Three years ago we had four runners break five minutes in the girls’ mile during the outdoor season. There’s a good possibility that feat can be matched, or possibly surpassed, when the season comes to a close in mid June.
This past Saturday, Kiley DeFusco became our third runner this spring to go under the mark with her performance at the annual Glenn B. Loucks Games in New York. The Cumberland High junior was ninth overall in the featured race with a PR of 4:57.94. It was the third time in as many weeks that the state has produced a sub-5 runner. Just eight days earlier, St. Raphael’s Rory Sullivan was second overall at the BSR Elite Scholastic Mile with a state-leading 4:55.14. Sullivan’s performance followed a 4:58.71 effort by Chariho’s Erin vonHousen in the Championship Mile of the Penn Relays Carnival on April 26.
Not to be ignored. Running almost the equivalent of a sub-5 on Saturday was Pilgrim’s Keaney Bayha, who was among the entries in the elite mile of the Battle Roads TC Twilight Series #1 at Bentley College. Bayha finished ninth overall with an all-time best of 4:41.63.
Things are certainly going to get interesting in the distance events at the State Meet in a few more weeks.
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The Loucks Games featured a strong R.I. presence this past weekend.
As we wrote a few days ago, La Salle sophomore Marshall Vernon was fifth in a loaded 3,200-meter race on Friday night. Vernon proved going under the nine-minute barrier in the two mile is well within his reach with a time of 9:01.62.
In the mile, DeFusco wasn’t the only runner to shine for the Clippers at Loucks. In the boys’ race, senior William O’Shea placed seventh overall with a PR of 4:17.84, a best by more than three seconds.
The final day of the three-day meet also included a few more stellar performances from our local entries.
State-leader Elias Sposato of Chariho was seventh overall in the 400m where he blazed to a time of 48.89. Sposato was sixth in the 200m on Friday where he was timed in a fast 22.42.
Following a PR of 2:15.33 in the 800m a day earlier, the Chargers’ vonHousen has a strong race in the 2K steeplechase where she was seventh overall in 7:00.17. The talented senior holds the current state mark of 6:56.63 from last year’s New Balance Nationals.
Chariho also had a runner-up finish from Emily Brown in the Pentathlon. The Charger junior scored 3,074 points. For the five events, she placed third in the long jump (16 feet, 4.25 inches), seventh in the shot (24-3) and second in the 800m (2:25.41),100m HH (16.06), and high jump (5-1.75).
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Don’t forget,. the class championships will be held this weekend. On Saturday, it’s Class A at Coventry and Class C at Exeter/West Greenwich. Sunday is the Class B meet at West Warwick. Ocean State Running will previews of all six competitions (boys and girls).
