Since making an immediate impact as a freshman three years ago, Garrett Giroux-Pezzullo has accomplished a great deal at La Salle Academy. He has captured three individual state titles, run legs on several record-setting and All-State relay squads, and won his share of races in events ranging from the 55-meter dash to the 400 meters.
But the Rams senior, bound for Boston University in the fall, is not finished yet—not by any means. In fact, in some ways, he’s just getting started.
“I really feel like I’ve been sitting patiently for my time to shine,” he said. “I feel that time is coming right now. I feel I can step into my own light and run my own races.”
With the season less than a month old, Giroux-Pezzullo has already shown that this indoor campaign could be a special one. He added to that notion on Saturday with a pair of strong performances—and victories—at the annual Boston Holiday Challenge.
The BU commit claimed the 400-meter title, blazing to a triumphant indoor best of 48.88 seconds. Giroux-Pezzullo later returned to run a leg on the Rams’ first-place 4×200-meter relay, which posted a season-best time of 1:30.38. Joining the La Salle standout on the quartet were Jalen Moseley, Antonio Bearden, and Abrahim Ghanrawi.
Giroux-Pezzullo didn’t waste time in the 400, blasting through his opening 200 meters in under 23 seconds. The Ram standout already carried plenty of confidence into the race—confidence that was further reinforced after finishing second in the 300 meters last week with a PR of 34.36.
“Basically after my 300m last week where I went 34 (seconds) low, I wanted to make sure i came out really fast,” he said. “It did work out well. Coming through the first 200m in 22.8, which is what I heard, it’s pretty good. It’s pretty fast stuff. I wanted to make sure I got out there and carried my speed home. I have a lot of trust in my speed.”
Finishing fourth in the race was Cranston West’s Ryan Stoloff, who was timed in a PR of 50.89. La Salle’s Jared Crepeau placed ninth at 52.28.
The Rams also picked up a victory from Eamon O’Brien in the 600 meters. Last year’s state runner-up in the event crossed the line in a strong 1:24.67 in his first individual race of the winter.
“I didn’t really see myself running that fast right away,” admitted O’Brien, whose personal best of 1:23.77 came at last year’s New England Championships. “I knew I was going to have to claw back. I haven’t been going crazy in workouts yet, so I knew I’d have to fight for it.”
O’Brien is coming off an injury that wiped out most of his first and only cross country season. He suffered a stress reaction in his foot and ankle after slipping off a curve during a training run. After about two months of recovery and rehabilitation, the issue appears to be behind him.
“Right now I’m fine,” he said. “I really only raced at states because they needed me. I took a couple of painkillers and just tried my best.”
Smithfield’s Kaeden Manni also impressed in the field events, placing second overall in the shot put with a nearly five-foot personal best. The Sentinel sophomore launched a state-leading throw of 50 feet, 2 inches, and added a fifth-place finish in the weight throw at 55-3.
