Quarterback Patrick Mahomes did his thing on Sunday night by lifting the Kansas City Chiefs to their second straight Super Bowl title. Now it’s time for track & field’s version of the Super Bowl with this weekend’s RIIL State Indoor Championships. Like Mahomes did with his game-winning drive in overtime to secure of 25-22 victory over the San Francisco 49ers, we’re predicting many stars to shine inside the PCTA field house on Saturday when our top boys and girls compete for individual and team glory.
Over the week, we’re going do our best to let you know just who those possible stars may be when the stakes are at their highest. As always, you’re welcome in advance if we happened to provide some billboard material for your athletes and teams. It certainly wasn’t our intention. But it is fun to stir things up a bit, isn’t it?
Without further adieu, here we go. Below we feature the girls’ 55-meter dash, 300m, and 55m hurdles.
55m Dash
The question here is how close will West Warwick’s Lisa Raye get to breaking another state record and potential sub 6.9 seconds. The Wizards’ extremely-gifted sprinter has certainly led us to believe that both are a possibiities this weekend when she answers the gun as the overwhelming favorite to defend her title. Raye has broken seven seconds and her own state record for this event three times this season with her most recent 55m mark coming at the Medium School Championships where she crossed the line in 6.93, one hundredth of a second faster than her previous state mark. This past weekend, Raye smashed her own 60m record at the Millrose Games when she finished fourth overall against an elite field with a time of 7.39. That effort converts to 6.89 for the 55m. Raye always competes at her best during championships time as her combined seven individual titles at the indoor and outdoor state meets will attest. Don’t be surprised if we see another record-breaker on Saturday with a sub 6.9 effort. She currently ranks No. 12 in the country, a 6.89 will move her to No. 6. While we just spent a lot of ink on Raye just now, you certainly can’t ignore her talented sister Xenia Raye. The WW junior is also having her best year in the short dash, and brings a PR of 7.12 to the line. Powered by the Raye sisters, West Warwick is a solid contender for the team title this weekend. This event is where it will all begin for the Raye’s, who are favored to go 1-2. The last two meets (divisional and class meets), Xenia has gone under her previous best of 7.22 from last year. She appears ready for another PR this weekend and possible sub 7.10. As always, this race is loaded. Besides Team Raye, there’s also Mount Hope sophomore Thea Jackson (7.25), Cranston West’s Ailani Sutherland (7.28), East Providence’s Nazarre Phillip (7.40) and La Salle’s Alexis Caggiano that have the potential for high placements in this event.
300m
The meet and facility record in this race is 39.38 by former Hope star Quashira McIntosh from 2013. There’s a chance we could see that 11-year-old mark erased this weekend. Once again, Lisa and Xenia Raye are holders of the 1-2 seeds. Lisa has a best of 39.94 from her victory at the MSTCA Boston Holiday Challenge back in December on the banked oval of the TRACK at New Balance. About two months later on the flat surface of the PCTA, we think it’s fair to say that time converts to a sub-40 this weekend. Lisa has broken 41 seconds twice in-state with a top time of 40.92 during league competition in mid January. The next three seeds in this race have dipped under 42 seconds with Xenia Raye at No. 2 (41.20),Sutherland at No. 3 (41.48) and Caggiano at No. 4 (41.52). Classical, a contender for the team crown, has the potential to score a bunch of points here. The Purple have the next three seeds with Zaida Depina (42.04). Morricia Bryant (42.87) and Jasmin Berganza (42.91).
55m HH
Yup, you guessed it. Lisa Raye leads our entries in this event, too. In her most recent performance nearly two weeks ago, the West Warwick star ran her all-time best of 8.35 to capture the Medium School title. Her top competition in this event should come from the Rebels’ Thompson, who was second to Raye at the class meet (8.81) and the East Coast Invitational in mid January where she was timed in her current best of 8.60. Chariho’s Emily Brown is the only other hurdler in the field that has gone under nine seconds with a PR of 8.94 from her win at the Last Chance Qualifier this past weekend. Reese Vitale of Cranston West, the No. 4 seed, came a few strides of doing the same at the Class A meet, which she won in a best of 9.01.
