Photo @RhodeAndTrack
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Yesterday the state of Rhode Island gathered at Conley Stadium for the 2023 Rhode Island Interscholastic League Outdoor Track and Field state meet. With 21 events to be contested on each side, the boy's battle would once again come down to La Salle Academy and Bishop Hendricken. The Hawks were the favorite heading into the meet, however, if you mentioned this to Coach Jim Doyle of Hendricken before the meet, he would respond with "Anything can happen at states." And I can confidently say that Coach Doyle was right. As the rain came and went throughout the day, the cold and wind remained. This forced athletes to adapt and adjust as they sought PRs, points, and to become the next Rhode Island state champion in their respective events.
The day kicked off with the 4x800 meter relay, an event most recently dominated by Saint of Saint Raphael's Academy. Coach Chris Magill put in his top guys to help secure the first win of the meet with his ace Devan Kipyego anchoring the easiest 1:59 you will ever see to take the win. This is one of three events that Kipyego contested which is a stark contrast from last year's quadruple crown hopes. After racing a few invitational miles trying to take a crack at sub 4 in the mile, Kipyego is taking a more strategic and team-oriented meet by running the 4x800 and 4x400. Moses Brown took runner-up while title hopefuls Bishop Hendricken and La Salle Academy finished 3rd and 4th respectively. Next, the 4x100 meter relay saw a major upset as Central High School took the win in the event running a 1.5 second season's best 42.89. La Salle took second and secured eight points while Hendricken settled for third place. I asked Coach Manning what he told his athletes after not coming away with the win and he said "They talked about a job they had to do as a group, we felt that we did not achieve our goal in the 4x100. We knew we had opportunities to make up for it later on." Coach Manning was right, they did make it up for it later.
Meanwhile, the 1500 saw Nick Martin of East Greenwich take his first victory of the day in the 1500 with a 3:58.47. He dragged out the field with a 45.13 opening 300 and only expanded his lead as everyone strung out. Jesse Principe of West Warwick came home for second while Cole McCue of Cumberland took bronze.
In one of the more contentious battles of the meet, Ethan Knight of Barrington faced off against Aidan Bienvenue of North Smithfield. Knight led wire to wire to take the wind in 15.02 over Bienvenue. Bienvenue grabbed his leg as he finished, and I would later find out after the 300-meter hurdles he had tweaked it in practice the Wednesday leading up to the meet. His meet prep saw him take Thursday off and practice lightly Friday to not strain it, but as he stated, "In the heats I felt it flare up." Brady Fisher of La Salle finished 5th to pick up more points for the Rams. In the 100-meter dash, Jared Gibbons of La Salle took home another sprint title in 11.21. The Hawks occupied 5th and 8th as La Salle's lead continued to grow.
Next, the 400 meters kicked off, and was one of my favorite races of the day, although it was the only final I was not at the finish line for. Youton Doe of Tolman led the whole race with Jacob Coates of Bishop Hendricken in hot pursuit. The two were neck and neck past the second bend and onto the home straight. However, a fast-approaching Elias Sposato of Chariho came up and shifted to another gear as he flew by his competitors. He threw his hands in the air in jubilation as he secured the state title in 50.09. Doe, the state leader, came second while Coates took home six points for the Hawks. The Rams saw two of their athletes tie for 8th, and the tie-breaker was awarded to sophomore Joshua Aceto.
Elias Sposato winning the 400 meters (Picture Credit: Rhode and Track)
The 300-meter hurdles saw Fisher and Bienvenue once again face off, however, the weather took a turn for the worst. Sideways rain and a cold surge made conditions incredibly poor for an event where every step is counted. Unfortunately, casualties of the race occurred with two athletes being DQ'd. Both for pushing over a hurdle and one of them being Knight of Barrington. His step count was messed up due to the weather and was in front of the hurdle with the wrong foot on the ground. Not wanting to risk falling over and jumping over the hurdle with the leg he had never led with, he pushed over hurdle 10. His 40.16 did not count and Bienvenue, still wincing in pain from his hamstring, came across first to take the title in 40.94 while Fisher nearly upset him with a 40.96.
The 800 saw Devan Kipyego once again as he attempted to defend his title. He made it look easy with a 57 to 56 negative split to cruise to a 1:54.20. Thomas Speltz of Moses Brown finished second while Principe doubled back to take third. While the 800 saw a dominant win, the 3000 was anybody's race. With 600 to go six people were together. Hendricken chose to go all in on the 3000, and as Coach Doyle said he wanted them to "Work as a team and try to score as many points as we possibly could." This was executed to perfection as four of those six were Hawks. Jackson Borge of North Kingstown, an athlete I forgot to mention in the 3000 preview (my apologies), took a commanding lead with 600 to go and stretched out the field. He, however, was reeled in by Nick Martin who sought the double victory. He then gaped the field the final lap, but not before a fast-charging Brayton Gazerro of Hendricken passed Borge, and a faster-charging Jack Moretta of Hendricken passed both of them with a 1:02.77 split, the fastest on the day. The race ended with twenty-two points for Hendricken and just two for La Salle thanks to Marshall Vernon's 7th place finish.
The 200 saw more domination from Hendricken as Xavier Wilkens won and Nathan Rivers placed 8th while La Salle and Jared Gibbons's second place could not close the gap. By the 4x400, the point gap was too wide and as Hendricken charged down the final straight away with Barrington and Portsmouth side by side with them, the Hawks finished in style winning the final race in 3:31.08.
The Hawks may have edged out La Salle on the track 66-61, but in the field events, they found huge success. Hendricken saw Carson Dean win the pole vault of 12-0 on a windy day while Alexander Campbell of La Salle finished runner-up. Former baseball player Damon Buchanan of Hendricken won the javelin moving from fourth to first on one of the final throws of the day. This is his first year of track and came up big for the Hawks. Smithfield's Jeremy Knobel finished second after placing 7th in the long jump and 110-meter hurdles while La Salle's Ja'Kai Washington finished 7th in the javelin.
In the hammer, Christian Toro of Lincoln took the win over Ethan Wordell of North Kingstown 229-3 to 220-1. Toro threw a new personal best to win the event. Hendricken's Keith Daigneau finished third to pick up another valuable six points for the Hawks. The long jump saw Ethan McCann-Carter of Saint Ray's win with his first jump of the day in 22-6.75. He set a standard no one could match as Salter Arms of Moses Brown took second and Brady Fisher of La Salle continued his great day with a third-place finish. Patrick Converse of Cumberland won the shot put by less than 2 inches 49-11.25 to Jason Hayes of Middletown's 49-9.50. The Hawks had three scores in third, seventh, and eighth with Alex Morin of Hendricken scoring six of the points. The triple jump saw Konny Ezeama of Smithfield win in 43-3.25 over David Rodriquez of Mount Pleasant. Hayes still left the meet with a win as he took home the discus title by over 17 feet. Toro added silver to his gold earlier in the meet and Hendricken scored another seven points with fourth and seventh. Demetrius Outland took the win in the high jump with 6-4 in less-than-ideal conditions. Aidan Chen of Portsmouth took second and McCann-Carter took third. Jacob Reyes of Hendricken added another five points to the team score with his fifth-place finish to make the final score 113 for the Hawks. They outscored the Ram 47 to 16 in the field making the difference in the team title.
Congrats to all those who competed and good luck to those who move on to New England's and nationals.