It was all about firsts at Saturday’s RIIL Indoor Track & Field Championships.
For the first time in its school history, Barrington won the boys’ team title. On the girls’ side, West Warwick followed its first-ever team title for the outdoor states with the Wizards’ first-ever indoor crown. With both teams winning the coveted plaque, it was also the first time since Hope swept the boys’ and girls’ team titles during the 1991-92 season, that a pair of public school earned the top prize at the state meet.
As expected, West Warwick’s Lisa and Xenia Raye put on a show inside the PCTA field house. Individually, the gifted sisters accounted for 54 points. Lisa, a tenth-grader, broke her own state record in the 55-meter dash with a sizzling 6.89 seconds. Xenia, a junior, who earlier ran an all-time best of 7.09 in the prelims, was second at 7.11. The two siblings were in a tight battle to the finish in the 300m with Lisa clocking 39.59 to Xenia’s PR of 39.66. The WW sophomore also won the 55m hurdles with a best of 8.29 and was third in an insane long jump competition. On her final attempt, Cranston West’s Quiana Pezza claimed the title with an all-time best of 18 feet, 10.5 inches. South Kingstown’s Sierra Thompson was second at 18-9 and Raye was third at 18-8.75. Eight of the top nine in this competition had PR efforts.
While Team Raye spurred their team on Saturday, the Wizards also had key points from Shanna Correia (fourth, 4-10) and Tatianna (fifth, 4-10) in the high jump. Those nine points proved to be the difference in West Warwick’s 61-55.5 decision over Classical. La Salle was third with 42 points.
Barrington nearly hit the century markin the boys’ competition, scoring an impressive 97.5 points to easily walk away with the hardware. La Salle was second with 64.5 points, while defending champion Hendricken was third with 57 points.
The Eagles depth played a key role in their historic win. Barrington had 13 or more points in the throws, jumps, 55m hurdles and relays.
The Eagles collected 23 points in the hurdles where defending titlist Ethan Knight led a 1-2-5-8 finish. Knight edged teammate Bobby Wind with a time of 7.54 seconds to Wind’s 7.58 effort.
Barrington scored 26 points in the relay. The foursome of Iain DeBoth, Will DiGiacomo, Ethan Knight, and Hayden Knight combined for a school record of 3:30.24. Classical was second at 3:31.44. The Eagles were also second in the 4x200m (1:32.50) and the 4×800 (8:15.11). La Salle (1:32.44) and Moses Brown (8:13.48) won those two relays resepctively.
Sophomore phenom Marshall Vernon scored 25 points for La Salle with victories in the 3K (8:40.65) and the 1,500m (4:01.73). He was also fourth in the 1,000m, a race won by Ponaganset’s Jeremy Roe in 2:33.52.
In the longer race, Portsmouth’s Sean Gray made sure the race was honest by dictating most of the pace-setting before Vernon took over in the late stages. Gray held on for second with a huge PR of 8:45.65. Cumberland’s Will Olson was right behind in third at 8:46.99. In a hard-fought battle in the 1,500m with Narragansett’s Cole Francis, Vernon was able to edge past the Mariner junior the last 10m of the race. Francis crossed the line in 4:02.15. Barrington’s Brandon Piedade was third at 4:05.54. The top seven went under 4:10.
Ocean State Running will have stories on both the girls’ and boys’ meets (w/quotes) coming soon.
