A great June for hard-working Arizona high school athletes

While May signified the end of high school sports season Arizona, June might have been the best month of the year for athletes.

National events, camps and qualifying meets saw athletes from all around the state make their mark.

Chandler's Ky Westbrook stayed on a path that has "future Olympian" written all over it.

The senior-to-be won the 100 and 200 meter races at the 2013 World Youth Track and Field Trials on Wednesday in Edwardsville, Illinois.

Westbrook ran a career best in the 200, finishing in 23.37 seconds to edge Ariana Washington of Long Beach Poly (Calif.) (23.42). Westbrook won the 100 with a time of 11.65.

The World Youth Track and Field Trials are the qualifying meet for the 2013 IAAF World Youth Championships, which will be held July 10-14 in Donetsk, Ukraine. The top two athletes in each event will comprise the U.S. team at the World Youth Championships.

Another athlete showing the skills to compete on the international level is Stephen Binning, who was born with spina bifida.

The 2013 Desert Vista (Phoenix) graduate never let it define him. Yes, he is confined to a wheelchair, but it has not restricted his life. More than anything Binning has approached every day as a challenge.

The most recent one he tackled was the U.S. Paralympic Track Team Trial. He did well enough to be named to the team that will compete in the World Championships in Lyon, France in July. He will compete in the 100 meter dash, an event in which he is ranked No. 14 in the world.

"I am pretty sure I've always found a way to get things done," he said. "I may have to do things a little differently but if there was something I thought I could do, I would, or at least find a way as close as possible, to try to get it done. I've always wanted to be a part of everything and be like everyone else at school."

Football players like Mountain Pointe seniors-to-be Jalen Brown, a nationally ranked wide receiver, and highly-recruited offensive lineman Natrell Curtis were in Chicago for the Rivals 100 camp, while Desert Mountain quarterback Kyle Allen, who committed Texas A&M, participated in the Elite 11 and won the Golden Gun award for best accuracy.

While Allen knows his destination, Brown said he will narrow his decision soon and will graduate in December so he can attend to spring ball with the college of his choice.

"It kind of popped up when someone mentioned it and it is something that would help me get a jump-start on my (college career)," Brown said. "A lot of people have done it and it is something that can really help."

In baseball, Ryan Castellani of Brophy College Prep (Phoenix) and Mountain Pointe's Cole Tucker have made the next stage in attempt to make the USA Baseball 18-and-under national team at the Tournament of Stars in Cary, N.C.

A total of 144 players were invited and 40 made the next stage with a chance to head to Taiwan.

Those selected head to Los Angeles in August when the group would be whittled down to 20 before Team USA participates in the International Baseball Federation 18-and-under World Cup in Taiwan beginning two weeks later.

Castellani got this far last season, but didn't make the final cut.

"I think it will help me a lot," Castellani told the Arizona Republic. "Just the experience and knowing a lot of guys at USA Baseball. There are one or two kids maybe who were on the team last year, so they came back. So I knew them pretty well just from playing with them for 10 or 12 days."

The wrestling mat was another place where Arizonans performed well at events like the West Cadet Regional in Pocatello, Idaho as the Arizona National Cadet team finished third, its highest finish ever behind individuals like Danny Vega of Ironwood Ridge (Tucson), Queen Creek's Anthony Wokasch, Bridger Barker of Corona del Sol (Tempe), Riley Hansen of Liberty (Peoria), Juaquin Olivas of Sunnyside (Tucson), while the Junior team was led by Tristan Ezell of Desert Vista, who was the only one from Arizona who go undefeated in both freestyle and Greco Roman.

The Arizona high school sports calendar might have gone quiet for a few months, but it is the clear the athletes are still making quite a bit of noise.

Jason P. Skoda, a former Arizona Republic and current Ahwatukee Foothills News staff writer, is an 19-year sports writing veteran. Contact him at jskoda1024@aol.com or 480-272-2449.