Some of our track & field athletes will continue to hone their skills at several different postseason meets like this weekend’s New England Championships, the Brooks PR Invitational and/or one of three nationals championships – the New Balance Nationals Outdoor Championships, the adidas Outdoor Nationals and the Nike Outdoor Nationals. Can’t we just have one? Just our two cents here.
As we typically do before moving on to these meets, here’s a few of our thoughts from a very cold and, once again, memorable State Meet.
***
There’s a lot of things to remember about this past weekend’s meet, but the biggest story is what the Raye sisters did in leading West Warwick to the school’s first-ever team crown by combining for 64 of their winning 67 points. What about those other three points? Certainly not to be forgotten is the performance of sophomore Shanna Correia. Her effort, too, was part of the winning total. On a less-than-perfect day for any event, Correia finished sixth in the high jump with a near best of 4 feet, 10 inches. Forty-five years ago, yours truly was a junior on a Cumberland team that captured the state indoor title at the Cranston Street Armory with an 80-68 win over runner-up Rogers. One of those points that were scored that night was from my sixth-place finish in the 1,000-yard run. To this day, I still cherish the fact that I was part of that Clipper squad that went home with the championship plaque in 1978 and proud that one of my points was part of our winning score. Without it, the archives would list the score as 79 that night. It’s still part of the history, it’s still part of the legacy and it was still hard earned. Just like Correia’s performance on Saturday.
By the way, this is not the first time that a team won a state title with only a few runners responsible for the scoring. In 1993, the Classical boys brought home the hardware with just four athletes scoring the team’s winning 69 points. The Hope girls claimed the 1997 title with five athletes accounting for their 83 points and six-point victory over South Kingstown.
***
It was bittersweet. Among other deserving seniors, this past weekend’s State Meet was the last for Moses Brown’s Sophia Gorriaran and St. Raphael Academy’s Devan Kipyego. As expected, both runners had fitting farewells with Gorriaran winning the 1,500m, 800m and anchoring her team’s first-place 4×400 and Kipyegp capturing his only individual event by taking the 800m and running the final leg on the Saints’ triumphant 4×800 squad. For Gorriaran, she’s been in the national spotlight ever since her freshman year in 2019-20, one that featured a best of 2:02.90 for the 800m during the spring. Since then, she’s racked up numerous state titles and All-American finishes, a national 800m crown this past winter, a few national and world age-group records and even a world record as part of a powerhouse 4x800m indoor squad as a tenth-grader. That’s just a sampling of what she’s accomplished in four incredible years. Kipyego’s rise to national prominence began last year after winning his first of two state cross-country titles.That began a stretch of complete dominance in the state that often went beyond the borders, too. Among the highlights was a national steeplechase crown last June, a near sub four-minute clocking at the Brooks PR Invitational and a classic dogfight in the mile this past winter at the indoor nationals where his dive across the finish nearly stole the show. While they competed in their last in-state competition, Gorriaran and Kipyego are not done yet as high school athletes with few elite meets on the slate. Both are still aiming for more titles and two very possible historic milestones. Gorriaran, who owns an all-time best of 2:00.58 for the 800m, is still eying a sub-2 before she heads off to Harvard in the fall. With a best of 4:00.64 for the mile, Kipyego is hoping to become the next prep star to dip under four minutes. It could be magical in the next few weeks. Stay tuned.
***
You got to give credit to Rylee Shunney. The East Greenwich senior always comes to race when it’s championship time. Shunney did it again on Saturday and, although came up short with a victory, had a pair of hard-earned runner-up finishes in the 1,500m and the 3K. In the 1,500, she was undaunted by the fact that she was facing the Quakers’ Gorriaran in the race. She went right to the front of the pack and pushed the pace, making sure it wouldn’t be easy for her top-seeded rival. In the end, the favored Gorriaran was able to cut loose and win the race in 4:35.24. Shunney held on for second where she posted a season best of 4:38.35, her third time under 4:40 this spring and her fastest clocking since winning the Class C Championships last spring in a PR of 4:37.82. The UMass-Amherst standout came back and finished second in the 3K to Chariho’s Erin von Housen with an all-time best of 10:06.76. In that race, she was again determined to make the pace honest by leading in the early stages. She nearly caught von Housen during the last stretch with her patented kick.
***
You want to talk about persevering? How about the Chargers’ von Housen? After dealing with low iron deficiency at the end of the cross-country season, health issues that wiped away the first few months of her indoor season, the determined runner slowly built herself back up to where she was able to finish fifth in the 3K at the indoor states and post a best of 10:33.07 to capture the Class A crown. The momentum and resilience continued this spring where she was aptly rewarded with her first state title. Her winning time of 10:05.23 was a PR by 18 seconds! Stuff like this is always great to see, and further proves if you want something bad enough, you can achieve it by putting in the work. Well done!
***
Whenever we interview Hendricken coach Jim Doyle after his team wins a state title, which, as you know, is quite often, he almost always has some of his other coaches join him, such as assistant coach Danny Brennan. This time it was different. This time he wanted to recognize the coaches that are often behind the scenes, or shall we say, behind the throwers cage – the father-son duo of William Johnston Sr. and William Johnston Jr. Both are Hendricken alums and former All Americans and it is clear their expertise has been a big reason the Hawks have been able to continue their dominance as a team over the years. “I appreciate all that they do,” Doyle said. On Saturday, the Hawks scored 32 of their points in the four throwing events (discus, shot, javelin, hammer). During their title-winning indoor season this past winter, 24 of their 100 points came from the shot and hammer. During our interview with the coaches, we told them it’s too bad we can’t have throwing events in the infield where more fans would get a chance to witness the great happenings that are occurring with these athletes. The elder Johnston, who later starred at Northeastern as an athlete, believes he could be the reason. “I might be responsible for single-handedly not having it,” he said. “When I was in college, we threw at Brown and I threw it into the stadium.”
We’re guessing that throw was out of the sector.
