Adams, Knight pace Vikings to Class D victory
Double-winners Tyler Adams and Domonick Knight paced Rogers to the R.I. Interscholastic Boys Class D Outdoor Track & Field Championships, on Saturday on the Vikings’ own track.
Journal photo / Glenn Osmundson
Tyler Adams wins two
Adams, the defending state champion in the discus, duplicated his 2005 performance at the class meet, winning both that event, with a toss of 154 feet, 2 inches; and the shot put, with a heave of 53-5.
Knight, meanwhile, won the gold in both the 100-meter (11.6 seconds) and 200-meter (23.1) dash, in helping Rogers secure its ninth consecutive Class championship.
``Classical, East Greenwich and Mount St. Charles were all in the running for the Class D team title going into the meet,'' said Vikings coach Chris Richards. ``Fortunately, we were able to do well enough to hold them off.''
Click here to read more about the Vikings' win.
Adams also picked up six points for Rogers in the hammer, where he placed third (163-3) behind winner Patrick Onye of Classical (194-11) and teammate Dave Vierra(179-9).
Knight went home with a silver as well, as his leap of 42 feet, 6 ½ inches was good enough for second place in the triple jump behind John Burns of Mount St. Charles, who posted a winning jump of 44-1 ½.
``Tyler and Dom have been leading point scorers for us all season, with Domonick recently setting the school record in the 200m (22.3) at the Newport County Championships,'' Richards said.
Also helping Rogers amass 176 points was Brandon Walmsley, who won the long jump with a leap of 21 feet, 3 ½ inches and placed second in the high jump (6-2) and fourth in the triple jump (40-6).
In addition to combining with Alex Amaral, Matt Langley and Brandon Smith on the Vikings’ winning 4x100-meter relay team, Jon Bourne finished second to Classical’s Jeff Okolowitcz in the javelin with his toss of 161-1.
``Matt Langley set a personal best in the 300m hurdles by a full second and grabbed second place, with teammate Jerod Scherdt setting a personal best by a second and a half in the same event to grab fifth place, despite losing his shoe on the last hurdle,'' Richards added of his squad's performance.
``Cameron Daugherty registered the no. 1 height in the state with 3 feet, despite only being a sophomore in his first year of vaulting. Anthony Ruoti - No. 3 in R.I. in the the discus and No. 4 in the shot - is a very talented junior. Alex Amaral did very well in both relays. Jayro Catlin , a sophomore distance runner, had a very good day for us by scoring in both the 1,500 and the 3K. Brandon Smith did well in the relays and the long jump despite being sick.''
The victories by Okolowitcz and Onye, along with a win by Damian Tabis in the 800 (2:03.9) and a first by the Purple’s 4x800-meter relay, which included Tabis, Andrew Watkins, Keith Raymond and Dan Jimenez), provided some much needed points for Classical, which finished second with 117 _ just four points ahead of third-place East Greenwich.
The Avengers were buoyed by the performances of Cornelius McCaffrey and Mike Pezzullo, who won the 1,500 (4:18.6) and the 3,000 (9:36.5), respectively. McCaffrey also anchored East Greenwich’s winning 4x400-meter relay team, combining with Travis Brown, Andrew Glod and Evan Johnson.
While we're on the subject of Rogers, it's worth taking a look at the Vikings web site. They do a really nice job of chronicling the boys season. The site includes photos of the kids, meet summaries and results, rankings, records, links to other track sites and even news about former Rogers athletes. It really gives the athletes a sense of team history and their place in it.