Owen Spira is off to a grand start this outdoor season.
Just a week after winning the Knights of Columbus Relays with a four-foot PR, the Exeter/West Greenwich hammer thrower had another mammoth effort at Saturday’s New York Relays to extend his nation lead even further. Spira improved his best by nearly10 feet with a heave of 232-1, a distance that put him at No. 10 on the state’s all-time list. The Scarlet Knights senior finished far ahead of runner-up and fellow rival, Woonsocket’s Shamrock Thoun, who had a toss of 204-7. In the country, Spira increased his lead in the country to 14 feet over North Kingstown’s Jack Harmon (218-2).
(Above photo by Sterling Vernon @rhodeandtrack)
The Ocean State also struck gold in the girls’ competition. Woonsocket’s Bella Piette won handedly with a distance of 157-10. Piette, who is ranked No. 2 in the nation, had four of her throws exceed 150 feet.
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It was a big day for the Raye sisters at Arcadia Invitational in California.
Lisa Raye came out on top in the Invitational 100- and 200-meter dashes. The West Warwick junior clocked a nation No. 2 of 11.30 in the 100m and blazed to a time of 23.30 in the 200m, an effort that is No. 9 in the rankings. In the seeded 100m and 200m, Xenia Raye produced all time best in the respective events with times of 11.67 and 23.82.
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On Wednesday and Thursday, teams from throughout the state participated in Injury Fund relay events. In Class B on Wednesday, Barrington swept the title with the girls defeating second-place West Warwick, 76-49, while the boys breezed to a 90-55 decision over runner-up Portsmouth. On Thursday in the girls’ and boys’ meets, Classical was a 61-42 winner over East Providence and Hendricken beat Cumberland,70-43.5. Class C saw Exeter/West Greenwich a narrow 43-42 victor over Moses Brown and Rogers finishing nine points ahead of St. Raphael Academy with 62 points.
