It looks like there's potential for a heated battle in the hammer competition this spring.
The New York Relays on Randall Island Friday night was populated by Rhode Island athletes with a few surprises up front. Woonsocket's Dilyn Cote and Classical's Jacob Farland joined the 200-foot club with Cote winning the individual title with a personal-best heave and nation No. 2 of 204-1 and Farland snagging third with a PB of 203-feet even (US #4). Both weight-throwers defeated the nation's best in the hammer, Jared Briere of Woonsocket, who was fourth overall at 197-4. Briere currently owns the top spot in the country with his season best of 205-2 from the Knights of Columbus Relays a few weeks ago. In all, seven from the Ocean State finished among the top 10 at the N.Y. event - Barrington's Jack Dunn (fifth, 173-5), Lincoln's Matt Thibodeau (sixth, 171-4), Woonsocket's Derin Paskanik (eighth, 161-8) and Woonsocket's Jacob Greenless (ninth, 160-2).
In the girls' competition, Barrington's Annika Kelly placed second overall with a toss of 160-2. Teammate Faith Polando was fourth at 154-8 and Lincoln's Samantha Andrews placed fifth with a 144-4 effort. Also finishing in the top 10 were Classical's Cheyenne Figueroa (sixth,138-9), Barrington's Sydney Polando (seventh, 135-0), Woonsocket's Katrina Kurowski (eighth, 126-11) and Classical's Melissa Mejia (ninth, 124-4). The event was won by New York's Jill Shippee of Shenendehowa, who broke the meet record with a nation No. 1 of 196-2, which ranks sixth all-time.
East Geeenwich's Connor Sheridan won the decathlon by accumulating 5,776 points. Classical's Julia Almanzar finished third with 4,644 points.
Elite Performances
Girls (18)
- Hammer
- Discus
Boys (36)
- 100m
- 400m
- 1500m
- 110mH
- High Jump
- Long Jump
- Pole Vault
- Hammer
- Discus
- Javelin
- Shot Put
- Decathlon