The state’s best will collide at the PCTA Field House on Saturday for the RIIL Indoor Track & Field Championships. Who are some of the top athletes that will be competing this weekend? Here we feature the girls’ sprinting & hurdling events, which includes the 55-meter dash, 300m, 600m and 55m hurdles.
Yes, we know — the 600m isn’t exactly a sprint. Treat it like one and you’ll pay the price. But we had to put it somewhere, and this was the closest fit.
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55-METER DASH
Since the start of the season, Mount Hope’s Thea Jackson hasn’t lost to any of her state rivals — and that likely won’t change this weekend. After finishing fourth as a freshman and sophomore and third last year, Jackson enters as the overwhelming favorite to claim her first individual running title. The Huskies’ senior lowered her state-leading time to 7.11 with a PR victory at the Class B Championships. Earlier this season, Jackson told us her goal is to break seven seconds — something she could accomplish this weekend at a meet where she consistently performs her best.
The real drama may come in the battle for the remaining podium spots. St. Raphael sophomore Francesca Justin (7.32), Mount Hope’s Zariyah Brown (7.34), Moses Brown’s Kendra Satine (7.39), and Ponaganset’s Lillian Racine (7.39) all enter with sub-7.4 seeds, setting up what could be a race within a race on Saturday.
300-METER DASH
Just like in the 55-meter dash during the three-year reign of West Warwick’s sister duo, Lisa and Xenia Raye, there was little question who the top two runners would be. This weekend, however, the picture looks much different.
St. Raphael’s Francesca Justin and Hope’s Zariyah Brown enter as the clear frontrunners. They are the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds and the only sprinters in the field who have broken 42 seconds.
Justin gained a confidence boost last week, winning the Last Chance Qualifier in a PR of 41.67, more than a second faster than her previous best. That performance vaulted her to No. 2 in the state rankings behind Moses Brown’s Skyler Maxwell, who is not entered in this race.
Brown clocked a best 41.74 to finish second to Maxwell at the RITCA Invitational on Jan. 3. She owns three sub-42 performances this season, including a victory at the recent Class A meet.
This race certainly has the makings of a down-to-the-wire affair.
But don’t ignore the other top entries in the field. The next six seeds all come in with times under 43 seconds with Chariho’s Lidia Taber (42.38) and Tolman’s Jaslkeen Freitas (42.53) leading the way at the three and four seeds. We can’t forget Ponaganset’s Lillian Racine, too. She was third to the Raye siblings last year where she ran a PR of 41.55. Racine holds a season best of 42.75 from the Yale Track Classic. There’s also La Salle’s talented freshman Torri Charello-Ingegneri. She won the frosh states last week with a best of 41.61 and was second to Justin at the Last Chance Qualifier at 42.83.
600-METER RUN
The favorite here is defending champion Skyler Maxwell of Moses Brown. The Quakers’ gifted senior has crafted a well-calculated season, competing in a limited number of meets, no doubt with an eye toward peaking at championship time.
Maxwell enters with a season-best and state-leading 1:36.86 from her victory at the Nor’Easter at The Track. In-state, she owns a top time of 1:38.34 from a mid-January league meet and had a similar 1:38.43 effort at the Class C Championships, where she pulled off an impressive double by also winning the 300m.
Aside from the 4x200m and 4x400m relays, this is the only individual event Maxwell will contest this weekend. She’ll be all-in for her final State Meet appearance.
But don’t count out North Kingstown’s Abigail O’Neil.
The Skippers’ versatile senior owns the state’s best time in the 1,000m (2:54.54) and ranks No. 7 in the 1,500m (4:54.92), yet she’s bypassing both events to focus squarely on the 600m. Two weeks ago, she ran a nearly two-second PR of 1:37.40 to win the Class A title.
Like Maxwell, O’Neil will also contribute on relays (4x400m, 4x800m) and is entered in the pole vault, where she’s tied with five others at the No. 2 seed. Still, she should have ample time to be rested and ready to go.
This one could come down to the final straightaway.
The field also includes two other runners that have broken 1:40 this season – La Salle’s Carolina Terlato (1:38.66) and Moses Brown’s Rose Coutu (1:39.61). Other top competitors scheduled to answer the gun are Pilgrim freshman Aubrey Jarvis (1:41.11), La Salle sophomore Layne Stevens (1:41.51) and Ponaganset’s Ellie Jackson (1:41.99).
55-METER HIGH HURDLES
One clipped hurdle could be the difference in this race where we predict the winner may not be decided until the final barrier is cleared.
The top five seeds are separated by just seven hundredths of a second. That’s a razor-thin margin in an event with little room for error.
North Kingstown’s Julianna Williams moved to No. 1 in the state rankings after winning the Last Chance Qualifier in 8.64. Close behind is Exeter-West Greenwich’s Nine Olawuyi, who captured the RITCA Invitational title in 8.65.
The next three seeds are just as tight with West Warwick’s Jailynn Huffman (8.70), Cranston West’s Reece Vitale (8.71), and Mount Hope’s Thea Jackson (8.71). Vitale ran her mark to win the Class A title, while Huffman and Jackson posted their bests in a classic, down-to-the-wire duel at the Class C Championships.
This could be one of the most thrilling races of the day.
