Narragansett's Marissa McPhillips leads the pack in the 800m en route to her victory.
A new school record in the 5,000-meter run, a PR performance in the mile and the state's best 800m so far this season were some of the highlights at Saturday's MileSplit RI Cumberland Distance Classic, held at Tucker Field.
Narragansett senior Marissa McPhillips, the defending 800m state titlist, captured her specialty with a fast time of 2 minutes, 15.5 seconds. That clocking tops the state list and was a mere 1.2 seconds from her winning effort at the outdoor championships. Finishing second in the race was Hope's Lisbeth Valdez, who crossed the line in a PB of 2:18.6.
The boys' 800m race was tightly contested with just two seconds separating the first six finishers. East Greenwich's Colin Cianciolo held off Cumberland's James Haupt for the win. He was timed in 2:03.5 to Haupt''s 2:03.8.
In the boys' mile run, a patient Will Mardo was more than eight seconds under his previous best, taking the gold with a time of 4:24.2. Mardo stayed in the lead pack until midway into the final lap when he forged to the front for the first and last time. North Providence's Nathan Coogan secured runner-up honors at 4:27.4.
Ponganaset's Alan Greenleaf established a school record in the rarely-run 5,000m, winning easily with a time of 16:11.8. East Greenwich's Dylan DePriest (aecond, 16:55.6) and North Providence's Andre Solomon Messier (third, 16:58.6) were also under 17 minutes.
