Throughout the remainder of the week, Ocean State Running will preview all six meets (boys & girls) for this weekend’s class championships. Here we feature the boys’ Class C meet.
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Class C Championships – Boys
Day/Time: Sunday/10 a.m.
Site: Narragansett High
Teams: Burrillville, East Greenwich, Juanita Sanchez, Westerly, North Smithfield, Middletown, Narragansett, Tiverton, Mount St. Charles, Exeter/West Greenwich, St. Raphael Academy
Last year’s results: Saint Raphael Academy defended its title with a 144.50-113.50 decision over second-place North Smithfield.
Events To Watch: Devan Kipyego is entered in the 1,500m, 800m, 400m and 3,000m. Will the Saint Raphael Academy senior run all four on Sunday. Well, we’ve seen him do it plenty of times before so we won’t be surprised if he does it again in the team’s quest for another title. The race that we feel will be the most interesting to watch is the 3K at the end of the meet. It’s here he’ll face a fresh-legged NIck Martin of East Greenwich. Martin comes in with a seed of 8:40.0, which is an estimate based on his times run in other events, such as his 1,500m best of 3:57.84 from the divisional championships a few weeks ago. We certainly think it’s a good estimate for the URI-bound senior, who has been having a great outdoor season. Kipyego, of course, is having a great one, too. He’s coming off an 800m victory from last week’s Loucks Games where he clocked a near best and winning time of 1:51.83. He also ran 4:07.6 for the mile at the BSR Elite Scholastic Mile and went sub nine minutes for 3,200m at the Arcadia (CA) Invitational last month. If he does run three races prior to the 3K, he’ll more than likely run just enough to win, which will be a tall order with 4:01 runner Cole Francis of Narragansett in the 1,500m and at least three runners that have gone sub-52 in the 400m. In the 800m, look for Kipyego to run with teammates Pedro Mayol (1:59) and JJ Rocha (2:01), the two and three seeds, and not try and blast a time like 1:55. The 3K catches our attention the most and could be one of the more exciting of the meet. Martin is a smart racer and will be ready for what’s in store, and so will Kipyego…The 200m could produce a thriller to the end with several capable of winning this weekend. Moses Brown’s Salter Arms (23.06), North Smithfield’s Nick Lamoureux (23.18), and Westerly’s Christian Dejour (23.29) are the top seeds and lead a bunch more contenders, who have clocked times in the low-to-mid 23-second range…Don’t just focus on the oval. There will be plenty of exciting things happening elsewhere. Let’s start with the long jump where we have our 1-2 finishers from the indoor states facing each other for the first time since the winter season. This event features the Quakers’ Arms against St. Ray’s Ethan McCann Carter. Arms won the State Meet with a PR of 23-10.25, while McCann Carter was second at 23-2.25. The two also went 23-plus at the East Coast Invitationals with similar leaps of 23-10 and 23-3.5, respectively. Keep an eye on Middletown’s Cam Miller, too. He’s the No. 2 seed based on his best of 21-8.25 this season. McCann Carter holds the top seed at 22-5. Arms has a best of 21-7.25 so far this season. Look for all that to change on Sunday…In the hammer, Tiverton’s Joshua Wood, who is ranked fifth with a best of 195-5, will be looking to become our latest 200-footer…We’re expecting big throws from Middletown’s Jason Hayes, who is the top seed in the shot (52-3) and javelin (166-6)
Team Outlook: It looks like it will be another team title for the Saints this weekend. While they are well rounded, a considerable amount of points will be accumulated in the running events where more than 100 points are possible. North Smithfield and East Greenwich will likely be battling for that runner-up position.
