It’s back!
After a brief hiatus, our HOKA Athletes of the Week has returned.
But this time, and moving forward, Ocean State Running is letting you, our supporters of OSR, determine who should be chosen for the weekly honor. Just a reminder: Each week on Monday, we’ll post a poll on our Instagram account (@oceanstaterun) that will list what we consider the top four performances of the previous week. The poll will be posted early Monday morning and close within 24 hours.
In our inaugural poll, the response was overwhelming with 1,623 individuals casting their votes. Breaking it down, it was 839 boys and 523 girls that voted. C’mon girls, let’s get voting. With the votes all tallied, this week’s female and male recipients of our HOKA Athletes of the Week as chosen by you were West Warwick’s Lisa Raye and La Salle’s Jalen Moseley. Both were nominated for their multiple-winning performances from Saturday ‘s RIIL Class Championships.
The Wizards’ Raye was a quadruple victor in the Class B meet with first-place finishes in the 55-meter dash (6.82 seconds), 55-meter hurdles (8.10), 300m (39.66) and long jump (19 feet, 2 inches). In the 55m hurdles, the Georgia-bound sprinter broke a 23-year-old record, set back in 2002 by former Chariho star Mary Serdokowski. In all, Raye owns every single state mark from 55m to 300m (indoor and outdoor). She’s also a record-holder as part of the Wizards’ 4x100m relay squad. She currently holds 11 state marks.
Raye collected 48 percent of the votes in the poll. Finishing second with 30 percent was Pilgrim’s Keaney Bayha, who scored 28 points in Class A. She earned gold in the 3K and 600m and was a runner-up finishers in the 1,500m. Toll Gate’s Vanessa Jones, who won the weight throw with a nation-leading 57-0.25 in Class A had 11 percent of the votes for third. Exeter/West Greenwich’s Nini Olawuyi grabbed 10 percent of the votes for fourth. She captured the 55m hurdles and long jump and was second in the high jump.
The Rams’ Moseley was a big reason La Salle was able to earn its first class title since 2021-22. The talented junior scored 30 points with victories in the 55m (6.66), 55m hurdles (7.84) and the long jump (22-2.25). Moseley presently ranks No. 1 in the long jump with a best of 22-9.5. He’s ranked No. 2 in the 55m and 55m hurdles.
Moseley finished with 40 percent of the votes, At No. 2 with 26 percent of the votes was the Prout School’s Diego Rocchio, who swept the jumping events at Class C with wins in the long jump and high jump. Barrington’s Bobby Wind has 24 percent of the votes for third. The talented senior captured the 55m hurdles and 300m at the Class B meet and also ran legs on the Eagles’ winning 4x200m and 4x400m relay squads. Barrington’s Patrick Trainor, who was first in the 55m and long jump and also ran a leg on the triumphant 4x200m squad, was at No. 4 with 11 percent of the votes.
