A long day of track & field proved well worth it for a handful of Rhode Islanders who made the trip to the TRACK at New Balance for Sunday’s third annual Marathon Sports Winter Warrior High School Invitational.
The Ocean State made its presence felt early during the more than nine-hour meet, which was followed by the Marathon Sports Winter Classic, an open meet for athletes of all ages.
Classical sophomore Ephram Teah was one of seven Rhode Island athletes or relay teams to earn either gold medals or runner-up finishes. In the 55-meter dash, Teah was the fastest of 255 sprinters, blazing to a personal-best 6.59 seconds. The mark currently ranks third in the state.
In the girls’ 55 meters, Hope junior Zariyah Brown moved into the No. 3 spot in the state rankings, placing third overall with a personal-best 7.43. Brown added a runner-up finish in the 300 meters, clocking 41.83—just .38 seconds behind winner and multiple all-stater Nina Kyei-Aboagye of Sharon (MA).
A busy day for Mount Hope senior Thea Jackson concluded with a victory in the high jump. Jackson cleared a season-best and state-leading 5 feet, 4 inches. She also finished second in the 55 meters (7.39) and fourth in the long jump (15-10½). Jackson currently ranks No. 1 in all three events this season, owning season bests of 7.29 in the 55 and 17-11½ in the long jump.
In the high jump, Jackson was just off her PR of 5-6.
“We hadn’t had a meet in over a week,”, she said. “I was kind of just getting my legs moving since we had the holidays and stuff. We hadn’t had a meet in over a week. It was just a meet to get my legs going, and practice my event. I am very happy with 5-4. I don’t think I was expecting to do that well.”
In the dash, Jackson finished just strides behind Sharon (MA) senior Nina Kyei-Aboagye, the defending champion at the MIAA Meet of Champions. Jackson is aiming for bigger things in the event after placing third at last year’s state meet, finishing behind the talented sister duo of Lisa and Xenia Raye, recent West Warwick grads and current Georgia freshmen.
The versatile senior may also add another event to her arsenal.
“I’ve been meaning to try the hurdles this season, but I wanted to do it at a dual meet first rather than at a big invitational like this,” she said.
The girls’ two mile featured a Rhode Island sweep, with La Salle’s Sabrina Ghamrawi claiming the win in 11:38.70, followed closely by Classical’s Fiona Hughes in 11:40.77.
Running in the lead throughout the race, Ghamrawi utilized the pacer lights on track to keep her on pace. As the top seed, they were set to her previous PR of 12:00.57.
“It’s really cool getting to lead for 16 laps around the track by myself,” she said. “My goal was to just try and stick with the lights on the floor, because that was like the seed time. It was fun.”
La Salle earned a pair of victories in the 4x400m and 4x800m relays. The 4x400m squad of Madison Studley, Lena Reilly, Sienna Monella and Olivia Tucker clocked 4:24.42.
The 4x800m relay came out on top with foursome of Alyssa Parenteau, Carolina Terlato, Olivia Wahlberg and Layne Stevens combining for a time of 9:53.98. Parenteau set the pace for the Rams, building up a sizable cushion over the chase pack with an opening 2:22 leg.
Earlier in the meet, the La Salle junior raced to a best of 5:08.23 for the mile, an effort that placed her second overall. Parenteau did the pace-setting for nearly the entire race before being passed by eventual winner, Lucy Downin of Holliston (MA) in the final stretch. Downin crossed the line in 5:06.23. Bay View’s Jackie Mattos was third at 5:25.12.
“I am very happy with this race. I wasn’t expecting a time like that this early in the season,” Parenteau said. “I PR’d by five seconds. I knew I was in pretty good shape right now but because it’s still December, .I wasn’t expecting a time. It was just to see where I’m at today. To run 5:08 today is great. .I was .2 away from qualifying for nationals. I come back here in two weeks, hopefully I can qualify then.”
La Salle earned two more runner-up finishes with Carolina Terlato taking the silver in the 600m with a best of 1:40.49 and the Rams’ 4x200m squad of Evelyana Paul, Torri Charello-Ingegneri, Moriello and Tucker finishing at 1:50.92, just .05 behind eventual victor Westborough.
