It didn’t matter that he had been battling a sickness over the last few weeks. It didn’t matter that when he woke up the morning of Saturday’s State Meet, he was having trouble breathing. Marshall Vernon had one thing on his mind, his team.
No matter what, the La Salle Academy standout was ready to do whatever he had to do to make it happen, a daunting task when you consider Vernon was scheduled to run the three longest races on the track, all events where high placements by the gifted junior would likely be crucial for the Rams to fend off a sure-to-be battle with defending champion Barrington.
Garrett Giroux-Pezzullo also had that team-first mentality for this past weekend’s competition. The La Salle junior was scheduled to compete in four events, the 55-meter dash and 300m as well as legs on the 4x200m and 4x400m squads. Like Vernon, he knew an all-out effort, and nothing less, could make a difference in the outcome.
It would be safe to say that head coach Eldon Santiago got all he could ask for from Vernon and Giroux-Pezzullo in the biggest and most important meet of the indoor season.
And you can’t ignore the rest of their teammates, too. Everyone came to race, everyone came to compete before a full house at the PCTA field house. Yes indeed, it was a ideal day for the Rams, who earned their first team crown since the 2021-22 season and 26th overall, defeating runner-up Barrington, 124-111.5. Hendricken was third with 53 points.
“This was a great effort,” Santiago said. “I know everybody is banged up at this point of the season. We had a lot of guys that were not feeling 100 percent. (On Friday) we had a team meeting and we talked about needing to show up and just giving that effort, even though you’re tired, you’re sick, you’re not feeling great, you need to push through it. We couldn’t have asked for a better effort from the guys.”
No doubt, Vernon soaked in all that was discussed at the team meeting, something that was truly exemplified in the 3K, his first event of the day. After a bold move by Portsmouth’s Sean Gray at 1,000 meters, the race quickly spread out and turned into a race that most anticipated with Gray, Vernon and Hendricken sophomore Colby Flynn dictating the pace. The trio turned to two in the closing laps with Flynn passing the front-running Vernon with a lap to go. Coming down the final stretch and with a few meters remaining, a diving Vernon managed to inch past the Hawk standout with both timed in 8 minutes, 35.04 second. Gray held on for third at 8:45.14. Seven in the field broke nine minutes!
Vernon admitted he was inspired by a video about Michael Jordan’s infamous “Flu Game” in 1997 when he played through flu-like symptoms to lead Chicago to a victory over Utah in Game 5 of the NBA Finals by scoring 38 points, including a game-winning three-pointer with 25 seconds left.
“I woke up this morning, coughing out my lungs in the shower and I was like, ‘The 3,000 looks pretty daunting right now,'” he said. “(On Friday) our coach showed us the Michael Jordan flu-game video. We’ve all heard about it but to see him go through it, it inspired me to just remember that we are a team, and no matter what I do personally, it’s all for the team. It’s all for the win.”
Flynn ran a perfect race and did everything he could to get the victory, including blazing through the last 200m in under 29 seconds. Vernon also went sub-29 with a 28.36 split. As they neared the finish line, he never hesitated on what he had to do to defend his title and score the needed 10 points.
When Flynn made his move, the La Salle runner was determined to get it back. The Hawk sophomore went to the race with a state-leading 8:28.91 from his third-place finish at last month’s Yale Track Classic.
“What went through my head (when he passed me) is he doesn’t think I have a kick. To be fair, he’s had an amazing season. He went out to Yale and closed in 61 (seconds) for 3K there,” said Vernon, making reference to Flynn’s third-place finish and state best of 8:28.91 from last month’s Yale Track Classic. “I knew he had a kick. I think he forgot that I have one, too. I just said, ‘I’m not losing like this. Not after I’ve done all this work to get here and how much I sacrificed physically to be in this situation.’ I said, ‘I won’t be able to look at myself if I didn’t win this race.’ I just kicked like there was no tomorrow and when we were getting closer to the line I noticed him getting faster, too. It was kind of a last-second decision (to dive), but right before my race I told my coach, there is a medical team here for a reason. They can take me off the track.”
Vernon came back and overtook the front-running Cole Francis on the final curve in the 1,500m en route to a winning 4:08.26, just .62 ahead of the Mariner senior. Hendricken’s Fred Russell, who led briefly in the race, was third at 4:12.36. Vernon added six more points to his total by placing third in the 1,000m at 2:38.39.
Giroux-Pezzullo swept the sprints, racing to times of 6.58 for the 55m and 35.39 in the 300m. The La Salle speedster was favored to win the 300m where he led a 1-2 finish with teammate Joshus Aceto taking the silver (35.89). Giroux-Pezzullo was a No. 4 seed in the short dash where he had a best by four hundredth of a second.
“I had it in my mind (that I could win the 55m). I dreamed of it,” he said. “I just knew it was going to be about just getting out there and leaving it all on the track. My start, everything just went perfectly, and I was able to come out with the win.”
The La Salle standout was also part of the team’s winning 4x200m (1:30.94) and 4x400m (3:27.44) relays. The 4x200m also consisted of Thaden Leomensah, Amari Monteiro and Jackson Alves. The remaining quartet of the 4x400m were Leomensah, Antonio Bearden and Abrahim Chamrawi.
Leomensah also earned an individual title for the Rams. The La Salle senior led a 1-2 finish, crossing the line with a PR of 1:22.80. Junior teammate Eamon O’Brien was second at 1:23.95. Barrington’s Henry Stockwell was third at 1:24.0.
Leomensah was less than a half a second ahead of O’Brien at the 400m mark, passing through in 54.25.
“After my first two laps, I felt really, really good,” he said. ” I just told myself, I got to keep on going and keep on pushing. I kind of started pushing when there was 100 meters left. Maybe at the New England’s (on March 1), I am going to push out a little more that last lap because I had way more in me.”
The Mariners’ Francis won an emotional 1K with a time of 2:35.57. It was his first individual title after several near misses, which included four runner-up finishes in state meet competition. Francis took the lead from the start and built up a two-second cushion by the 400m mark (1:02.29). A victory was never in jeopardy from there. Placing second with a time of 2:38.38 was Barrington’s Daniel Chun.
“It really doesn’t feel real right now,” he said. “The amount of support from everyone that has ever helped me – my family, my coaches, my teammates, my friends – I wouldn’t be half the person I am today without any of them, one and off the track.”
Barrington hurdler Bobby Wind also earned his first state crown, taking the 55m HH in an all-time best of 7.47. La Salle’s Jalen Moseley was second in 7.64. As usual, Wind was nearly flawless over the hurdles to break the meet record held a year earlier by teammate Ethan Knight, whom he finished second to in 2024.
“I was excited to come run here today,” Wind said. “I always love races where there is tight competition, which can always elevate me to my best. I think I ran a pretty good race. I finally had a solid start. I was glad to beat Ethan’s record. It was good to finally win the states. I’ve been trying to do this for four years and I was finally able to come out on top.”
In the weight throw, nation-leader Shamrock Thoun of Woonsocket won a tight competition with a toss of 78 feet, 8.75 inches. North Kingstown’s Jack Harmon was second with a distance of 78-4.5. Placing third was Exeter-West Greenwich’s Owen Spira with a PR of 76-8.
Other winners included Rogers’ Kayden Thomas in the shot (58-1), Barrington teammates Patrick Trainor in the long jump (22-3) and Caleb Satisfield in the high jump (6-6) and the Eagles’ 4x800m (8:10.66).
