This past Saturday’s New England Championships had several outstanding performances by our R.I., track & field athletes. Among them were top individual performances and/or victories from West Warwick’s Lisa Raye (first, 100-meter dash, 200m) and Xenia Raye (first, 400m), and Classical’s Thomas Breen (third, 800m), to name a few. For our latest HOKA Athletes of the Week, we’re going to pick eight individuals. We’re picking eight deserving individuals that occupied two talented relay squads that fared well against the region’s best over the weekend in New Hampshire. Congratulations to the West Warwick girls’ 4x100m and La Salle boys’ 4x400m squads, our recipients of this week’s honor.
Beginning with the girls, the Wizards earned gold and a new state record with their effort in the 4x100m. Competing in the unseeded heat, the foursome of Jailyn Huffman, Xenia Raye, Tatianna Baldinelli, and Lisa Raye combined for a time of 47.47 seconds to erase the two-year-old record of 47.64, set by Cranston West at the 2022 State Meet. The Wizards were .35 ahead of No. 1 seed Windsor (second, 47.82) and qualified for this weekend’s New Balance Nationals where they’ll be looking to improve on their record performance inside UPenn’s Franklin Field.
In the boys’ 4x400m, the La Salle quartet of Amari Monteiro, Thaden Leomensah Antonio Bearden and Garrett Giroux-Pezzullo put forth a superlative effort against a strong field by placing third overall with a time of 3:20.74. It was third time this season that the Rams averaged under 51 seconds per leg in the 4×4. La Salle ran its best of 3:19.34 with a victory at the State Meet and were timed in 3:22.29 at the Penn Relays to place sixth overall. The Rams will be looking to take a stab at the current state mark of 3:18.09 on Sunday at New Balance. By the way, Monteiro, Bearden, Giroux-Pezzullo and teammate Joshua Aceto comprised the Rams’ 4x100m squad that was fourth overall at the New England’s in 42.68.
