With no in-state meets on the slate this weekend, a large contingent of athletes from the Ocean State will be traveling across the border for the 35th annual Yale Track Classic, held Friday and Saturday inside Coxe Cage. Subscribers of MileSplit Universal can watch the meet LIVE of FloTRack
Who are some of our top athletes that will be competing this weekend at Yale? We took a quick glance through the entry list and this is who we found.
- Central High, which currently ranks No. 5 in the country in the boys' 4x200-meter relay, had its speedy quartet entered in the championship division. The Knights will be looking to improve on their state-leading time of 1 minutes, 29.79 seconds, set at the Ocean Breeze Invitational a few weeks ago. Central is also entered in the 4x400m where it owns a season best of 3:30.27.
- The Knights' Donatien Djero, a double-winner (400m, 55m) at the East Coast Invitational this past weekend, will answer the gun in the 55m dash. In the 400m, Dametrius O'Connor, Anthony Vega and Austin Wolo, a sub 50-second guy, will try and place high.
- Laura Murphy of East Greenwich, who was a runner-up in the 400m at the East Coast meet with a PR of 58.47, is entered in her specialty. Avenger teammate Isabella Gentil, another 59-second quarter-miler, is also scheduled to compete.
- La Salle's Grace Connolly and Bay View's Claire Hanlon, a pair of cross-country all-staters, will toe the line in the 3,000m. The boys' race will feature several top RI runners, including Cumberland's Ben Drezek and Will Mardo, East Greenwich's Jackson Cronin and La Salle's Max DiMuccio, Joe dos Reis and Dom Compagna. Twenty-four athletes from Bishop Hendricken will also be in the 3K, which will have a multitude of races from the early morning to early afternoon on Saturday.
- La Salle and Portsmouth are two of the stronger teams in the Championship DMR.
- Barrington's Mars Bishop, North Kingstown's Jack Perrault and North Providence's Nathan Coogan, a gifted trio that have also broken two minutes for 800m, are among the field in that event. The girls' race will include Hope sisters Leinni and Lisbeth Valdez, and Portsmouth's Sofia White and Nikki Merrill, the state's top-ranked 600m runner.
- Westerly's Randi Burr and Barrington's Katie Zitzmann are our top competitors in the girls' mile. In his final mile race before next week's Junior Mile at the New Balance Grand Prix, North Kingstown's Sam Toolin will be looking to prosper and improve on his season best of 4:27.
- In the weight throw, two of the nation's best who make their home in our little state, will try and make a big impact in the weight throw. Woonsocket's Jared Briere is the top seed for boys and Ponaganset's GIanna Rao is No. 1 for girls.