We’re not going to lie. With so many great athletes and performances from this past year, singling out just the top 10 is very, very, very difficult. It took yours truly a while to come up with this list, but with the help of our social media specialist Nessa Molloy, we gave it our best shot.
Here’s our top 10 for 2023.
Sophia Gorriaran
What can you say about the former Moses Brown standout that hasn’t already been said before. Gorriaran concluded one of the most storied high school careers ever produced here in our small state. She continued to achieve several milestones during her final six months as a high-schooler, a career that included multiple state titles, a host of national-level performances and a spot at the US Olympic Track & Field Trials as the youngest of all the athletes. Among some of the highlights was a spot on the line in the 600m at the prestigious Millrose Games at The Armory in NYC, just a day after announcing her decision to pursue her academic and athletic career at Harvard University. Gorriaran’s final few races before pursuing her college career couldn’t have been more appropriate. The Moses Brown alum captured her second national title for 800 meters with a victory at the New Balance Nationals at historic Franklin Field. On Aug. 7, she also struck gold in the 800m at the U20 Pan Am Championships. For her career, Gorriaran finished with more than a dozen indoor and outdoor state records, two national title and a world record as part of an U20 4x800m squad.
Devan Kipyego
Kipyego continued what he started during a stellar junior campaign. A year after winning three state titles at the indoor state meet, the former Saints’ star won an unprecedented four in 2023 with victories in the 3,000m, 1,500m, 600m and 1,000m. Just a few weeks after his quadruple victories at the states, Kipyego was involved in classic mile race at the New Balance Nationals where he finished second against Iowa’s Jackson Heidesch with both timed in a meet record of 4:03.20. During outdoor, the SRA alum won the inaugural Bay State Running Elite Scholastic Mile and captured the RunningLane Track Championships with a season best of 4:03.65. His final meet as a high school athlete produced a national title. a victory in the mile where he was timed in 4:04.78.
Lisa Raye
Few freshman had a year quite like Raye. As a ninth-grader in 2023, the West Warwick standout burst onto the scene with a dominating indoor season, one she matched on the outdoor surface. She finished off the winter campaign with three individual titles (55m, 300m, long jump) at the State Meet and a couple of state marks (55m, 60m). It didn’t stop once she competed during the spring months with four individual crowns at the State Meet (100m 200m, 100m hurdles, 300m hurdles), three titles at the New England’s (100m, 200m, 300m hurdles) and three more state records (100m, 200m and 300m hurdles). She capped it off with a victories in the 100m and 200m in the Freshmen races at the New Balance Nationals.
Chargers’ vonHousen Wins 3K At Outdoor States
It’s all about perseverance. Not letting the setbacks that occur through the course of a season, a year or even more, affect your mindset. Using the setbacks as a motivator to get back to where you belong. That’s what often separates the very good athletes from the elite. That’s what vonHousen proved at the outdoor state meet last June. After struggling with dehydration issues that began at the end of the cross-country season and continued at the beginning of the indoor season, the Charger all-stater was able to fight her way back by the time the outdoor season came and finished it off with her first individual title at the State Meet with a time of 10:05.31 for 3,000m, a PR by 17 seconds! By the way, von Housen wasn’t done there. Two weeks after the states, she established a new state record in the 2K steeplechase by finishing tenth overall at the New Balance Nationals with a time of 6:56.63.
West Warwick Captures First-Ever State Title
Yes, winning a team title at the State Meet often requires depth, a squad that has several athletes involved in the scoring. That wasn’t the case for the West Warwick girls, who had just three involved in the scoring to win the school’s first-ever crown this past June at the outdoor states. On the infield, sophomore Shanna Correia leaped a height of 4 feet, 10 inches to place sixth in the high jump. On the oval, it was Team Raye that took over with sisters Lisa and Xenia combining for 64 points. Lisa captured the 100m (12.23), 200m (24.95), 100m hurdles (14.87) and the 300m hurdles (44.08), while Xenia was victorious in the 400m (57.77), a runner-up in the 200m (25.55) and third in the 100m (25.55). Now the scary part, at least for the teams they’ll face at the states. Both will be competing in the next two championships. Lisa is just a sophomore and Xenia is a junior.
