Rhode Island track & field athletes will be back at it again this Saturday with the World Trophy Invitational at the PCTA field house. The annual meet, which features a full state events, will kick off with the girls’ competition at 9 a.m. The boys are scheduled to compete at 1 p.m. After scanning through the entries, here’s our picks of the top five girls’ events.
55m dash
We don’t expect this race to be close. The reason we’re picking it is because of our No. 1 seed. Holding the top spot is Mount Hope’s Thea Jackson. The Huskies’ sophomore finished second to West Warwick’s Lisa Raye’s record-breaking and sub seven-second performance at the East Coast Invitational last weekend. Jackson was timed in an all-time best of 7.25. In several other states, the Mount Hope standout would be ranked No. 1 among her rivals. Unfortunately for Jackson, she just happens to compete in the same state as one of the nation’s best. Jackson told us after her runner-up finish at East Coast that her goal is to run under 7.1. With a seed that’s four tenths faster than her closest rival, her chance would appear slim to make that happen this weekend. But it should be fun to watch this rising star.
Weight Throw
As usual, most of our top weight-throwers will be competing this weekend. While the other events may not have most of our state’s best entered, this one does. We’re still looking for our first 50-footer of the season, and it could happen on Saturday. Classical’s Susan Adekunie holds the No. 1 seed at 49 feet, 7.25 inches. Right behind is our East Coast Invite winner Adelaide Caron of Woonsocket, who had a career best of 49-1.5 to take top honors at last weekend’s meet. Six more have gone 46-plus this season, including Ponaganset’s Giana Decesare (47-8.5), Woonsocket’s Isabella Piette (47-8.25), Classical’s Gifty Bediako (46-9), to name a few.
1,500m
We anticipate a close race in this one. The top five seeds are separated by less than two seconds. Burrillville’s Jillian Russell owns the No. 1 seed with a time of 5:14.02. She’s followed by St. Raphael’s Faith Perry (5:14.74), and Prout School teammates Jessica Mastrandrea (5:15.38) and Sophia Abbott (5:15.87) .
High Jump
This event features our state’s top leaper with Middletown’s Katelin Cruikshank in the field. The Islander junior had a best of 5-5 at the season-opening RITCA Invitational. This past weekend, she won the individual crown at East Coast by clearing 5-3 and also was second at the Yale Track Classic with a height of 5-2. Three more athletes in this field have done five feet or higher – Barrington’s Helena Hyde (5-1), Ponaganset’s Zoe Glover (5-0) and West Warwick’s Shanna Correia (5-0). Cruikshank is the clear-cut favorite in this event and has already achieved the standard of 5-4 for the New Balance Nationals. Will we see a PR performance on Saturday?
Pole Vault
As a sophomore last year. Barrington’s Ellie Noonan finished second to eventual state champion Morgan Correia of La Salle in this event at the State Meet with both clearing 10-feet even. No doubt, Noonan is focused on earning that coveted gold this year. This past weekend at East Coast, she cleared an all-time best of 10-6 to take the title. Could we have an 11-footer on Saturday. In the history of the state, we’ve had three athletes clear 11 feet (or higher) indoors, led by Moses Brown’s Jenna Poggi’s 12-0 performance at the 2009 National Scholastic Indoor Championships. Toll Gate’s Noelle Battista (11–0.75, 2002) and Classical’s Bianca Donadio (11-0, 2014) are the other two. Noonan could join that elite group this weekend.
