Top Stories Of 2024: It Was Another Awesome Year For Our Rhode Islanders

The top stories of 2024.

Yep, you guessed it. When dealing with the level talent that this state consistently produces each year, it’s an arduous task by us here at Ocean State Running. But as we often say, we’re going to give it our best shot. For some of our athletes on this list, they made multiple headlines over the last 12 months. We’re going to limit it to the one we felt was the best of them all.

So, without further adieu, let’s get started.

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Banner Day For Lisa Raye At New Balance Nationals

Here’s one of those athletes that has produced a plethora of top stories this past year, a year that featured seven more indoor and outdoor state titles and a bunch of state records. But the West Warwick junior was without a doubt at her absolute best at the University of Pennsylvania’s historic Franklin Field in one of the greatest performance by an RI athlete in the history of the state. During an unforgettable weekend at the New Balance Nationals, the Georgia-bound speedster swept the sprinting events with victories in the 100- and 200-meter dashes. In the 100m, Raye improved on her state record with a time 11.26 seconds. The multiple All American currently holds eight state marks in all the events ranging from the 55m dash to the 300m dash/hurdles, except the 55m/60m hurdles. For those events, she just .04 and .11 behind the respective records of Chariho alum Mary Serdakowski from 2022.

Eagles Soar To Boys’ Title At Indoor States.

Prior to the indoor state meet last year, only one public school has captured the boys’ team title since the 1993-94 season with Chariho taking its first and only state crown during the 2010-11 campaign. With a squad that was loaded with depth, a key component in winning championships, Barrington lived up to the pre-meet hype by earning the school’s first-ever team title. The Eagles not only won it, but did it in dominant fashion, scoring 97.5 points, 33 more than runner-up La Salle Academy. If its win during indoor wasn’t enough, Barrington did it again just a few months later with an outdoor title, beating defending titlist Bishop Hendricken, 120-108.5. It was the Eagles first there, too.

Much-deserved Win For Pilgrim’s Bayha At State X-C Meet

Unless our math is incorrect, a total of 62 individual titles (boys & girls) can be attained for cross country, indoor and outdoor track. Each one of those athletes, some more than once, should be commended on achieving their hard-earned crowns, something that in the grand scheme of things, only a small percentage of our top athletes achieve during their careers. But there’s one that we believe deserves a little bit more recognition. Since her freshman season when she was second in the 3,000m at the indoor states, Pilgrim’s Keaney Bayha has been one of our hardest-working and consistently-strong middle and long distance runners with a bunch of top-3, top-4 finishes on the oval and out on the trails. But the one thing that’s often eluded her was a coveted state title. The Patriots senior has come close with a trio of runner-up finishes on the track, but never experienced that thrill of winning her own, never experienced that thrill or breaking the tape at the end. That is…until the past fall. A runner that few, if any, of her peers will argue is one of nicest ones out there, finally got her just due on a perfect day for racing at the RIIL State X-C Championship. A year after collecting a bronze medal at the season-ending meet, Bayha was all alone at the finish in this one, taking her first-ever state crown with a time of 18 minutes, 19.23 seconds.

Lady Clippers Showcase Dominance At X-C States

While were in cross-country mode, you can’t ignore the magical season put together by the girls from Cumberland. The Lady Clippers manufactured a dominant season this fall. It began with top finishes at high-level competitions like the Manchester Invitational (fourth overall) and the Wickham Park Invitational (second overall). Making a strategic move of leaving out her 1-2 runners at the Class A Championships, a meet Cumberland placed third overall, head coach Kerrie Carpenter and her Clippers were all in the following weekend and finished its season with a bang. Actually, it was more like a Kaboom!!! Led by fearless freshman Cecelia Ludwig and a strong cast of talented runners behind her, the defending state champions were simply at their best at the Nov. 2 meet. With all five of their scoring runners among the top 11, the Clippers racked up just 34 points to make it back-to-back titles, a convincing 50 more than second-place North Kingstown. Cumberland wasn’t finished just yet. A week later, the Blue & White earned runner-up honors at the New England Championships. The Clipper capped of their unforgettable season by finishing third against the region’s best at Nike Cross Regionals Northeast, just missing a spot to the national meet in Oregon two weeks later.

