Recap of Class Championships

(Photos by RAPHAEL BIEBER)

It wasn't La Salle Academy that was the main concern for Bishop Hendricken at the class championships this past weekend.

The Rams, a strong favorite to win their second straight team title at the state meet on Feb. 21, were minus a half dozen of their key runners (and point-scorers), who were heading to Boston that night for the New Balance Grand Prix.

Before its Class A meet on Saturday, Hendricken coach Jim Doyle and his assistants, Dan Brennan and James Lourenco, were focusing on a team a little more north of La Salle.

"We knew that Cumberland was going to be the team to beat," Doyle said. "We knew it was going to be close."

He was right.

Hendricken managed just a single victory inside the Providence Career and Technical Academy field house, a win from high-jumper Ben Murphy. But its depth, including some crucial points in the 55-meter hurdles, enabled the Hawks to hold off a talented Clipper squad, 104.5-89.

"Hats off to Cumberland," Brennan said. "We really had to chase them down. They did a great job."

The Clippers managed five victories during the morning meet, which was combined with the girls' Large Schools Championship, won by La Salle. The other four class championships (boys and girls) followed at the PCTA facility.

Cumberland's Jared Talbert, the state's top hurdler, won the 55-meter event with a time of 7.76 seconds. The Clippers took both distance races with junior Sean Laverty cruising to the 3,000m title in 8:57.19 and senior Abdullah Kaba holding off La Salle's Jake Grundy to take the 1,500m with a personal best of 4:07.99. The Blue and White also had wins from Junior Andrew Walters in the shot put with a heave of 47 feet, 6.5 inches and its 4x800m squad that clocked a first-place time of 8:21.95.

The Hawks' lone win was Murphy's effort in the vertical jump where he cleared a season-best of 6-3. He narrowly missed 6-5 on his second attempt. According to Brennan, the difference-maker occurred in the hurdles. Hendricken was able to offset 10 points by Talbert with a 3-4-6 finish that included Caleb Wurster (8.19), Brendan Dillon (8.39) and Dan Medici (8.44).

"We had all four hurdlers in the finals," said Brennan, also making note of sophomore Ethan Famiano seventh-place finish (8.45). "I really want to give them some love because at that point in the meet we needed some help and they came up big."