New Balance has been a staple of high school seasons for the last decade. Here many Rhode Islanders have been crowned national champions and many more have received All-American honors. School, State, and New England records have been broken at this meet, and this year was no different. Rhode Island took home several national championships across the throws and track.
On Thursday Night, Cumberland and Bishop Hendricken toed the line in the Boys 4xmile. They would be in the same heat, and Cumberland would come out on top with a 17:57.77. This was a new school record. The quartet of Matthew Picchioni, Jeremiah Rocha, Will Olsen, and Henry Dennen placed 9th overall. Hendricken placed 11th in 18:02.71 with Jack Moretta, Wilson Jablonski, Will Olsen, and Evan McGregor making up the four legs.
On Friday morning, many athletes from Rhode Island came ready to compete at Franklin Field on the University of Pennsylvania's campus. The Boys Rising Stars 2 mile featured Troy Silvestri, Keegan Tierney, and Brandon Piedade. The two hawks, Silvestri and Tierney, finished 20th and 24th while Piedade placed 26th. The Girls Freshman 2 mile featured All-Stater Meave Casey who finished 13th overall. Keaney Bayha of Pilgrim took 18th overall.
Other Freshmen events that day included Marin Goodfriend of Portsmouth running the Girls 400mh and Jakob Reyes of Bishop Hendricken jumping 6-0.75 for 4th overall in the Freshmen high jump.
Cole McCue of Cumberland Runs in the Championship 4xmile at NBNO (PC: tdmcdonough)
Relays on Friday saw a lot of success too with the La Salle Boys' 1000 Swedish SMR placing 6th for All-American honors in 1:59.02. The quartet of Brady Fisher, Jared Gibbons, Chase Gouvin, and Jubril Bamgbala were the same four who won the State and New England titles in the 4x100. Rhode Island teams also sent many SMRs to compete in the championship sections on both the boys' and girls' sides. The Boys' side saw Portsmouth finish 5th overall in the Championship section, but 7th overall in 3:31.82, and just missed All-American by .21 seconds. La Salle's team would also race in the Championship section, but placed 12th overall in 3:33.27. On the Girls' side, La Salle finished 3rd overall in 4:07.94 thanks to a strong anchor leg from Caroline Cummings. Classical, racing under the Purple moniker, finished 6th also earning All American honors in 4:10.95. Bishop Hendricken found success in the 4x200 with a new school record of 1:30.07 and a 5th place finish in the Boys' Rising Stars 4x200. In the Girls' Rising Stars 4x200, Cranston West finished 22nd overall. Last, but not least, Saint Raphael's sent their DMR team out for the Championship event. They placed 9th with a 10:27.05 with Kipyego anchoring in 4:14.87.
In the field, Tarik Robinson O'Hagan of Woonsocket took 9th in the Boys' Championship Discus. This was the first of three events he contested with the Shot Put and Hammer Throw on Saturday and Sunday. In the Girls' Championship Discus, Kylee Bennett of Narragansett placed 26th overall. In the Rising Stars Pole Vault, state record holder Allyson Humphries of Classical took 18th overall. Jason Hayes of Middletown took 10th in the Boys' Rising Stars Shot Put. The Boys' Rising Stars Shot Put saw Ryan McPeak of Lincoln place 19th and Hayes of Middletown place 25th overall.
Cummings and Kaden Kluth of Portsmouth, the anchors of their SMR teams, ran in the Championship 800. Cummings placed 34th in the Girls' Championship 800 while Kluth placed 8th overall in 1:51.73.
To Open Saturday Morning, Kipyego set the track on fire in the 2k steeple. He sat back the first 1900 before charging down the home stretch to take the win in 5:48.15. This smashes the state record by 35 seconds. It also was #3 all-time in the event on Saturday morning but would end up being #4 all-time after Benjamin Balazs of Oregon ran 5:47.14. This is Kipyego's first national title and 3rd state record of the last few days after breaking the 1500 and mile record at Brooks PR.
In the sprints, Jared Gibbons of La Salle took 21st in the Boys' Rising Stars 100 while teammate Jubril Bamgbala took 5th in the Boys' Rising Stars 200, but DNF'd in the final. Freshman Xenia Raye of West Warwick took 15th overall in 12.75. Jacqueline Edoro of Classical took 17th overall in the Girls' Rising Stars 100mh.
In the relays, La Salle and Hendricken once again went head to head in the Boys' Championship 4x100 with La Salle placing 7th in 42.55 to qualify for the final, but they did not contest it. Hendricken placed 18th overall in 43.26. In the Girls' Championship 4x100, Cranston West placed 20th overall, and Classical placed 25th in the Girls' Rising Stars 4x100.
