Just like it’s been nearly every weekend this spring, the weather wasn’t our friend this past Saturday, forcing the State Meet to be held on two days rather than just one. But the silver lining to it all, it did give us an extra day to enjoy a meet that, like previous state championships, was full of highlights and intense competitions.
(Cover photo by Sterling Vernon of @rhodeandtrack)
Before fully engulfing ourselves in our next mission, the New England Championships, here’s one last look at a meet that never, ever disappoints.
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We say it all the time. We see it all the time. In an attempt to take home a team title, athletes will often make sacrifices in an effort to win that illustrious prize at the end. Sometimes that can be giving up a chance to win an individual title by competing in multiple events to score those crucial, and often-needed points. For a few members of the Barrington boys’ team, their sacrifices meant missing their high school graduation. We were told that five graduations were held on Sunday, the day the final half of the State Meet was postponed to after the Rhode Island Interscholastic League made the difficult decision to pull the plug on Saturday after eight events were completed. For Myles Napolitano and several of his teammates, whose squad was in the title hunt, there was no question which event they were choosing.
“We had six guys, may eight, that are here today with their cap and gown,” he said. “We decided that it’s for the team, it’s the state championship. It couldn’t be more fun. Obviously it sucks to miss graduation at the school, but just to be here with all the guys in the state and be able to run and support to the team is was the big goal. Last night , we were like, ‘Let’s just bring our stuff, graduate at Brown Stadium together. It’s been fun.”
By the way, Napolitano happened to be involved in one of the most exciting events of the day. The Eagles’ senior came just short of a victory in the 1,500-meter run in a down-to-the-wire race with Hendricken’s Colby Flynn. The Hawk sophomore inched past Napolitano in the closing meters to win in 3 minutes, 57.71 seconds to his rival’s 3:58.10 effort. For Napolitano, it was a five-second PR!
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With his small stature in comparison to the other sprinters on the line, it understandable if you missed seeing East Providence’s Jack Pawlik on the starting line of the 100- and 200m dashes. Perhaps it was only his bright red singlet and shorts that let you know he was competing against his rivals. But just like he’s done throughout the season, the Townies terrific tenth-grader certainly stood out by the time he reached the finish line, winning both events in a pair of very close battles. We certainly look forward to what’s in store the next two years from this underclassman, who we believe has a chance to rewrite some record books in the not-so-distant future.
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We need to give a shout out to athletes like Bobby Wind. The Barrington senior didn’t walk away with the gold medal he was seeking in the 110m hurdles. The top-seeded hurdler, and a favorite to sweep his specialty after winning the 55m HH crown this past winter, was the last athlete across the finish line in the finals, after clipping the final hurdle in a a race that was eventually won by La Salle’s Jalen Moseley. If you’ve ever been a track & field athlete, or any athlete for that matter, you know how difficult something like that can be to bounce back from. You could see the pain in his face after coming so close to winning yet another race in the hurdles, something we’ve grown accustomed to this year. A couple of hours later, Wind was able to put that all behind him with a now determined look on his face when he answered the gun in the 300m hurdles, an event he wasn’t expected to win and was seeded seventh with a best of 40.54. Competing in the unseeded section, Wind showed what resilience is all about. The Eagles gifted senior blew away the field in his race with a huge PR of 39.03. It was his first time breaking the 40-second barrier with an effort that earned him second-team, all-state honors, placing him second overall behind Moseley’s record-setting performance in the seeded section.
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For the seniors, the outdoor state championships is often a bittersweet time for them as it signifies their final high school competition against their state rivals, and for most, their last ever meet for their respective schools. For us here at Ocean State Running, it also bittersweet as it’s also the last time that we have the opportunity to witness their greatness and have the pleasure of writing about them for our website. Kudos to the seniors that earned gold this past weekend – Exeter/West Greenwich’s Owen Spira (hammer), Pilgrim’s Hunter Schobel (triple jump), Cumberland’s Kiley DeFusco (1,500m, 800m). Hendricken’s Carson Dean (pole vault), Rogers’ Kaden Thomas (shot, discus), Pilgrim’s Keaney Bayha (3,000m), Chariho’s Emily Brown (100m HH, 300m IH), Cumberland’s Payton Goulding (shot), Burrillville’s Mackenzie Cleary (javelin), Barrington’s Ellie Noonan, Coventry’s Mia Hoskins (hammer), and West Warwick’s Xenia Raye (400m, 4x100m) and Lisa Raye (100m 200m, 4x100m). Thanks to all of you, and the countless others that a have create so many memorable moments for us to cover over the years.
