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.
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 boys’ Class B 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 B Championship – Boys
Day/Time: Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
Teams: Classical, Barrington, West Warwick, North Providence, Chariho, Tolman, Lincoln School, Davies Tech, Ponaganset, Johnston, Mount Hope, Central Falls, Portsmouth, Shea
Top Events To Watch: Keep an eye on the clock in the 55-meter hurdles. Anytime that Barrington’s Bobby Wind competes in this event, there’s a chance for a state record. The Eagles senior is the overwhelming favorite with a best of 7.48, more than a half a second faster than the No. 2 seed. The state mark Wind is chasing is 7.41. It might be difficult to get the record this weekend with no one expected to push the Barrington hurdler, but you never know. A flawless performance on Saturday could get him into the books. Look for a loaded Eagles squad to score a considerable amount of points here. The next two seeds also call Barrington their home – senior Jared Leak (8.17) and junior Grady Hazlett (8.34)…So far this season, we’ve had four weight-throwers exceed 70 feet. We could have one or two more join the party on Saturday. The top two seeds are Barrington’s Joe Adams (69-3.75) and Ponaganset’s Owen Allen (69-1.5) are on the cusp of hitting the milestone. With the next closest seed nine feet behind, this will likely turn into a two-person battle between Adams and Allen…The high jump could get interesting. The top seed and favorite is defending champion Aidan Chen of Portsmouth, who won the 2023 meet with an all-time best of 6-6. The Patriots senior, the outdoor state champion, has a season best of 6-4, which he’s done twice this winter. Right behind at 6-2 are Barrington teammates Caleb Satisfield and Shea Parish. West Warwick’s Zachary Morgan hold the No. 4 seed at 6-0…The 600m features the top runner in the state with Barrington’s Henry Stockwell expected to toe the line. The Eagles’ junior clocked a more than two-second best of 1:23.87 to win the individual crown at last weekend’s RITCA Invitational. No doubt, he’s gained a considerable amount of confidence from that race to run even faster on Saturday… The state has two athletes that have gone 22 feet or further in the long jump. One of them will be in this meet with Barrington’s Patrick Trainor among the entries. Trainor is ranked No. 2 in the state with a best of 22-4.5, an effort that earned him a silver medal at the East Coast Invitational two weeks ago.
Team Outlook: No one is touching defending champion Barrington, which should score well over 200 points this weekend. The Eagles have every event covered with the potential to have multiple scorers in all the individual events and a sweep of the three relays (4x200m, 4x400m and 4x800m) where they own the top seeds. Classical and Portsmouth should be battling for the next two spots with the Purple holding the edge.
