A predicted day of sunshine at the beginning of the week turned into a moderately cool day of frequent rainfall at Saturday’s RIIL Class A Championships.
No problem.
While the sun never made its way from beyond the clouds, the boys’ and girls’ competition had enough sterling performances to brighten the day when Mother Nature was simply not having it.
As a team, Hendricken compiled 239 points to claim its 46th straight title. The Hawks easily defeated second-place La Salle Academy, which scored 95 points. North Kingstown was third with 63.5 points. For the girls, Cranston West was a 119.50-107 victor over La Salle. Cumberland was third with 94 points.
In what’s been the year of the hammer for Rhode Island, both locally and nationally, Coventry’s Zack Del Sasso took over the No. 1 spot in the country by unleashing a 13-foot PR with a winning distance of 223-3. DelSasso tossed the clincher on his last throw to claim the title against a strong field that featured two more over the previous nation best of 217-7 by Matt Giuliano of Hendricken. The Hawks senior was second on Saturday with a PR of 219-2. Placing third was Hendricken’s Derek Goll at 217-11.
“I was just trying to push the ball and really hit the release,” Del Sasso said. “It worked.”
Nation-leader Adelaide Caron of Woonsocket captured the girls’ hammer with a near best of 176-7. Caron was nearly 20 feet further than runner-up Mia Hoskins of Coventry (158-7). The Villa Novans’ Bella Piette took the bronze at 154-10.
Caron’s effort was her fourth time over the 170-foot mark and was just an inch shy of her PR of 176-8. The Villa Novan junior attributes a few things to her consistency over the last few weeks. She won last weekend’s Sgt. Brian St. Germain Invitational with a distance of 174-0.
“I have changed my training a bit,” she said. “I started focusing a little more about going slow at practice and really just taking a breathe and not worry as much as I usually do. It’s been working.”
Cranston West’s Alonzo Parker-Sharpe swept the boys’ sprinting events with victories in the 100-meter dash and the 200m. In both races. Parker-Sharpe won convincingly. He blazed to a time of 11.11 seconds in the 100m, just over a third of a second ahead of Hendricken’s Jeremy Seidi (second, 11.45). The CW senior was in control for the start of the 200m where he was timed in 22.25. La Salle’s Garrett Giroux-Pezzullo was second at 23.25.
In the 100m, Parker-Sharpe not only had to deal with with the rain, but also a headwind. He owns a PR of 10.83, which he’s done twice and ties him at No. 1 in the state with Central’s Elijah Gardea.
“The 100, I mainly had to focus on moving and picking up my knees and my arms,” he said. “The 200, I mainly had to work on the last 25 (meters) of that race because usually my arm go out. I really had to trust my coaches and just believe and pray to God that I would continue to do great”
La Salle’s Alexis Caggiano captured the 400m and the 200m. The Rams’ speedy senior won the 400m with a time of 59.44 and posted a mild upset over Cranston West’s Ailani Sutherland in the 200m where she clocked 25.59 to Sutherland’s 25.75 effort.
In the 200m, Caggianno avenged a loss to Sutherland from last week’s St; Germain Invite where her all-time best of 25.16 fell just short of the Falcons senior’s triumphant 25.08.
“I kind of changed my block start a little bit and I definitely focused on getting out the first 100 (meters),” she said. “I focused on that part of the race because the second 100 (meters) of my 200 is usually my stronger part.”
Cumberland’s Kiley DeFusco looked awfully strong in a runaway victory in the 800m Leading from the start, DeFusco went on to post a more than two-second win over North Kingstown ninth-grader Maura Whitney, who finished at 2:20.17.
DeFusco is just a week removed from a big race at big race at the Glenn B. Loucks Games in New York where she ran a more than 15-second PR of 4:57.94.
‘I was so excited about my performance last week,” she said. “I feel like getting under five (minutes) is big thing to do and I’ve been working towards that for a really long time. I’m really happy that that worked out. I think it definitely helps me in a lot of ways.”
On the boys’ side, the Clippers also had victories from Connor Magill in the 1,500m (PR, 4:08.81) and Ben Roderick in the 800m (PR, 2:00.17). Magill was also third in the 800m (2:03.07).
In the 1,500m, Magill wasn’t planning on doing the pace-setting like he did.
“I was going to try and chill in second if I could,” he said. “I didn’t like the pace of the race so I had to take over myself.”
Pilgrim’s Keaney Bayha had her typical busy and productive afternoon at the oval. She scored 24 points by winning the 1,500m (4:46.86), finishing second in the 3K (10:37.96) and taking third in the 800m (2:20.45). NK frosh Abbie Tighe took the 3,000m in 10:31.98. She was also fourth in the 1,500m (4:58.20)
