The outdoor campaign has just gotten started for Lisa Raye, and already she’s breaking records!
Be prepared for another historical season.
Finishing off an outstanding two days at the All American Track Classic in South Carolina, the West Warwick sophomore was at her best when it mattered the most on Saturday. After clocking the second fastest time in the 100-meter dash in her preliminary heat a day earlier, Raye broke here own state mark in the finals, earning the silver with a time of 11.59 seconds.
That was just the beginning.
Making it clear that a sub-23 effort in the 200m is a possibility in only her second year as a high-schooler,. the Wizards’ speedster annihilated the state record – yes, it belonged to her – with a nation No. 2 of 23.26, a whopping .27 under the 2023 mark!
“I knew I could run under 24 seconds,” said Raye, who earned the meet MVP award. “But I didn’t know I could run that fast.”
For the 200m, the gifted tenth-grader was matched up against top seed Maya Love of Independence (NC), who clocked 23.85 in her preliminary heat on Friday to Raye’s 24.06 effort. In the finals, the Wizard standout got out of the blocks strong, made up the stagger quickly and never relinquished her lead over Love and the rest of the field.
“I wasn’t really happy with yesterday’s performance, but had to realize it was my first race of the season,” said Raye, making reference to her prelims. “I wanted to go under 24 (seconds) and knew I would with more competition.”
Raye’s time in the 100m was five hundredths of a second below her previous record from last spring’s New Balance Nationals. Placing fourth in the race was Xenia Raye. Like her sister, the West Warwick junior enjoyed a successful weekend against some of the nation’s best in SC. She clocked a solid 12.09 in the 100m after breaking 12 seconds for the first time in the prelims with a PR of 11.96.
“My goal coming into this meet was to run faster than I did last year,” said Xenia, who had a previous best of 12.10 from the USATF National Junior Olympics in June. “This year I was really focused on breaking 12 (seconds).”
The WW junior came back later in the meet on Saturday to take second in the 400m. The reigning state champion raced to a fast, early-season time of 57.65. She was less than a second from her previous best in the one-lapper. North Carolina’s Journee Gordon won the race in 57.35.
“Last year, I ran 56.98 at the New England’s,” said Raye, who was third at the regional meet last spring. “I’m still happy with my race. This is my first meet. I was really nervous. I haven’t raced since indoor. I was focused on staying close to (Gordon). My time was decent, so I was really happy.”
