Dysart Touts 14 State Championships

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 05/19/2023

DYSART SCHOOLS - The Dysart Unified School District ends the 2022-2023 school year with 14 state championships in high school athletics, including: 

• 6A Girls Basketball - Valley Vista High School (VVHS) 
• Division I-II Cheer, Coed Stunt - Willow Canyon High School (WCHS) 
• Division I-II Cheer, Coed Show Cheer - WCHS 
• Division I Track, 100 meter - Blaise Nelson, VVHS 
• Division I Track, 200 meter - Blaise Nelson, VVHS 
• 126 lb Wrestler, Girls Division - Brianna Reyes, VVHS 
• 150 lb Wrestler, Division I - Ammon Passey, SRHS 
• 215 lb Wrestler, Division I - Abel Garza, SRHS  
• Heavyweight Wrestler, Division III - Julian Laborin, Dysart High School (DHS) 
• Unified Badminton, Gold Division - WCHS 
• Unified Soccer, Gold Division - VVHS 
• Unified Basketball, Gold Division - WCHS 
• Unified Basketball, CoEd Silver Division - Shadow Ridge High School (SRHS) 
• Unified Track and Field - WCHS 

Nationally, Shadow Ridge High School won the USA Spirit Nationals for Large Intermediate Song/Pom.  

This year’s wins are repeats for three of the titles - girls basketball, and 100 and 200 meter track. It is the fourth year in a row that Valley Vista High School girls basketball has won the state championship, and the sixth time in seven years.  

Dysart has seen athletic success growing rapidly since it launched competitive athletics classes in the 2019-2020 school year to help students hone their athletic skills and abilities during the school day.  In the 2019-2020 school year Dysart had one state championship, which grew to six in 2020-2021 and nine in 2021-2022 to 14 this year. 

With individual players, Dysart saw two conference players of the year and 21 region players of the year in various sports. Willow Canyon High School softball player Marissa McCann was named to the USA Today watch list for HSSA Softball Player of the Year, and Valley Vista High School’s Olivia Arvallo became the first 6A Division player in Arizona history to win four state championships in any sport - her’s were on the six time state championship girls basketball team. More than 80 Dysart seniors signed letters of intent to play college sports. 

Dysart teams are led by the best, with 11 region coaches of the year, and a conference coach of the year. Additionally, Willow Canyon High School’s Clay Bewley was a nominee for the 2023 National NSCA High school Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year. 

Aside from high school athletics, Dysart’s middle schools competed in the Valley Junior High Athletics Conference and won seven championships in the league, up from three last year: 

• Baseball, Sunset Hills 
• Flag Football, Ashton Ranch 
• Girls Volleyball, Marley Park 
• Boys Volleyball, Canyon Ridge 
• Boys Soccer, Marley Park 
• Girls Soccer, Canyon Ridge 
• Boys Basketball, Cimarron Springs