Mia Hoskins appears to be clicking at just the right time.
A week after moving into the No. 2 spot nationally in the hammer throw, the Coventry senior now is perched on top in the rankings.
Hoskins earned that distinction at Saturday’s Mount Pleasant Invitational. In a match-up with previous leader and defending national champion Adelaide Caron of Woonsocket, the Knotty Oakers’ talented senior unleashed a winning toss and PR of 180 feet, 7 inches. Caron was second at 176-3. Hoskins’ effort moved her to No. 7 on the state’s all-time list, just behind Caron’s best of 182-1 from last year’s New Balance Nationals.
Competing in her last qualifier for next weekend’s State Meet, West Warwick’s Lisa Raye breezed to a comfortable win in the 200-meter dash where she was timed in 24.87 seconds. Ponaganset’s Lillian Racine was second in 25.47.
Exeter/West Greenwich’s Nini Olawuyi was a triple winner, taking the triple jump (37-4.5), long jump (18-1.25) and the 100m high hurdles (15.42). Chariho’s Emily Brown captured two events with victories in the high jump (5-1) and 300m intermediate hurdles (45.93). Her effort in the 300m IH improved her state-leader by a little less than a second. She currently ranks No. 1 in the 100m HH with a best of 15.27 from last week’s Class B Championships.
North Kingstown’s Skylar Maxwell improved on her state No. 2 in the 400m with a triumphant 56.75 for the one-lapper. PRs came in bunches in the 1,500m where four runners broke 4:50, led by Portsmouth’s Allie Kaull, who had a four-second best of 4:43.29. North Kingstown’s Lucy Stowe (second, 4:45.73), North Smithfield’s Julia Dowling (third, 4:47.11) and Cumberland’s Charli McCue (fourth, 4:48.51), among several others, also had all-time best in the race.
The shot featured two 40-footers with Classical’s Gifty Bediako and North Kingstown’s Tayla Schneider separated by a mere four inches with their 1-2 finish. Bediako took the gold with a distance of 40-4.5. Schneider secured runner-up honors with a toss of 40-0.5. Cumberland’s Payton Goulding was less than a foot from joining the 40-foot party with a distance of 39-9.5, an effort that earned her third overall.
