Kipyego Earns All-American and No. 1 World Ranking

Despite the cancellation of the New Balance Interscholastic Indoor Track and Field competition, the National Scholastic Athletics Foundation (NASF) has awarded Saints junior Darius Kipyego All-American honors this year. In the absence of the track meet, honors were awarded to runners based on past performance and achievements.

In addition, DarIus is also ranked No. 1 in the world for U18 800-meter runners this season by the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF).

The two newest accolades for Darius follow a string of achievements over the past year. In addition to his summer appearance at the Pan-American U20 Championships in Costa Rica where he brought home a silver medal in the 800-meter, Darius received All-New England and First Team All-State recognition for both his cross-country season and indoor track season. He also set new state indoor track records in the 600-meter (1:19.65) and 800-meter (1:52.55).

RIIL managed to cap off the indoor track high school state championships in mid-February, where Darius took first there in the 600-meter with a time of 1:21.77, contributing to Saints’ 4th place finish overall. Weeks earlier, Saint Raphael Academy captured the Northern Division championships for the third straight year and the Class C championships for the first time since 1994. At Class C, Darius ran 1:22.99 in the 600-meter in his class--his time besting the first-place finishers in Classes A and B by well more than 2 seconds.

At the New England Championships at the end of February, he ran 1:19.78 in the 600-meter, just missing breaking the record time for that event.

Unbeknownst to Darius, it would be his last meet for a while.

With rigid restrictions on group gatherings in the state as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the spring season of high school sports is currently on hold. The Rhode Island Interscholastic League continues to plan for an abbreviated spring sports season. As of yesterday, the organization stated that it will officially begin the season on May 4 with practices, with the first games beginning on May 11 and the season concluding on June 27. However, if the governor extends school closures past May 1, it is likely that the spring high school sports season will be cancelled altogether.

We hold on to hope as well that all of our Saints spring sports teams will be able to compete.