It will be a long day of track & field this weekend when teams statewide occupy the PCTA field house for the RIIL Class Championships. The results of Saturday’s meet, which features Class A, B & C, will crown a combined six team champions and 72 individuals/relay squads.
(Above photo by Sterling Vernon of @rhodeandtrack)
The expected nine-plus hours of competition will further give us a glimpse of the outstanding talent out there and what to expect at the State Meet in two more weeks. It will be intense.
Below is a preview of the girls’ Class C meet. With the deadline for submitting entries closing on Thursday night, we’re predicting what we expect might happen in some of the events. Once the entry list is released, changes could be made prior to Saturday’s meet, so check back often.
Without further adieu, here we go…
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Class C Championship – Girls
Day/Time: Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
Teams: East Greenwich, Smithfield, Juanita Sanchez, South Kingstown, Westerly, Burrillville, Rogers, North Smithfield, Middletown, Exeter/West Greenwich, Prout School, Tiverton, St. Raphael Academy, Moses Brown, Narragansett
Top Events To Watch: The 600-meter run features the No. 1 runner in the state with Moses Brown’s Skyler Maxwell the top seed. Maxwell, a runner-up at last year’s states, is the only runner that has broken 1:40 this season, and she did it twice, a season best of 1:38.82 at a league meet in mid January and a 1:39.97 effort at the divisional championships on Jan. 21. She’ll be matched up against a strong field that includes three other runners that have broken 1:43 – South Kingstown’s Greta Dahl (1:41.67), Rogers’ Laura Hoag (1:41.75) and Narragansett’s Karuna Lohmann (1:42.05)…The 55m dash could come down to a lean at the finish. On the line will be Moses Brown’s Kendra Satine (7.36) and St. Raphael Academy freshman Francesca Justin (7.46), who rank No. 4 and No. 6 in the state…Moses Brown appears to be favored for its fourth straight crown, and could scored 30 its points in the relays where its ranked No. 1 in all three with times of 1:48.35 for the 4×200, 4:13.46 for the 4x400m (4:13.46) and 10:31.13 for the 4x800m…So far this season, we have six athletes that have exceeded 50 feet in the weight throw. We could have one (or more) after this meet. The No. 1 seed is The Prout School’s Julia Smith, who was third in this event at the World Trophy Invitational with a heave of 49-7.75. At the two seed is Smithfield’s Taylor McGinness with a best of 48-4. The next closest rival is five feet away…Could we have a match-up between North Smithfield’s Julie Dowling and St. Ray’s Mackenzie Lickert in the 3,000m or the 1,500m. Both have the top two times in the events. Dowling ran a best of 4:49.95 for 1,500m at last weekend’s RITCA Invitational LIckert is No, 2 at 4:56.16, In the 3K, Lickert holds the edge with a 10:20.17 best to Dowling’s PR of 10:38.17.
Team Outlook: With strength on the track, three-time defending titlist Moses Brown looks primed to make it a four-peat this weekend. St. Ray’s and Smithfield are solid 2-3 teams that could go either way in the standings.
