For the first state qualifier of the indoor track & field season, the competition could create quite of bit of excitement inside the PCTA with the annual RITCA Invitational. The entries have now been finalized and judging by what we see, we could have some intense battles in several events.
Here’s a few that should generate some electricity.
***
Boys’4x200m
This is an event which matches our top three teams from last year’s State Meet with Bishop Hendricken, Central and La Salle in the race. The Hawks have the No. 1 seed with their best of 1:32.43, while Central and La Salle have times of 1:34. With the trio expected to race together, this could be an event that’s determined during the lates stages of the race, perhaps the last few meters. Handoffs could prove crucial in the outcome.
Girls’ 3,000m
It’s all about the D’s. This race features three of some of our bests for the 15-lapper with Mount Hope’s Jessica Deal, Classical’s Grace Doyle and Cumberland’s Kiley DeFusco among the entries. Deal was second at last year’s s State Meet with a best of 10:22.85. Doyle brings a PR of 10:36.39 from her fourth-place finish. DeFusco, who did not compete during the indoor season, ran an all-time best of 10:18.42 tp place third at the outdoor states last spring. All three are coming off strong cross-country seasons. At the State Meet, DeFusco, Deal and Doyle placed fourth, fifth and eighth, respectively.
Boys’ 3,000m
We know it’s far too early, but this one could give us a preview of what to expect when the State Meet rolls around in a couple of months. The top two runners are La Salle sophomore Marshall Vernon and Hendricken senior Jack Moretta. Both were top seven finishers at the State Meet this past cross-country season and both are sub nine-minute 3K runners. After finishing seventh at the indoor states last year, Moretta had a career day at the outdoor meet where he was second overall with an all-time best of 8:43.17. As a ninth-grader, Vernon went nine-minutes flat during the winter and clocked 8:55 in the spring, an effort that secured him seventh at the states. Moretta is coming off a 4:08 1,500m from a dual meet at the beginnong of the week. Vernon will be running his first race at PCTA after extending his cross-country season this fall, one that included an impressive 15th place finish at the Nike Northeast Regionals in late November. Will the tandem just run a time fast enough to secure in early qualifier for the seeded section at the states or will we see an all-out effort? Our guess is the latter with a time in the 8:45-8:50 range, possibly faster. But don’t expect this race to just be a two-person battle. We could have quite a few still in this race in the late stages. For an early-season race, the field is kind of loaded. As usual, the Hawks will have several in the seeded heat with Will Olsen, Sam Zabbo, and freshman Colby Flynn capable of low nine-minute efforts. You can’t count out Barrington’s Myles Napolitano and St. Raphael’s JJ Rocha, too. Napolitano, who was third at the XC states, has a best of 9:07 from outdoor. Rocha ran 8:50 at the Classical Classic and has 4:08 speed for the 1,500m, which he did at the Class C meet in February.
Girls’ Weight Throw
Don’t ignore what’s happenng behind the cage. Here we have several of our top finishers from last year’s State Meet with Woonsocket’s Isabella Piette, Barrington’ senior ‘s Lily Cregan, Woonsocket’s Adelaide Caron and Coventry’ junior’s MIa Hoskins, who all made the podium in 2023 by placing second, fifth, sixth and eighth, respectively. Piette comes in with a top seed of 47 feet, 5.75 inches from her runner-up finish last year. She was right near that mark this past weekend for the Villa Novans’ winning weight throw relay at the Injury Fund Carnival. Cregan and Hoskins each have bests of 46-plus and Caron went 44-3.25 last week. Other throwers include Classical’ junior ‘s Giffy Adekunle (PR, 45-4.5) and teammate Susan Adekunle (PR, 44-8.5). Woonsocket coach Marc Piette was telling us last week that he expects at least five or six throwers over 50 feet this winter. We could have a few of those 50-footers this weekend.
Boys’ High Jump
This event could get interesting. It features our top returnee from the indoor states as well as the outdoor champion versus our only athlete to exceed 6-4 last year (indoor or outdoor). Hendricken’s Jakob Keyes is the owner of the No. 1 seed with his 6-7 best from the Class A meet last winter. Keyes will face Central’s Demetrius Outland, who was our runner-up at the indoor states and the gold-medalist during the outdoor meet, both times leaping 6-4. The field includes a few others that could come up big this weekend with East Providence’s Kenaz Ochodwu (6-4). Moses Brown’s Gabe Lane (6-2), North Smithfield’s Nick Lamoureux (6-2) and East Providence’s Cameron Evora (6-2) in the field.
