Throughout the remainder of the week, Ocean State Running will preview all six meets (boys & girls) for this weekend’s class championships. Here we feature the boys’ Class B meet. The performance lists come out on Thursday night. For some events, we’re predicting who we believe will be competing at Saturday’s meet. If needed, we’ll adjust once we have access to the lists.
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Class B Championships – Boys
Day/Time: Saturday/11 a.m.
Site: Portsmouth High
Teams:Barrington, West Warwick, Lincoln, North Providence, Chariho, Shea, Classical, Ponaganset, Mount Hope, Central Falls, Davies Tech, Johnston, Smithfield, Portsmouth, South Kingstown, Rogers,
Last year’s results: It was a close one in 2022 with just two points separating the top three teams. South Kingstown earned the team crown with 92 points. Classical and Portsmouth tied for second with 90 points.
Events To Watch: We’re expecting competitive races in the 1,500m and the 800m with West Warwick’s Jesse Principe and Smithfield’s Elijah Saddlemire on the line. Principe ran a best of 4:00.88 to finish second at the Southern Division Championships two weeks ago. Saddlemire has a PR of 4:05.86 from last year’s class meet and ran a season best of 4:07.54 at the Northern Division Championships . It could be more of the same in the 800m where Principe (1:58.03) and Saddlemire (SB, 1:58.19) hold the top two seeds, Principe has the edge in the 1,500m, while Saddlemire might hold that distinction for the 800m. The state 1K runner-up this past winter, owns an all-time best of 1:55 for the two-lapper…There’s no doubt the hurdle events could produce some excitement. The top seed in both the 110m HH and 300m IH is Barrington’s Ethan Knight, who owns state best of 14.77 and 39.90 in the respective events. Knight will match up against West Warwick’s Damon Wilson, one of just three hurdlers that have gone under 15 seconds with a PR of 14.95. The next two seeds are Portsmouth’s Landon Rodrigues (15.20) and Barrington’s Bobby Ward (15.28). Knight and Wilson will be back at it again in the 300m IH where the Eagles’ standout (39.90) holds a little more than a second and a half advantage on Wilson (41.49) based on seeds.. Rodrigues (41.90) and Portsmouth’s Jack McEntee (42.36) could potentially create havoc up front too…One of the first events of the day could come down to the wire with Barrington (44.70), Shea (45.46), Portsmouth (45.61) and Lincoln (45.88) the top contenders in the 4x100m relay…Don’t forget the 4x400m, too. Portsmouth has a best of 3:29.62, while Barrington is not too far behind at 3:31.65. Lincoln has the ability to score more than 70 points in the throwing events, The event that could rack up the most is the hammer where a 1-2-4 finish is possible with nation-leader Christian Toro (226-5), Tyler Durang (184-0) and Aidan Moreau (180-9). The likely party crasher is Barrington’s Michael Fay, who comes in with a seed of 199-1.
Team Outlook:The clear-cut favorite in this one is Barrington, the recent Eastern Division champions. The Eagles have all the events covered with the ability to score multiple points in the throws, jumps, sprints, hurdles and distance. events. Lincoln, Smithfield and Portsmouth could be battling together for those next three positions.
