One Last Look At Another Memorable State Meet

It was a long day of track & field at this past Saturday’s State Meet, a long day that we were kind of sad to see end. That’s the way we feel about these championship meets whenever we’re out there covering them for Ocean State Running. For the spectators that were seated upstairs in the balcony of the PCTA field house, we’re sure most of their feelings were equal to ours. The entertainment that was provided to them by a dedicated group of young and inspiring athletes, the state’s best, was priceless, and no doubt worth the price of admission.

Yes, our little state put on a big show on Saturday. One of the meet’s featured attractions, West Warwick’s junior phenom Lisa Raye, the nation’s best sprinter, didn’t disappoint, not the least bit. A week after breaking the national 60-meter record at the prestigious Millrose Games, Raye tore it up at the PCTA by winning four events (55-meter dash, 55m hurdles, 300m and long jump) for the third consecutive meet to lift the Wizards to back-to-back indoor crowns and their third straight team title (indoor and outdoor). The country’s No. 1 weight-throwers for boys and girls, Woonsocket’s Shamrock Thoun and Toll Gate’s Vanessa Jones, secured their first individual state crowns by holding off two very determined rivals, North Kingstown’s Jack Harmon and Classical’s Gifty Bediako, who also happen to be No. 2 from coast-to-coast. And then, of course, there’s La Salle Academy, who simply couldn’t have have put together a more perfect team performance to capture the school’s 26th title in its long and storied history.

As we always say, it was yet another memorable state meet. Here is more of what we observed covering eight-plus hours of the best sport on the planet.

***

Scanning through the results, we counted the amount of PRs that were established by our qualifying athletes at Saturday’s meet and it was well over a 100. In fact, if our math is correct, it was close to 130, according to athletic.net. That’s not even counting the relay events, where we’re sure there was plenty more. That’s what it’s all about. Coming through with your best effort at the biggest meet of the season. That’s not only a testament to our hard-working athletes, but also their coaches, who got them ready for peak performances. One of the more impressive races was the girls’ 600-meter run, won by Moses Brown’s Skyler Maxwell. The top six finishers broke 1:40, each one with their all-best best for the three-lapper.

***

The one thing that always makes us smile is seeing the elation on the faces of our champions when their winning an event, especially the ones that are doing it for the first time. We admit, even though we’re supposed to be impartial to all the athletes we cover, we were pulling for Narragansett’s Cole Francis to win on Saturday. The Mariner senior has been one of our state’s best distance runners since his freshman year. He had come so close before to taking that illustrious prize with four runner-up finishes, most events that were determined by fractions of a season. One of those silver-medal efforts came in the 1,500m where La Salle’s Marshall Vernon came from behind to beat Francis down the final stretch. The 1,000m was different. The 1,000m is where the URI-bound senior turned the race into his own by the time he reached the 400m mark. The look on his face during the final stretch was one of relief. When he crossed the line a champion with his arms raised high, the smile was priceless. We’ve always enjoyed interviewing Francis after a race. He always handles himself professionally and is always appreciative when talking about his accomplishments. When he finished his race, it was evident that yours truly as well as his coaches weren’t the only ones rooting for the Mariner standout to succeed. Coaches and athletes from all different teams congratulated Francis after his race. We estimate it had to be more than two dozen and possibly more. That was great to see for runner that certainly deserved his time to shine.

***

We say it all the time. Anytime we see Keaney Bayha’s name listed in three or four events, we know it’s legit. We know she’s not dropping out of any of them during the scratch period. This past Saturday was no different. The Pilgrim’s hard-working senior competed in the 3,000,m, 1,500, 600m, and the 1,000m. She won the 3K, finished second in the 1,500m and 600m and was fourth in the 1K. It was pretty impressive to watch. We did the math. When it was all said and done, she ran a total of 6,100m (3.72 miles) in a combined time of 19:42.12, a pace of 5:12 per mile. Here’s another fact about Bayha. Track and cross-country aren’t her only high school sports. She competes on the school’s field hockey squad in the fall, the swim team in the winter and is on two unified sports teams. She also happens to be one of the top students in her class.

***

The boys’ two mile was certainly one of the more exciting races of the meet. It was capped off by a down-to-the-wire finish by La Salle’s Marshall Vernon and Hendricken’s Colby Flynn with Vernon capturing his second straight title with a dive at the finish. Both were timed in 8:35.04. We’ve talked a lot about Vernon since that race, and feel we need to give some additional ink to Flynn, too. The Hawks’ gifted sophomore did everything he could to win that race, Vernon just happened to be a split second faster. Flynn’s performance did not surprise us. His determination, his fight, is something that we’ve witnessed since the cross-country season, one where he finished third overall at the State Meet and then a few weeks later, led briefly near the midway point of the Nike Cross Regionals against some of the northeast’s finest before eventually placing 12th overall. One of the top highlights this season was a near win at the Yale Track Classic where he third overall in the 3K with a state best of 8:28.91. Trust us, in the not-so-distance future, Flynn will win some big races. He’s shown it to us just about every time he races. This past weekend’s competition, just wasn’t his time in a race his head should still be held up high.

…