In the field, Rhode Island continued to dominate from top to bottom. In the Boys' Championship Hammer Throw, 18 of the 31-man field were from the Ocean State. Some throwers who qualified for the championship section at NBNO did not make the Rhode Island state meet. This included 5 of the top 7. Robinson-O'Hagan of the Villa Novans took the win in 241-1. He was followed by Barrington's Asher Robbins in 228-7. Also taking home All-American honors were Christian Toro of Lincoln and Andrew Harmon of North Kingstown. Robbins teammate Liam Cappoza finished 7th overall with a throw of 206-1 feet. To make All American, you needed to throw 211 feet or better! In the Boys' Rising Stars Hammer, Robbins and Cappoza's teammate and current sophomore Brett White won the Rising Stars throw with a 3rd throw of 176-9 for over a 10-foot PR. Fellow Rhode Islander McPeak of Lincoln took 4th in 160-5.
Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan of Woonsocket took home Two National Titles including the Hammer shown above (PC: tdmcdonough)
The Girls' Championship Hammer Throw saw Rhode Island also take the win thanks to senior Liangie Calderon of Coventry. After a successful senior campaign, she caps it off with a national championship. She won in 164-07 and was followed by Kylee Bennett in 3rd from Narragansett. A total of 11 out of the 20 girls in the field were from Rhode Island and continue to show the state's dominance in the event. In the Girls' Rising Stars Hammer Throw, Isabella Piette of Woonsocket placed runner-up with a throw of 142. Fellow Rhode Islanders Morgan Champi of Cumberland and Adelaide Carson of the Villa Novans in Woonsocket also placed within the top 6.
Other Rising Stars field events featuring Rhode Island athletes were the Girls' discus with Alyssa Yankee of Cumberland, Madison Peters of NK, and Juliana Bucci of Cranston West. Saint Raphael's junior Ethan McCann-Carter found himself third overall in the Boys' Rising Stars Long Jump with a third jump of 22-3.
On the final day of the competition, almost every single event featured an athlete from the Ocean State. Things began with McCann-Carter of SRA who placed 36th overall in the Boys' Rising Stars Triple Jump. On the girls' side, Edoro of Classical placed 14th overall in the Rising Stars Triple Jump.
The freshmen events were also very exciting with the future of Rhode Island looking bright in both the mile and 800. In the Boys' Freshmen Mile, Jack Moretta doubled back from Thursday's 4xmile to run to place 5th in 4:26.88, a new Bishop Hendricken freshman mile record. In the Girls' Freshmen Mile, Bayha and Casey doubled back from the 2 mile to place 27th and 28th respectively. The Boys' Freshmen 800 saw Grady McGinnis of La Salle finish 22nd overall.
In the Rising Stars 800, both the boys and girls of Rhode Island showed up. Grace Carr of Cumberland ran a new PR of 2:14.10 en route to a 6th place finish. On the Boys' side, Elijah Saddlemire of Smithfield and Pedro Mayol of Saint Raphael's placed 17th and 22nd respectively. In the Rising Stars 4x400, Classical sent a Boys' and Girls' team. The girls finished 7th overall in a new state-best 4:02.68. The boys took 37th overall.
In the Championship events, Rhode Island took home three All-American honors, and many more personal bests. Robinson-O'Hagan of the Villa Novans produced his 7th national championship with a 66-3.25 foot throw on his final attempt to steal the lead and win the competition. He avenged his loss at New England's to Newton North's Max Klein who settled for silver today. Robinson-O'Hagan will travel to throw the hammer at U18s in Eugene, along with fellow Rhode Islander Devan Kipyego. He will travel for the 3k steeple, but on Sunday he raced another mile field full of talent. There he took 4th place running 4:07.03. He led the chase pack who were 3 seconds behind Gary Martin of Pennsylvania but fell to fourth on the final lap. He was still able to take home All-American honors, his second of the weekend. Kluth also ran the mile where he placed 34th in a PR of 4:14.78. In the javelin, Rhode Island showed depth in the event similar to the hammer throw. State Champion Maxwell Cute of La Salle placed 3rd and finally surpassed the 200-foot mark with his throw of 200-9. North Smithfield's Adam Dubois also achieved a new PR of 193-1 but finished 7th overall. Parker Rush of La Salle and Hendricken's Cameron Chinn placed 21st and 24th overall.
Maxwell Cute of La Salle throws his Javelin to place 3rd at NBNO (PC: tdmcdonough)
Portsmouth's Morgan Casey also took 7th in the Girls' Championship High Jump in 5-8. Although she just missed All-American, she will return next year to challenge not only for All-American but for the state record set in 2012 of 5-10 by La Salle's Dakota Dailey-Harris. Fellow Patriot Colby Fahrney placed 23rd in the Long Jump, and East Greenwich's Rhylee Shunney took 32nd in the Girls' Championship mile with a new PR of 5:04.01.
Congratulations to All Athletes on a great season. Good luck to Devan Kipyego and Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan at U18s at Hayward Field next week!