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 girls’ Class A meet.
Class A Championships – Girls
Day/Time: Saturday/12 p.m.
Site: Coventry High
Teams: Cranston West, Central, Woonsocket, East Providence, Cranston East, La Salle Academy, Cumberland, North Kingstown, Coventry, Classical, Toll Gate, North Providence, Pilgrim Hope
Last year’s results: It was an historical day last year for Cranston West, which earned the school’s first-ever class title with a close 114.5-111 victory over Classical. La Salle was third with 105 points.
Events To Watch: Could this be a preview of the State Meet? Our top two pole-vaulters in the state will match up on Sunday with North Kingstown’s Olivia Priest and La Salle’s Morgan Correia expected to compete. Both are tied for No. 1 in the rankings at 10-feet even…With the top five runners separated by just about 1.5 seconds, the 400m has the potential to produce an exciting finish. The top seeds are Classical’s Zaida Depina (1:00.02) and La Salle’s Christian Cormier (1:00.20), who are the only runners with bests under 61 seconds. But certainly within striking distance are Cranston West’s Stalia Biosse (1:01.28) and Praise Mayson (1:01.44) and Cumberland’s Olivia Costa (1:01.57). A sub-60 will more than likely win this race…The 4x100m could get interesting. Defending state champion Cranston West is the top seed based on their best of 48.61 from this past weekend’s Mariner Invitational. The Falcons will not necessarily have it easy. They’ll face stiff competition from Classical, which has a best this season of 49.53 from the divisional championships. East Providence (50.38) and La Salle (51.0) also have some speedy legs in this event…We’re expecting a close race in the 800m where Cumberland’s Grace Carr is the No. 1 seed with a best of 2:17.0. Carr, who won this race at states last year, will not be able to hold back in this one. Her toughest opponent will be Classical’s Caroline Jankowich, who has a seed of 2:20.85 but has gone sub 2:20 multiple times. Jankowich will be running her second race of the day. She’s the top seed in the 1,500m by eight seconds over Toll Gate’s Allsion Pankowicz…Pilgrim’s versatile senior Dasani Stewart is entered in all three jumping events (long, triple and high jumps). She ranks No. 1 in two of them with bests of 18-2 in the long and 37-6.5 in the triple…The 100m and the 200m features Cranston West’s Ailani Sutherland, one of our state’s top sprinters. She’s favored in both events with bests of 12.14 and 25.35, respectively. East Providence’s Nazarae Philip (12.54) and Classical’s Zaida Depina (25.99) will be her top competition in the two events.
Team Outlook: A year after winning its first-ever class title, Cranston West looks ready to do it again on Sunday. But don’t count out teams like Classical and Cumberland, who could also make it happen.
