Who are the top runners coming back this year? Who will make the most impact this fall.
During the next few weeks, MileSplit RI will highlight the athletes (boys and girls) we feel to keep an eye on this season. Among the top 14 boys at last year's state meet, seven are gone to graduation. For the girls, just three have graduated. The competition will be stiff once again. Both of our returning state titlist, La Salle Academy junior D.J. Principe and Barrington senior Emma McMillan will back on the trails with McMillan aiming for a record, fourth consecutive individual crown.
Without further ado...
Sam Toolin
North Kingstown, freshman
Remember a certain freshman named D.J. Principe that burst onto the high school scene back in 2013 after an exceptional junior high campaign? Remember how the La Salle standout morphed into one of our state's best distance runners and currently is one of the finest nationally, too.
Guess what? North Kingstown's incoming freshman could be following a similar path. Toolin won his second straight junior high X-C crown last year as an eighth-grader for Wickford Middle School. His time of 9:59.5 for the 3K course was less than two seconds from Principe's record. This is just the beginning of why we feel this soon-to-be ninth-grader has potential to crack the top seven at the state level. At the USATF Junior Olympic Championships at the beginning of the month, Toolin won the national title with an eye-popping time of 4:12. That clocking commutes to a sub 4:30 for the mile for a 14-year-old! Toolin has also run 2:03 for 800m. He has the speed and the endurance to compete with the best this fall. You also have to consider that he will be pushed on a weekly basis, something that was not the case at the middle-school level where he often won races by large margins. His times should drop substantially in his first season of HS cross country. Can he match what Principe did as a ninth-grader when he placed fourth? It shouldn't come as a surprise if that does happen.