It’s all about the points. It’s all about sacrifices and doing whatever it takes to get the job done.
And, of course, it’s also all about resilience.
Those are the takeaways from La Salle Academy and its victory in the boys’ competition at Sunday’s RIIL State Track & Field Championships. It’s never just the star athletes that make the difference in the outcome. It’s also the little things often not seen or particularly noticeable when a team comes out on top in a meet like this past weekend’s where the state’s elite collide on one stage.
(Cover photo by Sterling Vernon @rhodeandtrack)
In a competition that certainly had the potential to be a close one, the Rams made the final outcome an afterthought for their chief rivals at Brown Stadium, defeating runner-up Bishop Hendricken rather comfortably with a 147-113 victory. Defending titlist Barrington was third with 111 points.
Head coach Eldon Santiago had nothing but praise for his talented squad, which had to overcome a little adversity this season after winning the indoor crown. For starters, the Rams were without star distance runner Marshall Vernon, a multiple point-scorer and victor at this past winter’s championship meet.
“This was definitely a very-challenging outdoor season for us. Not having Marshall Vernon available to us. We lost a couple of sprinters due to injuries early. We knew it was going to be a difficult task coming in; to be able to be competitive when you don’t have some of your best athletes available to you,” said La Salle coach Eldon Santiago. “Coach (James) Lourenco, a couple of weeks ago, we did a mock meet and we looked at it and were very optimistic with what we got there as far as results. We sat down and worked together and figured out how we were going to enter guys in this meet to make sure we could maximize our points. I couldn’t be happier with the performance as a team.”
The Rams who scored in 14 of the 19 events, collected 38 big points from sophomore Jalen Moseley, who swept the hurdles events, and collected a pair of second-place finishes in the 200-meter dash (21.95 seconds) and the long jump (22 feet, 2.5 inches). Moseley won the 110m HH in 14.21 and the 300m HH in a new state record of 37.67, breaking his one-week-old mark of 38.0, set at the Hendricken Invitational.
“He’s really embraced that. It’s not his favorite event,” said Santiago, making reference to the 300m IH. “It probably his best event when you put together his athleticism and speed. During the indoor state championships, he was sick the entire week. He was home with the flu. He came in (to school) on Friday, just so he could be eligible to compete at the state championships…I think he showed today that he’s up and coming. He’s such a humble kid that works hard. Last week, when he broke the state record, I told him and he’s like, ‘Really, that’s cool.’ That was his reaction to it.”
The Rams’ Eamon O’Brien lived up to his top seed in the 800m by winning his specialty in 1:54.54. La Salle also had wins from junior Garrett Giroux-Pezzulla in the 400m and its 4x100m (42.09) and 4×400 (3:19.38) squads. Giroux-Pezzulla also ran legs on both relay squads and was third in the 200m, an event the Rams had a 2-3-4-5 finish near the conclusion of the meet. La Salle also went 1-2-5 in the 400m along with a few other points, including a second-place finish from Alex Campbell in the pole vault (14-6).
“Guys just picked up points up and down the events and that’s what we needed,” Santiago said. “That’s the conversations we have with out guys about the importance of getting as many points. That’s the value with think of.”
“The golds always stick out but if you look at a kid like Aidan Tucker, who competed in the unseeded section and got fourth in the 300m hurdles. Alex Campbell snipes a second in the pole vault. (Joshua) Aceto second (in the 200m). It’s points that add up during the course of the meet,” Lourenco added. “Obviously we had tremendous individual performances. Everyone has to pull and contribute a little bit to get over the top at a meet like this.”
***
Continuing what he’s done throughout the season, Hendricken’s Carson Dean claimed his third straight title in the pole vault by clearing 15-6. The Hawks’ Colby Flynn won an exciting race in the 1,500m where he was able to edge Barrington’s Myles Napolitano at the finish with a PR of 3:57.71. Napolitano finished at 3:58.10, which was just a smidgen ahead of Hendricken’s David Hayes, who was timed in 3:58.39 for third.
Besides Moseley, Rogers’ Kaden Thomas was one of three other athletes, who won multiple events for the day by capturing the shot (60-2) and the discus (150-6). Barrington’s Caleb Satisfield was a victor in the high jump (6-6) and the long jump (22-4) and East Providence sophomore Jack Pawlik claimed the 100m (10.86) and 200m (21.90) titles.
