Rhode Islanders once again showcased their talents, competing at one of three national championships this weekend, primarily the New Balance Nationals Outdoor (NBNO)Championships in Philadelphia. Coming soon, we’ll provide a wrap-up of NBNO, the Nike Outdoor Nationals and the adidas Outdoor Nationals where we’ll highlight all the great happenings that occurred against the country’s finest track & field athletes.
With that being said, it’s hard to ignore when an athlete wins a national title. So despite an abundance of worthy contenders, it was relatively easy to pick this week’s HOKA Athletes of the Week. For the boys, we’d like to congratulate Lincoln’s Christian Toro and Saint Raphael Academy’s Devan Kipyego for this week’s co-honor. Toro earned his first national crown this weekend at NBNO by taking the individual title in the hammer with a toss of 228 feet, 6 inches. After fouling on his opening throw, the Duke-bound senior was dialed in. He secured a spot in the finals with a distance of 205-8 on his second attempt and went 220-3 on his final attempt in the prelims. He finished off with identical 228-6 efforts on his last two throws. Next up for Toro is the Throwers Triathlon at Conley Stadium and the USATF U20 Outdoor Championships, held July 6-9 in Oregon.
A year after winning the 2K Steeplechase at New Balance, Kipyego claimed the second national title of his career by winning the mile on Saturday. The Iowa State signee ran his fifth sub 4:05 clocking with a time of 4:04.78. Once pacer Kole Mathison ran off the track at the midway point, Kipyego went to work, building a five-second cushion on his competition by the 1,200m mark (3:03.33) and coasting to his victory. After running the 800m anchor on his team’s SMR squad less than an hour after that race, the recent SRA grad was back in Franklin Field one more time. On Sunday, he won his heat in the 800m where he was timed in a PR of 1:51.20. Unlike Toro, this will be Kipyego’s final high school race. He’ll be taking a well-deserved break before prepping for his first collegiate season for the Cyclones.