State X-C Meet Was One For The Ages
We couldn’t just mention one.moment from this meet. We had to bunch it together as a package deal. Let’s start with the Cumberland girls. For the first time since 1981, the Lady Clippers were able to hoist the winning trophy at the end. The Blue and White captured the team title with a 79-116 victory over defending titlist La Salle Academy. Scoring for the Clippers was junior Kiley DeFusco (fourth), sophomore Charli McCue (15th), junior Rose Tuomisto (17th), freshman Anna Bianchi (23rd) and freshman Gabby Stoothoff (34th). Hendricken won the school’s 27th team crown in the boys’ race, but you can’t ignore what Cumberland did at the Nov. 4 meet. The Clippers nearly stole the show, falling just a point short of becoming the first public school to earn the coveted hardware since East Greenwich in 2007. CHS junior Sam Henderson ran the perfect race to win the individual title with a PR of 15:33.29. How about Barrington teammates Brandon Piedade and Myles Napolitano? Both ran their best races of the year to take the second and third spots with times of 15:47.14 and 15:49.89, respectively. Their efforts led the Eagles to a third-place finish. Right behind them was Portsmouth sophomore Sean Gray. Competing in his first year of cross country, Gray was fourth overall in 15:51.64. We can’t forget what St. Ray’s Rory Sullivan did on the girls’ side. The Furman University-bound senior beat a talented field to win her first-ever individual title with a time of 18:09.79. With her effort, she became a member of an elite group of runners that have earned first-team, all-state honors all four years of high school.
Former HS Athletes Shine At The Collegiate Level
This is something we couldn’t ignore on a list like this. While these athletes no longer compete at the high school level in Rhode Island, they certainly made us proud at what they did as Division 1 collegians this past year. Competing at the highest level, we had four of our former stars earn All American honors at the NCAA indoor and outdoor championships. Classical alum Connor Murphy, a senior at the University of Virginia, was sixth in the mile at the indoor meet and fifth in the 800m in outdoor. Virginia junior Margot Appleton, a onetime standout at Portsmouth Abbey, was fifth in the mile indoors and third in the 1,500m outdoors. There’s also Woonsocket grad Tarik Robinson-O’Hagan. The Villa Novans’ multiple all-stater and All American couldn’t have had a better start to his college career at the University of Mississippi. Robinson-Hogan concluded his freshmen year by earning All American honors four times. He was third in the weight and 11th in the shot at the indoor meet and eighth in the hammer and shot at the outdoor meet. He’s also the recipient of four school records and a national freshmen mark in the weight. Following his national indoor title a year earlier, former Barrington great and fifth-year Alabama senior Bobby Colantonio was second in the weight throw.
Sullivan Earns Spot At Nike Cross Nationals
Along with several other fine performances throughout the fall, Rory Sullivan won the Class C title and her first-ever state crown. How could it get any better? Let’s add a trip to Oregon to that list. The Saints’ senior solidified a spot to the Nike Cross Nationals in Portland by placing sixth overall at the NXR-Northeast. Sullivan covered the difficult 5K course at Bowdoin Park in Wappinger Falls, N.Y., with a time of 18:50.30
Toro Takes Hammer Title At Outdoor Nationals
As always, our throwers continued to dominate the scene at the indoor and outdoor national meets with a plethora of athletes earning All-American status. We even had one of them make it to the top of the podium. At the New Balance Nationals in June, Lincoln’s Christian Toro captured gold with a winning heave of 228-6. No doubt the Lion standout had the momentum going into the meet. In the weeks prior, Toro won the state title with a PR of 229-3 and also the New England crown with a distance of 227-0.
Hendricken Sweeps State Titles
While the numbers in enrollment may be dropping somewhat for the Warwick school, the Hawks continued to prove that when it comes to cross-country and track & field, their dominance is often unmatched. Hendricken proved perfect in 2023 by winning the indoor, outdoor and cross-country team titles. Well done!
*** Okay, we lied. We’re going to add one more to this list to make it a Top 11 list. During the indoor season, Classical put a halt to La Salle’s 16-year winning streak to win its first solo team title at the State Meet. The Purple, who scored in 10 of the 14 events, compiled 68 points, 22 more than Moses Brown and Cranston West, who tied for second. Classical shared the state crown with La Salle in 2012-13.
