Just a week before the bigger and more competitive State Meet, our athletes will converge one more time this weekend for the Hendricken and Mount Pleasant invitational meets.
There’s no calm before the storm here. As usual, the competition will be heated at both state qualifiers.
While there are certainly plenty more, here are a few events that should draw some interest.
200m
This event features our state’s newest star, East Providence’s Jack Pawlik. At last weekend’s Class A Championships, Townie sophomore moved to No. 1 in the state rankings with a time of 21.73 seconds for the half-lapper. Pawlik will face some stiff competition in this race, including two more with seeds under 22 seconds – La Salle tandem Joshua Aceto (21.96) and Amara Monteiro (21.98). As he’s proven throughout the season, EP’s super sophomore is always up for the challenge when it comes to the sprints. This season, he is unbeaten in the 100m where he holds a state best of 10.71 from his win at the Class A meet. His lone loss in the 200m came at the Classical Classic where he was .17 behind Aceto, the state’s indoor 300m runner-up this past winter.
!,500m
This is an event that always seems to bring some top competition to this meet each and every year. Other than Colby Flynn, who did it en route to his 4:14.54 mile at the BSR Elite Scholastic Mile at the start of the month, no one has broken four minutes in this race this season. We believe that will change on Saturday. Per usual, this race is stacked with a bunch of guys that can make it happen. We’ll no early if sub-4 is the intention for most of our top competitors, which we think is the case. The one thing we do know for sure is the host Hawks will occupy the podium. Hendricken has nine of the top 11 seeds in this race, including the first three – Jack Moretta (4:02.15), Colby Flynn (4:02.81) and David Hayes (4:02.15). All three have a chance to win this race. Moretta captured his third straight 3K crown at the Class A meet and was a runner-up in this event last year at 4:03.15. Hayes and Flynn were 1-2 in the 1,500m at the class meet. You know this Hawk trio will run together to ensure a fast time on Saturday. You also have Sean Gray in this race. The Portsmouth junior was the Class B runner-up in this event last week and followed that race by winning the 3K at the end of the meet. He always likes to make sure a race is fast and honest, and can almost guarantee that will be his plan from the start. If the weather holds up, we’re predicting more than one runner with break the four-minute barrier at this weekend’s competition with the winner determined in the final few meters.
4x100m
This race matches our state’s top two teams in what should be a preview of what to expect at next weekend’s State Meet. The two squads in question are our state’s only foursomes to break 43 seconds, La Salle (42.38) and East Providence (42.87). At last week’s Class A meet, the Rams got the best of the Townies with a time of 42.61 to their rival’s 43.56 effort. La Salle gets the nod here but don’t be surprised if the Townies pull of a slight upset. This is a race where one handoff can make a difference.
Hammer
It doesn’t get any better than this. Behind the cage this weekend will be all the players, all our state’s best throwers, including five of the top six in the country. At the top, like it’s been all season long, is nation-leader Owen Spira of Exeter/West Greenwich. The Scarlet Knights’ senior is unbeaten in his specialty and boast a best of 237 feet, 8 inches from his win at the St. Germain Invitational. He won the Class C title last week and thrice has exceeded 230 feet, taking the Classical Classic with a distance of 231-0 and the Southern Division crown at 232-6. The other top throwers in this field are North Kingstown’s Jack Harmon (227-5), Ponaganset’s Owen Allen (222-1), East Greenwich’s Ryan Evans (222-0) and Hendricken’s Dimitri Johnson (220-5). Keep an eye on Johnson. First of all, he’s on his home turf. More importantly, last weekend he unleashed a 20-foot best with his current PR to take second to Harmon at Class A’s.
Shot
We had a 60-footer during the indoor season, could we have one (or two) this spring. The best opportunity for that to happen could be in the state’s final two meets where we have our top two shot-putters going head-to-head inside the circle, Rogers’ Kaden Thomas and Pilgrim’s Brandon Wolfenden. At last weekend’s Class C meet, Thomas was less than five inches from the milestone with a heave of 59-8.5. The Patriots’ Wolfenden, the Class A winner, has an outdoor best of 58-4. He has all-time best of 61-3.75 from his second-place finish at the New England’s this past March.
Pole Vault
At last week’s Class A Championships, Hendricken’s Carson Dean broke the state record by soaring to a height of 15-9. Dean, who broke the four-year-old mark of 15-8 by Coventry alum Ben Charlebois, will be back again to make some noise in his specialty. He’s been consistent all season long and looked great in most of his attempts last week. Could there be potential for a 16-footer this week? La Salle’s Alexander Campbell is the two seed. He tied his outdoor best of 14-0 at the Class A’s. His all-time best is 14-3.5.
