The youngest of our track & field athletes took center stage earlier in the week with our Freshmen State Championships The future looks bright from what we witnessed during two days of competition at the PCTA field house.
It turned into a down-to-the-wire affair in the boys’ meet with Bishop Hendricken pulling out a 110-100 victory over second-place North Kingstown on Monday night. The Hawks were trailing NK by 12 points with two events remaining. That margin was erased quickly in the 1,000-meter run where the Hawks scored 24 points with a 2-3-4-6-7 finish. Hendricken added six more points to its total by placing third in the 4x400m, an event the Skippers earned runner-up honors.
Shepherd Butler was a big contributor for the Hawks, scoring 24 points. Butler won the 3K (9:57.80), placed second in the 1,500m (4:25.93) and was fourth in the 1,000m (2:49.52).
Oliver Redmond dipped under 1:30 to capture the 600m. The Hendricken ninth-grader coasted to a school record of 1:29.06, winning the event by more than three seconds!
Tolman’s Collin Griggs was a triple winner with first-place finishes in the long jump, 55m and 300m. Griggs’ most impressive performance came in the long jump where he leaped to a best of 20-feet even. The Tiger standout had two nail-biters in the sprints. Griggs won the 55m with a time of 6.81, just eight hundredths of a second ahead of Classical’s Ephrain Teah. In the 300m, Griggs edged La Salle’s Brad Laforest with his winning time of 38.52 to LaForest’s 38.63 effort.
Barrington’s Eddie Wang led five athletes over 40 feet in the weight throw with a PR of 42-11.5, a best by seven feet!
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In the girls’ meet, held on Tuesday night, La Salle defeated second-place North Kingstown, 76-58, to take home the hardware. The Rams did all their damage on the track, highlighted by five victories, including a 1-2-3 finish in the 600m.
La Salle’s Stella Palago was one of three double victors in the meet, Pelago earned gold in the 1,500m (5:02.33) and the 1,000m (3:10.73).
The Rams’ Layne Stevens led a 1-2-3 finish in the 600m with a triumphant 1:45.976. She was followed by Madison Studley (second,1:46.71) and Ainsley Way (third,1:47.59).
Saint Raphael’s Francesca Justin proved to be the fastest on the track. She swept the sprinting events, blazing to times of 7.52 in the 55m and 43.08 in the 300m.
North Kingstown’s Reagan Farrell also struck gold twice, claiming titles in the 55m hurdles (9.21) and the long jump (16-10).
In the 3K, Classical’s Fiona Hughes won convincingly with a PR of 11:15.43. She was more than 30 seconds ahead of teammate Kate Howlett, who was timedd in 11:49.94 for second.
Check out more interviews with our winners on our Instagram page (oceanstaterun)
