan McDonald, Kody Innes and Cyrus Hobbi all have scholarship offers already.

Apologies for not seeing this last week, but here’s an interesting case from Tucson which centers around Salpointe Catholic student Steven Erly, who is suing the Arizona Interscholastic Association for the right to have another year of athletic eligibility.

According to the story, Erly contracted a disease which evolved into Rheumatic Fever. It basically cost him two years of high school (at least full-time) and has caused disabilities.

He turns 19 years old in early July, and the AIA rule is no person who turns 19 before Sept. 1 is allowed to participate in high school sports.

The AIA schools originally passed the age 19 restriction.  Should this be an exception?  Or would this open a can of worms?

I’ll post an update as soon one is available.