Saints earn redemption with relay state title
PROVIDENCE — It was a redemption tour that produced a gold-medal result – a most satisfying conclusion for the 4x400 quartet of St. Raphael runners when harking back to the disappointment that muddied the conclusion of the Small Division Championship.
This time, there was no disqualification. When Darius Kipyego crossed the finish line Saturday at the R.I. Indoor Track & Field Championships, the Saints became known as the state’s top 4x400 relay squad. Joining Kipyego was younger brother/sophomore Devan Kipyego along with sophomore Pedro Mayol and junior Jack Pereira to produce a first-place time of 3:34.87.
The margin of victory wasn’t razor thin, though Classical’s second-place time of 3:35.09 helped to produce a thrilling finish that the elder Kipyego punctuated at the tail end when he stumbled and bloodied his knee.
“I gave everything I had,” said Kipyego, who will continue his running career at Iowa State University.
To understand Saturday’s school record-breaking result, one needs to understand the hole that SRA was forced to burrow through. There was frustration when the same relay team was forced to hand back the first-place points at the Feb. 13 Small Division meet, the result of entering a runner in the 4x400 race that had been scratched from an earlier individual event. The DQ resulted in St. Raphael placing second to Smithfield in the class championship.
Needing to perform well at the Feb. 19 Last Chance Qualifier in order to gain admittance to the state meet, SRA regrouped and earned fifth place (3:42.35). With one more river to cross, the Saints went out Saturday and delivered a performance that helped wipe away the disappointment of having a class title taken away.
Similar to the class meet, the boys’ 4x400 relay was the final event of Saturday’s state meet. Always the tactician, head coach Chris Magill made sure the aforementioned four runners were relatively fresh heading into their opportunity to author a winning outcome. Three of them competed in one event apiece prior to the 4x400.
“We put all our chips in,” said Magill. The win in the 4x400 enabled Kipyego to once again bask in the glow of a First Team All-State achievement. A two-time state champion in the 600-meter run, Kipyego’s quest for a three-peat fell short. He registered a season-best time of 1:22.56, through Juanita Sanchez senior Mahari Nayte proved to be a couple fractions better (1:22.14).
“He had to pick himself up after a tough defeat,” said Magill. “To bring it home and help three of his teammates to be First Team All-Staters … if you look up the definition of a team captain, you’ll see Darius’ name there.”
Added Kipyego, “It was disappointing. I was trying to make some history [in the 600], but like always, it’s all for the team.”
Going first, Mayol served as the tone setter coming out of the third lane before handing the baton off to Pereira.
“I wanted to hang on and keep it going,” said Pereira.
The onus fell on Devan Kipyego to give his brother a fighting chance for the stretch portion of the 4x400.
“I just tried to stay with the leaders,” said Devan Kipyego. “I hoped my brother would be able to finish it.”
That proved to be true as Darius Kipyego sealed the deal.
“After that first leg, I could see the momentum was shifting from person to person,” said Darius Kipyego. “Pedro did exactly what we needed him to do and Jack and Devan followed suit.”
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The first event of the day saw Cumberland High pick up points as the 4x800 relay of Will Henson, Brendan Johnson, Owen Molis, and Jorge Rocha kick it into high gear and earned second place with a time of 8:30.84.
“We were going to go with [Henson and Johnson] to start out and see if myself and Jorge could close as hard as we could,” said Molis, a senior who’ll continue his track career at Bryant University.
The Clippers achieved an additional second-place finish when junior Ethan Carpenter nabbed second from the unseeded heat of the 1,000-meter run. He recorded his best time of the season (2:37.39). In the 3,000-meter race, Cumberland junior Henry Dennen posted a sub-nine minute finish (8:59.87) to place fourth.