State badminton singles and doubles championships commence Friday (Oct. 23) and conclude Saturday (Oct. 24) at Independence High School with only a couple players competing who medaled the last year or the year before.

Competition each day begins at 10 a.m. Play on Saturday starts with quarterfinal matches and continues to early afternoon with the semis and finals.

Desert Vista senior Karen Guo is the defending singles champ and top seed. Guo was beaten by Xavier's Kirielle Sangarajah last month in the singles final of the Independence Invitatiional, the top invitational of the season. Guo bounced back last week in a dual match with Xavier and swept Singarajah. Singarajah was part of Xavier's doubles runner-up in 2013. The last singles player to win back-to-back titles was Desert Mountain's Emily Harris in 2008 and 2009.

Granted the top seed in doubles are Hamilton seniors Elle Millon and Rena Han. They were doubles champs at the Independence Invite. The top eight seeds for singles and doubles, bracketed on Wednesday night:

SINGLES

1. Karen Guo, Desert Vista; 2. Makaila Mason, Greenway; 3. Kirielle Sangarajah, Xavier; 4. Mackenzie Whitten, Mountain Ridge; 5. Aitzya Alvarez, Westwood; 6. Alexis Mee, Chandler; 7. Mary Legaspi, Ironwood; 8. Lauren Mazzella, Prescott.

DOUBLES

1. Elle Millon-Rena Han, Hamilton; 2. Sam Berg-Nicole LoDestro, Red Mountain; 3. Laike Reader-Lauren Kater, Perry; 4. Aimee Clifford-Rachel Goettl, Sunnyslope; 5. Katherine Valdez-Sarah Weldon, Skyline; 6. Tatum Clarke-Lauren Pearl, Xavier; 7. Aily Bracken-San Bracken, Chaparral; 8. Katie Cuthbertson-Julia Hansen, Cactus.