For about six hours at Conley Stadium this Saturday, we’ll get a chance to witness some incredible athletes do what they do best at the RIIL State Track & Field Championships. Maybe we’re just a smidgen bias, but there is really isn’t a better place to be this weekend than at the Mount Pleasant venue
Here we feature some of the top storylines for the best show in town..
Lisa Raye
Remember about three months ago when St. Raphael’s Devan Kipyego won four individual titles at the State Meet? While the events will be different, West Warwick gifted freshman could pull off the four-peat this weekend. Raye is the top seed in the 100-meter dash, 200m, 100m hurdles and the 300m IH. In the 100m, where she owns a PR of 12.03, she’ll be matched against defending titlist Ailani Sutherland of Cranston West. Sutherland comes in with a 12.09 best. Could we see a sub-12? Raye and Sutherland also are 1-2 in the 200m. Raye is the only athlete that has dipped under 25 seconds with a best of 24.70 to Sutherland’s 25.05. In the 100m (15.0) and 300m IH (44.83), she’ll face a common foe with South Kingstown’s Sierra Thompson coming in with No. 2 seeds of 15.13 and 45.05, respectively. All four races, Raye will be challenged on Saturday. But don’t be surprised if she leaves Conley with four gold medals wrapped around her neck. She always seems to shine in meets like these.
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Sophia Gorriaran
The Moses Brown senior has a plethora of state titles in her storied career, but the one that she doesn’t have is her signature one, the 800m. It’s not because she was ever beaten in the event by her state rivals, it’s just that she’s never competed in it at the season-ending meet. Well this weekend, Gorriaran is scheduled to answer the gun in the two-lapper. While there are a bunch of talented runners in the this field, such as defending champion Grace Carr of Cumberland, Classical’s Caroline Jankowich, La Salle’s Caroline Cummings and East Greenwich’s Rylee Shunney, we’re expecting Gorriaran to be putting a fitting close to her outstanding career with a victory here. How fast will it be? We know she’s capable of a low two-minute time. It’s not like she hasn’t done it before and she did run 1:27 for 600 meters at the Penn Relays Carnival last month. But we could just see a time fast enough to win, maybe something in the 2:12, 2:13 range. Gorriaran is also slated to compete in the 1,500mm, 400m, and 4x400m.. We’’ll she run those events, too? That will provide a better indicator just how fast the Quaker standout will go this weekend in the 800m..
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Cranston West’s 4x100m
At last year’s championship meet, the Falcons broke the 13-year-old state mark in this event with a winning time of 47.64. Once again, Cranston West is the top seed with the quartet of Sutherland, Quianna Pezza, Praise Mayson and Amelya D’Errico combining for a state-leading and winning time of 48.05 at the Class A Championships two weeks ago.. Only Sutherland and Quiana Pezza were part of the 2002 squad, but it’s clear not much has changed from a year ago. Will we see a new mark? It could happen. Last year’s foursome ran 48.36 to win the class meet? They’re already ahead of schedule.
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Hammer
The national ranking for the hammer has three of our athletes in the top 10 with Woonsocket’s Adelaide Caron (167-6), Lincoln’s Jillian Leahy (167-1) and Narragansett’s Kylee Bennett (160-5) among the list. All three will be battling it out behind the cage on Saturday. Bennett recently joined the 160-club with her runner-up finish at this past weekend’s Mount Pleasant Invitational. Caron unleashed the current state-leader at the Class A meet, a PR by more than 10 feet at the time. She was third at Mount Pleasant with a distance of 157-10. Leahy has been the most consistent of the trio with 160-plus efforts the last six outings, including a winning 164-4 at the Mount Pleasant Invite where she beat both her top rivals. Based on that and her consistency, the Lion standout gets the favorite nod, but she’ll still have to be at the top of her game to strike it rich this weekend.
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Pole Vault
What we found out lately that gymnasts often make good pole-vaulters. That’s evident here in the Ocean State where our top two seeds also happen to be all-state gymnasts with North Kingstown’s Olivia Priest and La Salle Morgan Correia occupying those spots. Priest holds the top seed after winning the Mount Pleasant Invite with a PR of 10-8. Correia is at No. 2 with a best of 10-0. It could get interesting in battle of the gymnasts.