Hammer Titles For Del Sasso and Caron At NBN

Rhode Island has long made a name for itself over the years when talking about the weight events on both the indoor and outdoor surfaces. On the biggest of stages in mid June, our little state made it evidently clear why we are one of the leaders from behind the cage. If not, THE leader with a sweep of the hammer throw at the New Balance Nationals. Woonsocket’s Adelaide Caron, the nation-leader going into meet, didn’t let the favorite label affect her mindset, earning gold with an all-time best of 182-1, nearly 13 feet further than her closest rival. In the boys’ competition, Coventry’s Zack Del Sasso, who had the top throw in the country prior to the competition, made up for a tenth-place finish at the state meet with the biggest throw of his career. Just a few weeks after the states and his graduation ceremony, the Knotty Oaker standout solidified his spot at the top of the podium, unleashing a PR of 224-5 to win his title by three feet.

Wheeler Javelin Thrower Saves Best For Last At New Balance

You can never ignore a national title when you write an article like this, and that’s why we added the Wheeler School’s Scott Sloan to this list. Sloan made it four athletes from the Ocean State that struck it rich at New Balance by winning the javelin throw. Twice during the season, the talented senior flirted with a 200-footer, achieving 190-foot plus throws at the Classical Classic and E.I.L Championships. In the final meet of his high school career, Sloan finally attained the milestone as well as a national title of his own with triumphant toss of 206-6, a best by 12 feet!

Vernon Sweeps Distance Events At Indoor States

There’s no doubt in our mind that by the time he graduates in June of 2026, Marshall Vernon will go down as one of the state’s all-time great distance runners. From the time he was a freshmen, Vernon has proven he has what it takes to compete at the nation level. As a sophomore last year, he ran elite times of 8:30 for the 3K and 4:10 for the mile. Those are just a sampling of what he’s done once the gun is fired. Nine months prior to winning the state cross-country title, Vernon showed just how talented he is when the stakes are at their highest. The then tenth-grader scored 25 points at indoor state meet. He did it with a pair of gutsy victories in the 3,000m (8:40.65) and 1,500m (4:01.73) and then finishing off his day’s work by also finishing fourth in the 1,000m (2:38.34). In both distance events, Vernon was tested to the limit, defeating common rival Sean Gray of Portsmouth in the 3K and edging Narragansett’s Cole Francis in the 1,500m

Raye Sisters Ink NIL Deal With On Running, Commit Together To Georgia

We talked about Lisa Raye at the start of this article. How about older sister Xenia? Along with Lisa, the sister duo led West Warwick to its second straight indoor and outdoor state titles. Xenia produced Division 1 level times in her events, the 55m, 200m, 300m and, most notably, the 400m with her near state record of 54.73 from her victory at the outdoor championships. What were including here as one of our top stories is the ground-breaking Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deal with On Running. On Oct. 23, the sister duo became the Swiss-based company’s first two sprint starts to represent their brand and only second and third high school athletes. A little more than a month later, the gifted siblings both announced their college commitment to the University of Georgia.

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We’d like to finish this article by wishing you a Happy New Year. We’d like to thank all of you, the athletes, the coaches, the parents and all our supporters of Ocean State Running. Without you, were just a name. It’s a team effort all the way around. We’re all part of this thing called OSR. We appreciate your dedication to the great sports of cross country and track & field and, of course, us here at OSR. For the athletes out there, additional kudos for always, and we mean ALWAYS, giving us great stuff to write about each and every week. You are all truly remarkable.

Personally, I’d like to express a wealth of gratitude to our Social Media guru Nessa Molloy. Each and every week, you can always count on Nessa to recognize all the great happenings by our current and former athletes. She never misses a beat.

Once again, have a Happy New Year. Wishing you all the best in 2025.

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