Ready or not, here we come!
With an emphasis on ready, RI track & field athletes clearly showed they’re READY to explode at next weekend’s State Meet as evident by their performances on Saturday at the annual Bishop Hendricken Invitational.
(Photos courtesy of Sterling Vernon @rhodeandtrack)
Need a little sampling to grab your attention and convince you to read on?
How about this one? Eight throwers (that’s right, eight!) exceeded 200 feet! Imagine that? If this occurred at next week’s championships, Woonsocket’s Adam Beaudry’s PR of 197-8, a very respectable throw and a winner in most other states that host the hammer, wouldn’t even earn him a spot on the podium. In 2023, just three went over the mark at the states. Crazy stuff.
In terms of the competition up front, it turned into an intense battle in the hammer with our top three. Hendricken’s Matt Giuliano unleashed an all-time best of 219 feet, 5 inches to take the gold. National-leader and last week’s Class A victor, Zack DelSasso of Coventry, was second at 217-2. Third was the Hawks’ Derek Goll at 217-0.
“This years hammer competition is one of the closest we have seen in recent years! It’s also one of the deepest!” Woonsocket coach Marc Piette said. “Coming into this season with only two athletes to have ever hit over 190 feet is an amazing feat. I still think there are two or three more that could break 200 by Nationals! Anyone can come out and take this next week as no top dogs have home circle advantage like the past few weeks!! Exciting is an understatement.”
Classical’s Thomas Breen appears to be peaking at just the right time. At last week’s Class B Championships, Breen went under 50 seconds to finish second in the 400-meter run and then came back and won the 800m in 1:56.97. In addition, he was on two winning relay squads. The talented senior had the chance to concentrate solely on the 800m with a leg on the 4x800m relay afterwards, thanks in part to the 1-1-1 event rule (running, field and relay) instituted at the meet.
Breen took full advantage of the opportunity to run a fresh-legged 800m against a quality field, snagging the top prize with an impressive 1:53.96. The Classical standout outdistanced Narragansett’s Cole Francis (1:55.27) and Moses Brown’s Eli Ziegler (1:55.78). who took the next two spots with PR performances. Eleven in this race ran 2:00.92 or faster! Breen added his footspeed at the conclusion of the meet with a leg on Classical’s first-place 4x400m relay that combined for a time of 3:26.37. That’s No. 2 in the state right now behind La Salle’s ridiculous 3:22.29 from last month’s Penn Relays Carnival.
it’s no secret that La Salle is among a short list of contenders for the team title at next weekend’s State Meet. The Rams have demonstrated over the season that they could score a quite a few points in the sprint events. Case in point, the 200m dash where La Salle went 1-2-4 at Saturday’s meet. Sophomore Garrett Giroux-Pezzullo cracked 22 seconds for the first time with a triumphant 21.95. Not far behind was junior teammate Aman Monteiro at 22.18. The Rams’ Joshua Aceto was fourth in 22.41. Cranston West’s Alonzo Parker-Sharpe broke up the party by taking third overall with a time of 22.28. La Salle’s trio was also part of their team’s winning 4x100m relay squad that improved their state-leader with a time of 42.20, just a few meters ahead of the runner-up Barrington (42.88).
The defending state titlist Hawks – yes, they’re of course a contender, too – had other varsity wins besides Giuliano from Joel Felix in the 100m (10.79), Jacob Coates in the 400m (49.31), Marcus Sukkar in the discus (155-10), Carsen Dean in the pole vault (13-6) and freshman Elijah Guertin in the 110m hurdles (15.33). Guertin’s effort, by the way, not only led 1-2-4 finish by the Hawks in the event, but it ties for No. 46 nationwide among all ninth-graders. In the 400m, Coates beat a field that had five under 51 seconds!
Barrington’s Ethan Knight has been a model of consistency in the 300m hurdles lately and is making it clearly evident that the sought-after state mark of 38.13 is a definite possibility next weekend at Conley Stadium. On Saturday, Knight had his third straight sub 39-second performances with a winning time of 38.90. The Eagles’ senior was pushed to the limit with Portsmouth’s Landon Rodrigues clocking a best of 39.14. Perhaps a sub-39 for Rodrigues at the states? It could happen.
Inches. Yep, just inches. That’s what separated the top two finishers in the 1,500m with Portsmouth’s Sean Gray winning a grinder over Hendricken’s Jack Moretta with both timed in 4:03.15.
The 3,000m saw La Salle’s Marshall Vernon running his last tune-up for a predicted double (3K, 1,500m) at the states. The Rams’ sophomore had plenty of breathing room at the finish where he broke the tape in 8:50.21. Hendricken BJ Kerachsky was second at 9:04.16. He was followed by three more of his teammates. In those two through sixth positions, Hendricken’s distance crew had a time difference of just four seconds.
In statewide competitions, Rogers’ Kaden Thomas had his fifth 50-footer is as many meet with a first-place toss of 54-1.25.
