Rhody snags three wins at New England meet

 

Jack Salisbury is used to taking control in a race. Rarely will you see the La Salle Academy sophomore in the middle of a pack, a good distance behind the leaders.

Late into Saturday’s mile run at the New England Championship, Salisbury wasn’t at his customary position. He sat back in seventh place with a little more than two laps remaining.

But the Ram runner, an individual champion in both the 1,500 and the 1,000 at the recent state meet, didn’t panic. Instead he stayed relaxed and had confidence he could still get it done.

“I tried to go out (fast) but I kind of got cut off. I dropped off again going on the first lap,” he said. “I knew it was a slow pace so I tried to pick it up and then I realized that I could just stay back a little and trust my kick.”

With two laps left, Salisbury’s finishing speed earned him a New England title as he blazed to a 60-second final 400 to take the crown with a personal-best time of 4 minutes, 17.50 seconds. Farmington (CT) senior Matt Chisholm was second at 4:18.17.

“With one lap to go (Chisholm) and I were battling it out,” he said. “I just trusted my kick. I don’t want to sound cocky, but I knew I was going to win.”

East Greenwich senior Garrett Scanlon played the role of pace-setter in the race, leading for the first 1,000 meters. Scanlon opened up with a 64 at the 400 mark and was 2:08 at the half.

Salisbury bided his time until unleashing his devastating kick the closing stages. Although they weren’t able to make it to the podium, a few Rhode Islanders fared well in the race. Finishing eighth overall was La Salle junior Dan Paiva at 4:21.30. Scanlon was ninth in 4:21.56 and North Kingstown Dallin Smith was 12^th overall with a 4:31.95 clocking.

In the girls’ mile, won by Wilbur Cross (CT) sophomore Danae Rivers in 4:55.15, La Salle sophomore Eliza Rego finished fifth with a more than two-second best of 4:58.69.

It was the Ram standout’s second race of the day. Earlier in the meet, she anchored the school’s second-place 4x800 relay squad that was timed in 9:19.76. Barrington won the event at 9:09.59.

“I was a little tired from that so I decided to stay relaxed for the first few laps and the last 600 or 400 try and go faster,” Rego said. “That’s what I did. I felt good at the last lap. I just ran as fast as I could.”

Rego and a few of her La Salle teammates will be making the trip to New York in a couple of weeks to participate in the New Balance National Indoor Championships. She’ll be competing on the distance medley and 4x800 relay teams.

“I’m excited,” she said. “I went last year so I’m excited to go back.”

Classical senior Maddy Berkson won her third straight title in the 1,000. She led from start to finish and posted a personal-best time and meet record of 2:49.29, the fourth fastest time in the country this winter.

Berkson, who is focused on winning a national title in the 800 in a few weeks, blazed through an opening 400 of 64 seconds. The fast, early pace took its toll in the late stages, but she still won by a considerable margin. Taking second was Rham (CT) senior Christine Bendzinski, who was timed in 2:53.77.

It was a little fast,” said Berkson, who hit the 800 mark in 2:14. “I was looking for 65, 66-seconds. It was probably too fast. I felt good then. I felt pretty good (with two laps left), but I tried to accelerate and it didn’t happen. The fourth lap I kind of slowed down a lot and went off pace. The fourth and fifth laps felt pretty slow. My legs were tight. I don’t know why.”

The Barrington foursome of seniors Abby Livingston, Megan Verner-Crist, Julianna Portelli and Mary Kate Coogan clocked the nation’s No. 4 time with their win. Livingston anchored the Eagles with a 2:10.4 leg!

“I really like this track,” said Livingston, who won the 600 at the state meet a few weeks ago. “It feels fast. It was a little weird being in first and running by myself, but it was a good race.”

In the 600, Zachery Emrich came just a few ticks short of defending his crown. St. John Prep (MA) junior Joe Luongo edged Emrich at the line with a time of 1:20.59. The N.K. senior was timed in a season best of 1:20.67, the eighth fastest time in the country. Moses Brown senior Amos Cariati had a PB by 1:22.24 to take fifth overall.

Emrich was the early-race leader. He hit his opening 200 at 25 seconds.

“The first 200 was a little too fast,” he said. “I wanted to be behind him the first two laps. It didn’t work out that way. The goal was to kind of just let him do the work and stuff like that, and then take it in the end. That didn’t work out, obviously. I think I was a little too excited coming into the race.”

Hendricken junior Lee Moses was second in the long jump with a distance of 22-6. The Hawks also had a runner-up placement from senior Alex Cerbo in the shot put with his heave of 51-10.75.

In a stacked field that included a nation No. 1 (9:00.29) from individual winner Christian Alvarado of Fairfield Prep (CT), Hendricken senior Colin Tierney was fifth overall in the two mile with a PB of 9:15.0. La Salle sophomore Matt Bouthilette was eighth at 9:18.0 and freshman teammate D.J. Principe clocked an outstanding 9:27.90, the fastest in the country by a ninth-grader by nearly 11 seconds!

Tierney opened up with a 4:36 at the mile.

“I just wanted to go in and try and stay relaxed,” he said. “I knew the competition would be great so I just want to get in there and stay relaxed and hopefully go for a fast time.  I wanted to go out in under 4:40 after the first mile and see what I could do the last mile. That’s when the time was really going to come in, the last 400, 800 meters.”

Tierney will next be on the track at the nationals where he’ll compete in the 5K and the 4x1 mile relay.

“Hopefully I can go sub 15 minutes (in the 5K),” he said. “I did 14:59 outdoors last year. Running indoors and sub 15 will set me up for a good time outdoors. It will be the same race plan as this, go out, find some fast kids to hang with and hope I can get dragged to a fast time.”

Hope junior Quashira McIntosh was third in the 300 with a time of 40.10. She also anchored the Blue Wave’s fourth-place 4x200 relay squad that was timed in 1:44.67.

 In the girls’ high jump, R.I. champion Carly Timpson of Narragansett tied for fourth with a height of 5-3.

 

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