With so many track & field athletes performing at their best this past weekend at the New Balance Nationals and the Nike Indoor Nationals, it was a near-impossible task to pick one male and one female athlete for this week’s honor. We had state records that were broken, a bevy of All Americans and PRs in abundance . As usual, Rhode Island did us proud at these two national meets.
While we no doubt could have nominated more, we narrowed it down to two worthy athletes for our HOKA Athlete of the Week – Bishop Hendricken’s Keith Daigneau and St. Raphael Academy’s Devan Kipyego. Both finished second in their respective events at the New Balance Nationals with Daigneau unleashing a big PR in the weight throw and Kipyego nearly taking gold in the mile in what few will argue was one of the most exciting events of the four-day meet.
On the biggest of stages this weekend, Daigneau earned his silver with a distance of 75-6.25, a best by nearly a foot. The Hawk senior has been dialed in over the last month and a half, throwing further than 71 feet in five of his last six meets, including his previous best of 74-7 from the Last Chance Qualifier on Feb. 11. And what can you say about Kipeyego? He certainly exerted every last bit of energy to try and win the national crown on Sunday. Take a look at our above photo. That’s the SRA senior diving across the line to try and edge past eventual winner Jackson Heidesch. Both broke the meet record with Heidesch clocking 4:02.25 and Kipyego finishing at 4:02.30.
