La Salle wins sixth straight Class A crown

Class A Championship - Girls

All photos courtesy of Jerry Siberman of risportsphoto.com. Jerry is the offical photographer of the Rhode Island Interscholastic League.

Check out more great photos of the meet and other sporting events at risportsphoto.com.

 

CUMBERLAND – For Sheridan Wilbur, there has been no signs of slowing down. The La Salle Academy sophomore, one of the leading middle- and long-distance runners in the state during the indoor season, has been a model of consistency on the outdoor surface.

Wilbur was back in her element on Saturday at the Class A Championship. The talented tenth-grader continued her dominance this spring in the 1,500-meter run with a winning time of 4 minutes, 41.1 seconds at Tucker Field.

With a strong kick the final 200, Wilbur held off Classical’s multiple all-stater Maddy Berkson, who secured second at 4:43.3. She was also a runner-up in the 800 (2:15.6) and anchored the Rams’ second-place 4x400 team (4:06.2).

Wilbur’s productive outing, along with impressive wins from freshman teammate Eliza Rego in the 3,000 and junior Amanda Joyal in the 400, helped La Salle secure its sixth straight team title with a 140.5-128 win over Classical. Pilgrim was a distance third with 67 points.

Just a week ago at the Glenn D. Loucks Games in New York, Wilbur narrowly missed a 15-year-old state mark in the two mile with a 10:31.71 effort and recorded a personal best for the mile with a time of 4:56.5. She credits the impact of Rego, who easily won the 3K with a PB of 10:17.9, as a big reason for her success this season.

 “It’s been going really well,” said Wilbur, who ranks No. 1 in the state in the 1,500 (4:39.2) and is third on the list in the 800. “I feel with my training partner, Eliza, it has helped me out a lot this season. I think it definitely has made an impact on our performances. We always push each other to be the best that we can be. I think it helps us overall.”

Wilbur never relinquished the lead in the 1,500, hitting consistent splits of 75 seconds at the 400 and 2:30 at the half. Trailing by a few strides for most of the race, Berkson tried to make a move with less than 200 remaining, but the Ram runner denied her effort by shifting into another gear the final stretch.

“It was okay. It wasn’t best, but we really have had some hard training this week,” Wilbur stated. “We went out kind of slow. I think I had a pretty good kick at the end. It was okay.”

With a cast on her left arm that was broken during a mishap on the soccer field two weeks earlier, Rego looked smooth and relaxed in winning the 3,000 with a 12-second best. She defeated last year’s state champion Aisha McAdams of North Kingstown, who was second overall at 10:33.8. La Salle junior Caroline Falvey placed third with a time of 10:43.2. The Rams also secured fourth and fifth with junior Rachel Renzi (10:52.2) and freshman Elise Papazian (10:54.9), taking those spots, respectively.

“I felt good,” Rego said. “When I hit one mile I hit a little wall but I got through it.”

La Salle had a 1-2 finish in the 400 with Joyal breaking the tape at 59.7 and junior Veronica Hardy second at 1:00.2. The Rams also won the 4x800 with senior Tiana Kibbe, Renzi, Papazian and Falvey combining for a time of 9:38.3.

Classical, one of the leading contenders to break the favored Rams’ three-year reign as state titlists at the June 1 championship meet, notched seven victories for the day. Senior Oluwadara Falaye was a double-winner, capturing both sprints. She was timed in 12.7 for the 100 and 25.8 for the 200.  She also lent her foot-speed as the leadoff for the Purple’s first-place 4x400 relay (4:05.1) of junior Alicia Holloway, junior Chelsea Fevry and Berkson.

Falaye nearly missed the start of the 100 due to some confusion with the results of the semifinal heats. Despite winning her heat, she was not on the list for the finals.

“I wasn’t going to argue; maybe I just didn’t see it,” she said. “I went and sat down (in the stands) and saw them about to start the race and they were like wait, wait, wait! My coach told me to go down to the start. It was crazy.”

Falaye, who often runs multiple events, was unfazed by the limited warm-up time. She won the dash convincingly. La Salle senior India Lamboy took second at 13.0.

 “I was like I just hope I don’t come in last,” she quipped. “That’s kind of how my whole career has been. Running from one event to another I kind of learned how to compose myself and get ready for a race on short notice.”

Classical senior Marthaline Cooper improved on her PB by almost seven feet in the hammer with a winning toss of 168 feet, 4 inches, the No. 1 distance in the state. Sophomore teammate Alva Hicks was second at 151-07. Hicks earned gold in the discus at 115-07.

“My release was just really good,” said Cooper, who achieved her best effort on her second attempt. “I just sped up my spins and everything just eventually fell into place.”

Cooper had a little added motivation this week when she noticed she no longer occupied the top spot in her specialty.

“I have been practicing really hard and had looked at the national list and saw that I had moved down and my competition, (Narragansett’s) Leia Mistowski, was ahead of me so that bothered me so I decided to change it,” she said. “Everything kind of fell into place today. I knew (my winning toss) was a good throw, but I didn’t know how good it was until I finished and I saw it flying out there. I was really happy about it. I came in here determined to PR.”

Cooper’s steady progression to elite status has surprised her somewhat.

“Last year it was a struggle to get to 140-145 (feet),” she said. “I think it is more practice. I am more understanding of the sport itself. I have more speed.”

The Purple also had a wins from junior Bianca Donadio in the pole vault and Holloway in the 300 hurdles. Donadio set a meet record of 10-0 to take the pole vault and Holloway broke the tape in the 300 hurdles with a 47.1 clocking.

In the 100 hurdles, North Kingstown senior Maria Bolibruch established a new meet mark by edging Cumberland’s Breigh Souliere with a PB of 14.5. Souliere also went under the 2008 record of 15.1 by former Classical star Didi Jusme with a second-place time of 14.7.

Bolibruch won the last two indoor state titles in the 55 hurdles with Souliere twice a runner-up.

“She is such a good opponent,” said Bolibruch, about the Cumberland runner. “She is always there with me. I feel great when I run with her. She pushes me faster. We both push each other faster.”

Bolibruch has steadily improved on her times this season and is looking to capture her first individual title on the outdoor surface.

“I have been like ‘PR-ing’ every week and today I did it three times,” said the NK hurdler. “I don’t know. It’s been great so far. I just hope it continues until the states. I want to perform really well in the states.”

Barrington junior Abby Livingston broke the meet record in the 800 by nearly two seconds with a time of 2:13.3. Wilbur was second at 2:15.6 and Berkson placed third with a time of 2:17.7.

Woonsocket senior Kaylnn Pitts took the high jump with a leap of 5-1. Pilgrim went home with two individual champions with freshman Kayda Phillip copping the long jump (15-11.25) and sophomore Melanie Brunelle winning the triple jump (34-03.5). North Kingstown sophomore Paige Olausen was first in the javelin with a throw of 111-07.

Cranston West was victorious in the 4x100 relay with the foursome of senior Tatiana Abrantes, sophomore Eleni Grammas, sophomore Nicole Grammas and sophomore Oceana Williams combining for a time of 50.3. La Salle was second at 50.7.

 

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