With a lap remaining in the 1,600-meter race, Bishop Hendricken junior Colby Flynn sat in sixth place, tucked into a tightly packed lead group.
A reason to panic?
Not for Flynn. Not for head coach Jim Doyle, who could be heard from outside the track urging his star runner to stay patient.
“That was kind of the plan — sit and kick,” Flynn said. “Often times when I go too early, I don’t have it at the end. Usually when I make my move with 200 meters left, that’s when I have it.”
And have it Flynn did.
Just a week after using a blistering 54-second final lap to win the 1,500m state title, Flynn once again relied on his fast closing speed at Saturday’s New England Championships. Waiting until the final stretch to unleash his kick, the Hawks standout surged past the field to win his first regional crown with a time of 4 minutes, 12.30 seconds.
Flynn finished just 0.15 seconds ahead of Alexander Medina of Hamden (CT), whom he caught with only a few meters remaining. After splitting 2:09 through the opening 800 meters, the multiple all-stater closed with a 2:03 final half-mile, including a blistering 58.42-second final lap.
“The last 200 meters, Medina was probably 25 meters in front,” Flynn said. “I was like, ‘Imagine if I actually catch him.’ I just started chasing him down the straightaway and out-dived him at the line.”
On a blistering hot day at Noble High School, Flynn wasn’t the only Rhode Islander to strike gold at the regional competition. The Ocean State produced five individual champions, while several others earned coveted spots on the podium.
Hendricken’s Shepherd Butler delivered one of the biggest surprises of the day in the 3,200 meters.
The Hawks sophomore made a decisive move in the closing stages of the race, surging past top-seeded Tycen Labelle of Griswold (Conn.) with less than 100 meters remaining to claim the title in 9:22.53. La Salle’s Matt Lewis was sixth overall in 9:38.43.
Butler entered the race as the No. 13 seed in a field he never expected to compete against this weekend.
“I was seventh at the state meet, and even then I was questioning if I’d ever get into New Englands,” Butler said. “All the people in front of me scratched, and I ended up in the seeded section as the last guy.”
In a race that turned tactical from the gun, Butler positioned himself comfortably within small lead pack of five runners through most of the eight-lapper. LaBelle set the pace, bringing the field through 1,600m in 4:54.19.
With just over 800m remaining, Butler and LaBelle separated themselves from the rest of the pack and began a head-to-head battle for the title. The two runners traded strides for much of the final laps before LaBelle made a strong move with about 300m to go, opening a gap of 5-10 meters with less than a half lap remaining.
Butler responded by blasting past LaBelle down the final stretch. The talented tenth-grader ran his last 800m in 2:04.
“When he passed me, I was thinking on the turn, ‘I got second and that’s still really good,'” he said. “But I had another thing in me. I just went for it. I saw him slowing down. I tried to go for it, and I got it.”
La Salle found victory twice in the seven-plus hour meet.
The Rams captured the 4x100m relay quartet of Jackson Alves Garrett Giroux-Pezzullo, Antonio Bearden, and Jalen Moseley combining for a time o 41.67, a mere 0.09 seconds ahead of Southington.
In the long jump, Moseley redeemed himself from a second-place finish at the State Meet with winning leap of 24 feet, 2.5 inches, his third time over the 24-foot mark this spring. The Rams junior was also third in the 110m hurdles where he raced to a PR of 14.04.
Recent state champion and record-holder Amber Shaw captured the pole vault. The Chieftains’ senior tied her state mark with a height of 12-9.
Pilgrim junior Lia Wasilweski continued her consistency in the javelin by claiming the regional crown with a heave of 132-10. For Wasilweski, it was the fourth time she surpassed 130 feet.
“It feels amazing,” she said. “I was just trying to make finals today. I didn’t expect to do so well. Last year I didn’t make finals, so that was my main goal this year.”
Other top finishes included North Kingstown’s Abby O’Neil, who placed second in the 800m with a PR of 2:12.63. Pilgrim freshman Aubrey Jarvis was fourth with a best of 2:14.35.
Barrington and Chariho both made the podium in the 4x800m relay. The Eagles foursome of Brooks Melklo, Henry Stockwell, Colbyt Napolitano and Sam Spencer combined for a school record of 7:53.28. The Chargers were timed in 8:03.96.
In the girls’ 4x800m La Salle and North Kingstown placed third and fourth with times of 9:26.15 and 9:27.19, respectively.
