The competitive portion of the indoor season began this past weekend, and already things are starting to heat up.
At least in the boys’ weight throw.
Last year, none of our athletes threw more than 70 feet. Three were close, less than a foot from the mark, but none could hit the milestone.
Now, just two meets into the season, the Injury Fund Carnival this past Saturday and a league meet on Tuesday night, we have three that have exceeded 70 feet with Woonsocket’s Shamrock Thoun (74-3.25) and Exeter/West Greenwich’s Owen Spira (71-9) going 70-plus at Injury Fund and North Kingstown’s Alex Harmon tossing a school record and 13-foot best of 72-4 in a Southern Division meet three days later.
It’s should to be an interesting State Meet this season. In terms of the New Balance Nationals, plan on Rhode Island sending its typical large contingent to the mid-March competition. The standard is 59-0 in the weight throw. Last year, we had 17 make that standard. Seems like were off to the kind of start that could produce similar results.
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We’d like to once again congratulate La Salle’s Marshall Vernon and Portsmouth’s Sean Gray on their respective cross-country seasons. The talented pair concluded their year, the last among all our athletes, on the uneven terrain this past Saturday at the Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Ore. Held under wet and rainy conditions at the Glendoveer Golf Club, Gray placed 63rd overall in 16 minutes, 22.3 seconds for the challenging 5K. Vernon was timed in 16:36.5, good for 97th among the 198 finishers. We know these two intense and gifted harriers were hoping for better results at NXN, but their still-solid performances certainly doesn’t diminish what they accomplished throughout the season, one that featured a multitude of highlights, including a 1-2 finish at the State Meet and earning their tickets to face the nation’s best with their placements at NXR-NE two weeks ago in New York. Well done, guys!
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Teams and athletes, don’t forget to mark Sunday, Dec. 29 on your schedule this season. If you’re looking for some quality competition on one the fastest tracks in the country, Marathon Sports and New Balance will be sponsoring its second annual Winter Warrior HS Invitational at The TRACK at New Balance. The meet, schedule to start at 9 a.m., will feature several different events. It takes place at the perfect venue to get those qualifiers secured early for the nationals meets in March, including the New Balance Nationals on March 13-16, held at the lightning-fast oval in Boston. The events included in the meet are the shot, long jump, high jump, 55-meter hurdles, 55m dash, Mile, 600m, 1,000m, 300m, 2 Mile, 4x200m, 4x800m and 4x400m. Registration is done on athletic.net. The meet is sanctioned for MA, NY, CT, NH, RI and VT. Participating teams must be from schools that are recognized members of their state associations with the National Federation of High Schools (NFHS). Any questions, please email meet director Dennis Sheppard at Dennis.sheppard@marathonsports.com.
