Held at the start of the season, teams and athletes aren’t necessarily expecting personal-record performances at the Knights of Columbus Relays. The annual event, which celebrated its 58th year on Saturday, often serves as a gauge for coaches and their athletes to see where they are in their training for the outdoor season.
For a few members of Bishop Hendricken’s talented distance core, some of the bigger events they’ll be focusing on – outside of the state meet – include the Penn Relays Carnival at the end of the month and the New Balance Nationals in mid-June, both meets where they’ve set aggressive goals. These include a sub-10-minute performance in the distance medley relay at Penn Relays and breaking 17 minutes in the 4xMile relay at NBN.
The Hawks got off to a strong start at Saturday’s competition, shaking off the cobwebs with the third-fastest time in the meet’s history. The quartet of David Hayes, Fred Russell, Shepherd Butler, and Colby Flynn combined for a winning time of 18:02.80, finishing comfortably ahead of Barrington, which placed second with a school-record 18:22.80. The Hawks’ “B” squad took third overall in 18:40.21.
Finishing fourth and fifth, respectively – and taking the top two spots in the Division 2 race – were Massachusetts entry Parker Charter (18:42.10) and St. Raphael Academy (19:22.80).
“Most of our team was out sick this week and we weren’t really sure how we’re going to do,” Flynn said. “But we all showed up today, and were all ready to race. We all performed pretty well considering everything.”
Hayes produced the fastest split of the day with a leadoff leg of 4:25.53. He wasn’t far ahead of teammate Brayden Seraichyk, who ran a 4:27.06 opening split for the Hawks’ “B” team. The remaining splits for the winners were 4:33.12 from Russell, 4:33.03 from Butler, and 4:30.37 from Flynn.
Hayes, Russell and Flynn, along with teammate Andrew McCarthy, were on the Hawks’ DMR squad that was fifth at New Balance Nationals Indoor last month with a state record of 10:08.14. The DMR will be the next big relay for Hendricken when it heads to the Penn Relays the weekend of April 23-25 at historic Franklin Field.
“It’s a possibility,” Hayes said. “We’re all going to have a great day. If we keep the training up, nothing can stop us at this point.”
In the girls’ race, Cranston West came out on top. The foursome of Kristen Fontaine, Lilliana Prendergast, Isla Tucciarone, and Molly Slinko-Gosetti finished in 23:06.0, comfortably ahead of Mount Hope, which placed second in 23:35.0.
Parker Charter was third overall and first among Division 2 squads with a time of 23:54. Fellow Massachusetts rival Hopedale won the Division 3 race and placed fourth overall in 24:15.0. East Greenwich rounded out the top five, finishing fifth in 24:33.0.
Cranston West ran a “relaxed” race en route to the gold medal.
“We were just running the race to have some fun,” Prendergast said. “It’s the first race of the season.”
“Yeah, we just came here to have fun and run whatever we can,” Fontaine added.
The Falcons all recorded splits in the 5:30 to 5:40 range.
In the boys’ and girls’ hammer, several throwers moved into top positions in the national rankings.
East Greenwich’s Ryan Evans won the boys’ event with a throw of 217 feet, 10 inches, an effort that ranks No. 2 in the country. Bishop Hendricken sophomore Dimitri Johnson was second at 204-3, which is sixth nationally. North Smithfield’s Chris Lagasse placed third with a throw of 197-0, while Woonsocket’s Shamrock Thoun was fourth at 195-6 – marks that rank 12th and 13th in the nation, respectively.
Ponaganset’s CeCe Bizon won the girls’ competition with a huge PR. The Chieftain sophomore unleashed a 13-foot best if 172-8 to take over the No. 3 spot in the nation.. Classical’s Nelmarix Santos Mojica (second, 169-5) and North Kingstown’s Tayla Schneider (third, 168-0) moved to No. 5 and No. 6 on the list were their placements.
Coventry’s Molly Richardson (5:27.30) and Hendricken’s Luke Tremble (4:45.80) were the respective girls’ and boys’ champions in the Freshmen Mile.
