The Rhode Island State Meet is tomorrow and with the heat sheets being released, it is time to look for the most competitive races and events of the day.
#5
The Girl's 300-meter hurdles will be a two-horse race as freshmen Lisa Raye of West Warwick will face Sierra Thompson of South Kingstown. Raye won this event during the Class B Championships in a 44.83 during a quadruple along with the 100-meter hurdles, 200 meters, and 100 meters. She PR'd in all events that day. However, in that race, Thompson placed second in 45.05 for second. Raye and Thompson have a 3+ second gap on third place. If Raye is feeling good, she could challenge the state record of 43.91 set by Molly Reilly of South Kingstown at the RIIL State Meet in 2010.
#4
The Girl's 800 meters will be won by Sophia Gorriaran of Moses Brown. Making this claim is not a stretch as her PR of 2:00.65 is nearly 16 seconds faster than Erin VonHousen of Chariho's RI#2 2:16.91. Although Gorriaran's season best is 2:18.37 from the Class C Championships; her 1500 beforehand will not affect her ability to double back successfully. The seeds behind Gorriaran make this race one to watch. With VonHousen scratching to run the 4x800 and 3000, the battle for second is between the Caroline's: Caroline Jankowich of Classical's 2:16.36 and Caroline Cummings of La Salle's 2:16.57. Both will not be fresh with Jankowich running the 1500 beforehand and Cummings running the 4x800 at the start of the meet. Last year's state champion Grace Carr cannot be ignored either. The Clipper ran 2:14.29 to win for a four-second PR last year, so a charge from behind could yield a second-place finish. Emmy Belvin, seeded at 2:18.87 like Carr, of Mount Saint Charles will be in the mix as well. The seeded section took 2:22.32 to get into, so expect the race to be fast and could bring many PRs to its competitors.
#3
The Girl's hammer throw is another one on one battle similar to the boy's side. This battle has Woonsocket's Adelaide Caron face Jillian Leahy of Lincoln High School. In the weight, Leahy won every meet except nationals where she finished second. However, this is the hammer throw, not the weight throw, and Caron owns the RI#1 mark and is US#4 while Leahy is RI#2 and US#5. However, Leahy's best mark came in a dual meet, not a major competition like Caron's. Leahy's best invitational mark is 164-04 from the Mount Pleasant Invitational, and at the same meet, Caron finished third with a mark of 157-10. Narragansett's Kylee Bennett PR'd to split the two with a throw of 160-5. Although this mark is only seven feet behind the front two, at this level seven feet is much further than seven feet PR-wise making it anyone's guess who wins this Saturday.
#2
The Girl's 100 meters will also feature freshmen Lisa Raye of West Warwick. She is the state's top seed with her 12.03 from the Class B Championship. Her toughest competition will come from last year's state champion, Ailani Sutherland of Cranston West. Raye has not lost a sprint event less than 300 meters since the Class Championships indoors when she placed 3rd in the 300. She is undefeated this year in the 100 and is the undisputed favorite. Both athletes, along with Raye's sister Xenia Raye, who finished runner-up in the 100 at states last year, will look to score big points for the wizards to counter Sutherland's points for the Falcons. Thea Jackson of Mount Hope's 12.17 as a freshman is also in the mix as the number three seed and will break up the scoring from the top two seeds and Xenia Raye seeded 4th with a 12.28 PR and Sutherland's teammate Praise Mayson of Cranston West seeded 5th with a 12.49 PR.
#1
The Girl's 4x400 meter relay is the final event of the meet, but it will also be the most exciting. The top five schools are separated by 6 seconds and the top 3 schools are separated by just 1.66 seconds. Moses Brown is the top seed with a 4:02.36 from the Class C Championships, and it was also a school record. Cranston West's 4:03.85 from the Mariner Invitational is the second seed while South Kingstown ran 4:04.02 to win the Mount Pleasant Invitational. Classical won Class A with their relay in 4:05.83 while La Salle Academy came in with 4:08.93 as the five seed and runner-up at the Mariner Invite. Big names feature on every team with Caroline Cummings on La Salle, Sierra Thompson on South Kingstown, Ailani Sutherland on Cranston West, and Sophia Gorriaran on Moses Brown. While I believe Moses Brown will win thanks to the advantage an athlete like Gorriaran brings to a relay, a come-from-behind victory to challenge state meet favorites to lift the team title Cranston West will make it the most exciting race of the day.
Good luck to all those competing at states!