The first of two days of the 39th annual Yale Track HS Classic on Friday saw a few of our local squads earn qualifying times for the New Balance Nationals Indoor (NBNI) Championships in mid March.
The Saint Raphael Academy girls earned an automatic qualifier in the distance medley relay by finishing third overall with a time of 12 minutes, 32.29 seconds. The quartet was comprised of Chandanley Boyce (1,200m, 4 minutes, .53 seconds), Jayla Grimes (400m, 1:02.33), Faith Perry (800m, 2:29.35) and Rory Sullivan (mile, 5:00.23).
La Salle Academy ran a solid time, but fell short of a qualifier in the boys’ DMR by placing seventh overall in 10:55.58. The provisional mark is 10:45 with a 10:35.0 needed to get an automatic qualifier. The Rams’ foursome consisted of Grady McGinnis (1,200m, 3:26.40), Aidan Tucker (400m, 53.36), Eamon O’Brien (800m, 2:10.79) and Marshall Vernon (mile, 4:23.0).
With their respective third-, fourth- and fifth-place finishes, La Salle (3:28.46). Westerly (3:29.53) and Bishop Hendricken (3:29.57) all earned provisional qualifiers for NBN and were on a cusp to the automatic standard of 3:30.0. For the Rams, the runners and their 400m splits were Aman Monteiro (52.7), Garrett Giroux-Pezzullo (50.53), Thanden Leomensah (53.7) and Joshua Aceto (51.5). For the Bulldogs, it was John Gingerellla (52.3), Noah Roberts (51.98). Robbie Wade (54.84), and Christian Dejour (50.40). It was Elijah Guertin )53.82), Jacob Coates (49.5), Tommy Flanders (53.55), and Nick Senecal (52.86) for the Hawks.
La Salle’s 4x200m squad, which already qualified for the nationals two weeks ago at the Boston Holiday Challenge, struck gold in the Championship division with a winning time of 1:32.01. Aceto (23.29), Giroux-Pezzullo (22.4), Thaden Leomensah (23.0), and Antonio Bearden (23.16) were members of that squad.
In the 4x200m (over 600 enrollment), the Classical girls placed first with a time of 1:48.89. Comprising the quartet were Jasmine Berganza, Naibel Noriega, Morricia Bryant and Shakeyri Arroyo). The Purple also captured the 4x400m (600-800) with the team of Michael Healey, James Courtney, Ben O’Sullivan and Thomas Breen combining for a time of 3:34.14
Per usual, it was a strong day for our state’s weight-throwers. In the boys’ competition, R.I. swept the top six placements with Woonsocket’s Adam Beaudry (first, 61 feet), Ponaganset’s Owen Allen (second, 59-7), Woonsocket’s Shamrock Thoun (third, 59-1), Lincoln’s Tyler Durang (fourth, 57-8), Barrington’s Joe Adams (fifth, 58-4) and La Salle’s Domenic Corona (sixth, 56-4).
