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’ 600-meter run, 1,000m, 1,500 & 3,000m. Yes, we understand, a 600m is not a middle distance event. But it’s closer to a middle distance event than a sprint event. If you disagree, try sprinting for a full 600m next time you’re at the local track. Afterwards, let us know how it felt with that bear on your back the last 200 or so meters.
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600m
Who will come out on top in this one? We really don’t know. We’re listing Moses Brown’s Skyler Maxwell as a slight favorite here. After all, the talented sophomore is the No. 1 seed with her best of 1:39.54. We’re also picking her because the next two seeds in this race will have already competed in the 1,500m, a race we expect they won’t be able to hold back to conserve some energy. But the two runners were talking about – Mount St. Charles’ Emmy Belvin and Pilgrim’s Keaney Bayha – have also proven they can come back after a previous hard effort. Belvin and Bayha are also scheduled to run the 1K, too. Will they run all three? Maybe not. If they are, our guess is they’ll be in it to win it in the first two and see what they have left for the six-lapper at the end. Also in this race is Westerly’s Sydney Haik, another sub 1:40 runner with a 1:39.89 to her credit. She also be fresh-legged at the start. Five more runners in the field are in the 1:40-1:41 range. This race is going to be competitive. There’s no doubt about that. We predict that it will be one of our top four that will be victorious. The meet record is 1:34.08. That mark my be a little out of reach. But on the biggest of stages look for something in the 1:36-1:37 range.
1,500m
All our top runners in this race will be fresh and ready to roll. If nothing changes by the scratch period, this could turn into a race that could have several in the lead pack during the final lap. The meet record is 4:36.23, set 11 years ago by former Classical great Maddy Berkson. The mark may be safe, but sub 4:40 is certainly a possibility. Our top four seeds have broken 4:50 with Pilgrim’s Keaney Bayha holding the No. 1 spot with a time of 4:43.08. She’s followed by Saint Raphael’s Rory Sullivan (4:44.69), Cumberland’s Kiley DelFusco (4:45.67) and Mount St. Charles’ Emmy Belvin (4:49.26). Even though they had some of our state’s top times in the 3K/2 mile, Sullivan and Bayha both skipped the longer race to begin their day in this event. That tells us that both are focused on a fast time on Saturday, definitely under 4:40, which we feel both can do in a meet like this. Sullivan, who ran 10 minutes earlier in the season for the 3,000m at BU, has an all-time best of 4:41.13 from last year’s outdoor states where she was third overall. Bayha ran a best of 5:05 for the mile at the Marine Corp Holiday Classic this winter. DeFusco, who is a No. 2 seed in the 3K, brings a best of 4:45.67 to the line. Will she scratch from the 3,000m to focus on this race? That would make a big difference on Saturday. Belvin has a seed of 4:49.26, which she did to win the Class C race a few week ago over Sullivan, who coasted to a 3K win earlier in the meet. If Belvin’s still with the leaders with a lap remaining, she may hold the edge with her kick. This is a take-your-pick race. Other top runners are Toll Gate’s Alison Pankowicz (4:51.68) and La Salle freshman Alyssa Parenteau (4:51.90).
3,000m
Who’s battling for second? With no disrespect to other fine runners in this field, we can see anyone beating Chariho’s Erin VonHousen. In fact, don’t be surprised if she challenges the facility and meet record of 9:54.79 by former La Salle great Kaylie Armitage from her victory in 2021. The Charger senior has an all-time best of 10:00.65 from her win at the Yale Track Classic back in mid January. Two weeks ago, she clocked an all-time best of 4:37.66 to take the 1,500 at the Medium School Championships by nearly 20 seconds. We believe vonHousen will be running solo again this weekend, at least for most of the second half of the race. As she proved at the class meet, she can still run fast with no one around. Will it happen this weekend with a sub 10-minute effort? We’ll know if that’s a possibility by the first 800m. By then, it will be clear if she’s dialed into a record performance or focusing on just the win with the 1K still remaining. If she runs this race, DeFusco is the only runner that can pose any sort of threat against vonHousen, albeit a small one. She won the Large School race a few weeks ago with an indoor best of 10:19.25. She was third at the outdoor state last spring with an all-time best of 10:18.42. North Kingstown freshman Abbie Tighe (10:25.49), Classical’s Grace Doyle (10:29.81) and Mount Hope’s Jessica Deal are other runners we feel could earn podium placements.
1,000m
We’re going to have some tired legs but most of our top runners in this race, if not all, will have competed earlier in the meet. But each one that we believe can make it happen at the end have another thing that will make this race an exciting one to watch and one that may have a few under three minutes. It’s called heart. The list of top entries includes Sullivan, vonHousen, Pankowicz, Bayha, DeFusco and Parenteau, who comes in with seed times ranging from 3:00.31 to 3:04.85. The Chargers’ vonHousen has run faster than her seed with a PR of 2:57.14, which she did to win at Yale after her 3K triumph. Keep an eye on Pankowicz, who won the Last Chance Qualifier with a seven-second best of 3:02.71. With Toll Gate not in the hunt for a team title, will she scratch from the 1,500m to go all out in this race? This race could get interesting on so many levels.
