Emmy Belvin had a tall task ahead of her at Saturday’s Class C Championships.
The Mount St. Charles Academy senior was not only trying to accomplish a tough double of winning the 1,500-meter run and the !K, she had to do it against Rory Sullivan. The Saint Raphael senior, who swept the distance events at the divisional championships a week earlier, was attempting the same triple with hopes of helping her squad win a team title.
While Sullivan gave it her best effort after winning the 3K (10:38.99) at the start of the meet, she would be denied of the three-peat on this day with a gritty performance by Belvin. After pushing the pace for most of the race in the 1,500m, the Mount standout held off Sullivan coming down the final stretch to win with a meet record of 4:49.26 to her rival’s 4:49.68 effort. The two runners battled it out again in the 1K with Belvin breaking away the last 200m to win in 3:07.01. Sullivan was clocked in 3:09.92 for second.
Belvin’s time in the 1,500m broke a 21-year-old record held by former Lincoln all-stater Liz (Carlson) Brennan from 2003.
“Going into the meet I knew Rory was going to be a tough competitor,” she said. “I was trying to keep a good mindset going in. I was like, ‘You know what? Just run the best you can. Don’t focus on the time.’ I just wanted to go out and run a good race.”
Moses Brown earned the top prize in the team competition with a 120-92 victory over St. Ray’s. Narragansett was third with 63 points. For the day, the Quakers collected five victories, inclduing all three relays.
In a close race where just .79 of a second separated the top four, junior Kathyrn Gauvin copped the 300m for the Quakers with a time of 44.12. Sophomore teammate Skyler Maxwell became the fourth runner under 1:40 in the 600m with a triumphant 1:39.54.
“I have been focusing a lot on breaking 1:40 and I’ve been training a lot,” Maxwell said. “Honestly, I just had to get through the mental block of breaking 1:40. I just really wanted to go out hard and finish hard.”
For the relays, Moses Brown clocked 1:51.82 for the 4x200m, 4:18.90 for the 4x400m and 10:33.0 for the 4x800m. Maxwell ran a leg on both the 4×2 and 4×4 teams.
In the long jump, Exeter/West Greenwich sophomore Nini Olawuyi won a jump-off with Moses Brown’s Ella Nadukkudyll with both leaping 17-3. The state’s top high-jumper, Katelyn Cruikshank of Middletown. took her speciality with a height of 5-3.
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For the fourth straight year, St. Raphael was the recipient of the boys’ title. The Saints rolled to a 96.17-72 decision over Moses Brown. East Greenwich was third with 67 points.
The Saints scored in 11 of the 14 events. They mustered two victories with JJ Rocha claiming the 3,000m (9:48.40) and the quartet of Julius Alves, Noah Rivas, Daniel Absul Disu and Devan Tavares capturing the 4x200m (1:37.16).
North Smithfield’s Nick Lamoureux won three events. The NS senior took the high jump on fewer misses with Middletown’s Cam Miller with a leap of 6-4. He also edged the Islander senior in the 55m dash with a time of 6.71 and broke the tape in the 300m at 36.59.
“For North Smithfield, the class meet is really important,” he said. “It’s our big team day. To come out here and perform in each individual event it’s a necessity. One day I want to give my coach a Class C Championship. There’s a lot of good competition out there. There’s a lot of work to be done.”
Aidan Bienvenue also came out on top for the Northmen by placing first in the 55m hurdles in 7.78.
In the 1,500m, Narragansett’s Cole Francis raced to a state best of 4:03.55 to outlast Moses Brown’s Eli Ziegler, who was right behind in 4:04.92.
Westerly proved just how strong it is in the 600m with a 1-2-3 finish. The Bulldogs’ Robbie Wade earned the ‘W’ by posting a PR of 1:24.67. He was followed by teammates Noah Roberts (second, 1:25.53) and John Gingerella (third, 1:26.35).
