It’s April. Ah…the lovely month of April, where it can snow, it can rain, it can be 30-40 degrees or 70-80 degrees on any given day. It’s also the month we often hear these three words for upcoming meets – “Rain or Shine.”
Per usual this time of year, those three words are now coming from the mouth of meet director Tom Kenwood for the 57th annual Knights of Columbus Relays. With rain in the forecast and the temperature in the mid 40-degree range, the show will go on for Saturday’s meet at Conley Stadium.
According to Kenwood, 25 schools are expected to compete at this weekend’s competition, which features the signature 4xMile Relays, Hammer Throw, Freshman Mile and a Special Olympics 4×200-Meter Relay.
For the first statewide meet of the season, the competition looks impressive with the potential for a couple of meet records. Bishop Hendricken has the top five seeds in the boys’ freshmen mile with four of their runners under the meet record of 4:40.0. That quartet includes Shepherd Butler (4:33.0), Oliver Redmond (4:35.0), Aaron Stockford (4:39) and Justin Stockford (4:39.0). Nine in the field have broken five minutes. Pilgrim’s Julianna Kavanagh is the top seed for girls with a time of 5:40.
In the girls’ 4xMile Relay, Cumberland’s squad of Kiley DeFusco, Rose Tuomisto, Charli McCue and Anna Bianchi have the potential to smash the MR of 21:25.18 by Barrington from 2009. The Clippers come in with a seed of 21:00. With the foursome of Colby Flynn, Jack Moretta, Fred Russell and BJ Kerachsky own the top seed in the boys’ 4xMile with a time of 18:10. The meet record in this event is 17:43.3 by Xavier (CT) in 1987. Hendricken in 2019 (17:54.80) and Saint Raphael Academy in 1989 (17:59.2), a squad featuring current SRA coach Chris Magill, are the only RI teams to break 18 minutes.
The weight throw should provide a preview of what to expect this season for the boys and girls. For the boys, the top five have seeds of 200 feet or more, including Exeter/West Greenwich’s Owen Spira (218-5) and Woonsocket’s Shamrock Thoun (214-8), the 3-4 finishers from last year’s State Meet. The meet record is 248-0 by three-time champion Walter Henning of St. Anthony (NY) from 2007. The best by a Rode Islander is 243-6 by former Barrington great Bobby Colantonio in 2016. Hendricken’s Matt Giuliano won last year’s event with a toss of 215-3.
On the girls’ side, six athletes have seeds of more than 150 feet with Woonsocket’s Adelaide Caron leading the way with a best of 182-1. At the No. 2 seed, is the Villa Novans’ Isabella Piette at 165-4, just four inches ahead of Coventry’s Mia Hoskins. Among the athletes in the field is Toll Gate’s Vanessa Jones, who won the state title in the weight throw and claimed top honors at the Nike Indoor Nationals. She’s listed as a five seed with a best of 151-2. Smithfield’s Taylor McGinness is at No. 4 seed with a distance ofv 153-3. Former West Warwick standout Kristen Michaleski has the meet record of 189-0 from 2022. Caron captured the individual title in 2024 with a distance of 173-9.
Below is a link to entries and the schedule of events. Marathon Sports will be on site, selling all kinds of merchandise. OSR will also be at Conley, providing complete coverage of the meet.
SCHEDULE
9 a.m. – Boys’ and girls’ hammer
11:30 a.m. Girls’ Freshmen Mile
12 p.m. – Girls’ 4xMile Relay
12:30 p.m. – Boys’ Freshmen Mile
12:45 p.m. – Special Olympics 4x200m relay
1 p.m. – Boys’ 4xMile Relay (Race 1, mixed divisions, unseeded)
1:30 p.m. – Boys’ 4xMile Relay (Race 2, mixed divisions, unseeded)
2 p.m. – Boys’ 4xMile Relay (Race 3, mixed divisions, seeded)
