Top Storylines For The RIIL State Track & Field Championships – Girls

Where do we start? Where do we end? With 19 events and a whole lot of talent, it’s not easy. On Saturday at Conley Stadium, our state’s best will provide the entertainment for all us track & field enthusiasts at the RIIL State Track & Field Championships. Records will be broken and we’re sure a few hearts, too. Unfortunately, that often comes with the territory.

While we know there’s plenty more, here’s our top storylines for the girls’ meet.

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She’s entered in four events. The same four events she won at last year’s State Meet – the 100-meter dash, 200m, 100m hurdles and 300m hurdles. The odds are favorable, she’ll win all four. That’s just what Lisa Raye does. Whether it’s a league meet, an invitational or a championship race like this weekend, West Warwick’s gifted sophomore is always in race mode, always at her best. It’s often never a question if she’s going to win, it’s whether or not she’s going to break the meet record or her own state mark. She has nearly every state record in the dashes and the hurdles, some that she’s broken more than once. But the one mark that doesn’t have her name on it is the 100m hurdles, a time of 14.44, set by South Kingstown alum Molly Reilly in 2010. Along with sweeping her specialties, we expect that will be one of her primary goals at Conley Stadium. She came close a few weeks ago at the Southern Division Championships. Actually she was very close, just one-hundredth -of-a-second close with her winning time of 14.45. The thing to know about this season, the talent is strong, very strong in all these events. Along with her sister Xenia Raye, who we expect will win the 400m on Saturday, a few other names that come to mind are Cranston West’s Ailani Sutherland (sprints), La Salle’s Alexis Caggiano (sprints), South Kingstown’s Sierra Thompson (100m hurdles), and Cranston West’s Reece Vitale (300m hurdles), just to name a few. There will be great races in all these events, perhaps a few school records and were sure a plethora of PRs. But the one constant is the first to break the tape will be Lisa Raye.

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There’s no question our state has produced its share of quality middle- and long-distance distance runners that have made their marks not only on a state level, but a regional and national level, too. This season is no different. Want convincing? Saturday’s meet will provide the proof. In state meet order, let’s begin with the 1,500m. This race will match up all-staters Rory Sullivan of St. Raphael Academy against Erin vonHousen of Chariho, who will both be competing in the final State Meet of their outstanding high school careers. A time in the low 4:30 range, perhaps faster, is possible. You also can’t ignore the runners behind them, too, like Cumberland junior Kiley DeFusco, who like her rivals, has dipped under five minutes for the mile this season, and Pilgrim’s workhorse junior Keaney Bayha, who has a 4:41 best to her credit in the 1,500m. The 800m features VonHousen, DeFusco, Mount St. Charles’ Emmy Belvin, North Kingstown freshman Maura Whitney and Toll Gate’s Alison Pankowicz, our indoor 1,000m titlist. Except for Pankowicz, who has a best of 2:20.13, the remaining four have gone under 2:20 this season with vonHousen leading the way with her PR of 2:15.49 from last weekend’s Mount Pleasant Invitational. On Saturday, the Charger standout will toe the line with a fresh-legged Belvin, who was second to her rival at Mount Pleasant. This could be one of those down-to-the-wire affairs between two runners that always leave it all out there once the gun is fired. Will DeFusco join the party or will she scratch from this event to concentrate on the 3K at the conclusion of the meet? After all, she is one of the top seeds there, too. The Cumberland junior has a best of 2:17.87 from her win at the Class A meet. Finally, we have the 3,000m. Keep an eye on the clock. We can almost guarantee that a sub 10-minute performance will happen at Conley Stadium, marking the first time all year that someone has gone under the mark. The Chargers’ vonHousen, the defending champion, is not in the race. She’s been the closest to a sub-10 with her PR of 10:00.65 from her victory at the Yale Track Classic in mid January. Bayha and Sullivan have each run 10:02 this year. There’s certainly a chance it will happen this weekend that the first number on the digital clock will be a 9. Will Sullivan add yet another state title to her resume? Will Bayha win her first? She certainly deserves it. How about DeFusco, who was a runner-up behind Bayha at the Classical Classic with a PR of 10:08.24. You know she’ll give it her best shot. She always does.

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You can’t ignore the hammer throw. How can you? Yearly, it’s an event that has manufactured some of our region and nation’s top throwers from behind the cage. On Saturday, we’ll have an athlete that has been No. 1 in the country from the beginning with top seed Adelaide Caron of Woonsocket. Caron has a best of 176 feet, 7 inches, a performance she came close to at Mount Pleasant last week with a winning 175-8. She’s been on all month leading up to this weekend’s meet with three straight 170-foot efforts. We expect it will be four on Saturday. The state record of 190-8 by former Barrington star Annika Kelly in 2019 is out of reach, but Caron still has one more year to make an attempt at the mark. Can she exceed 180 feet at Conley? It’s possible. Also in the event are Woonsocket’s Bella Piette (165-4), and Coventry’s Mia Hoskins (163-8), who rank fifth and seventh nationally.

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We did the math, we looked at the seeds, we changed all the possible scenarios that could happen and the results all came up the same. The race for second could be the bigger battle on Saturday. West Warwick is clearly the favorite to win its second straight outdoor title and third consecutive state crown when you factor in the Wizards’ victory at the indoor states. The Raye sisters alone are capable of scoring more than 60 points individually, and close to 70 when you factor in the 4x100m. Who are the teams that should be fighting for that runner-up position? Think of the letter ‘C’ – Cranston West, Classical and Cumberland, who all possess the talent and depth that’s needed in a meet like this weekend.