At the Schools: Robinson-O'Hagan now a world champ

Tarik Robinson-O’Hagan wrapped up his high school career at Woonsocket as one of the best weight throwers Rhode Island has ever seen.

Now he’s one of the best in the world.

Last week, the University of Mississippi-bound Robinson-O’Hagan competed at the 2022 World Athletics U20 Track and Field Championships in Santiago de Cali, Colombia, and did more than just compete.

He won.

On Monday, Robinson-O’Hagan threw the shot put 64 feet, 5.75 inches to qualify for Tuesday’s finals on his first throw. That put him third in his group behind Germany’s Tizian Noah Lauria and Jamaica’s Kobe Lawrence.

More: Athleticism shines forth at RIIL track and field championships

On his fourth attempt in Tuesday’s finals, Robinson-O’Hagan set a personal best with a heave of 68 feet, 0.25 inches and became the world champion after Lauria's and Lawrence’s final two attempts fell short.

It was an impressive display, not only because of the distance but because of the consistency of his throws. Robinson-O’Hagan was the lone competitor to throw at least 20 meters (65 feet, 7.4 inches) on all his good attempts.

On Thursday, Robinson-O’Hagan competed in the hammer throw — as the field’s youngest participant — and threw 73.05 meters, which put him in eighth place. Greece’s Ioannis Korakidis won the event with a throw of 79.11 meters.

Robinson-O’Hagan has been on a torrid stretch the last five-plus months following the Rhode Island Interscholastic League Indoor State Championships meet, where he won the shot put but failed to register a qualified throw in the weight.

A week later, he went on to win both events at the New Englands, then dominated the state in the spring — including a record-breaking performance at the RIIL Outdoor Championships.

It seems that every event led to a personal best, which in turn led to some sort of record. It will be fun to see what Robinson-O’Hagan can do at the college level, where he’ll have more access to coaching, training facilities and nutrition than he’s ever had before.

Could the Olympics come sooner rather than later? With Robinson-O’Hagan’s ability and competitive nature, Paris 2024 might not be as far-fetched an idea as it was a few months ago.

A ‘Perfect’ announcement

Hendricken left-handed ace Alex Clemmey took a monumental leap this past spring and dominated hitters in the RIIL, finishing his junior season with an 8-0 record with 90 strikeouts in 38 innings pitched.

Clemmey is already committed to Vanderbilt and earned an invite to the USA Baseball 18U National Team training camp. He recently earned another big honor when he was named as one of the players to take part in the Perfect Game 2022 All-American Classic that will take place at Chase Field — home of the Arizona Diamondbacks — in Phoenix on Sunday, Aug. 28.

More: Bishop Hendricken left-handed pitcher Alex Clemmey looks ahead at a career that might include college and/or major-league baseball

Perfect Game runs baseball and softball showcases around the country. More than 1,600 players have taken part.

The game will be played with an East-vs.-West format with 61 players from 21 different states — led by 15 from California and 12 from Florida — taking part in a game that will air live on ESPNU.

Pair of aces

Dealing with Clemmey is tough enough for hitters in the RIIL, but it’s only going to get more difficult next spring.

Clemmey’s younger brother, Patrick, was a freshman at Hendricken this past spring and almost certainly will be a part of the Hawks’ varsity rotation in 2023.

The 6-foot-3-inch, 180-pound left-hander made some news of his own last week when he announced his verbal commitment to pitch for Vanderbilt.

While the brothers will pitch together next spring for Hendricken, there’s a chance they won’t have the same opportunity at Vanderbilt. Alex Clemmey is on the radar of MLB teams and has a strong chance to be drafted next spring; if he continues to progress the way he has the last two years, it seems unlikely that he’ll be at Vandy by the time Patrick arrives for the 2026 season.

Of course, there’s also a chance Patrick could follow the same path as his brother, but we’ll hold off talking about that until he really gets a chance to show his stuff in the RIIL next spring.

An array of stars

The 2020-21 Providence Journal Girls Basketball All-State first team might be the best collection of hoops talent since The Journal started picking teams.

Last week, the team made some news when Dani Ceseretti — who was a freshman at Barrington that season but is now playing prep hoops at Northfield Mount Hermon — posted about an offer from Villanova, which gives her at least a dozen Division I college hoops offers so far.

More: DYNAMIC DUO: Barrington's Dani Ceseretti and Matt Raffa have shined despite being only freshmen

Ceseretti, whose older sister, Grace, played at Barrington before transferring to NMH and will play this winter at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, received offers last summer from Providence College and URI before others got in the act. So far, she’s received offers from Harvard, UMass, Florida Atlantic, Lafayette, UMBC, Boston College, Monmouth, Army and Charleston.

She’s not the only member of that class with Division I hoops in her future.

Jami Hill, who was a star at South Kingstown before transferring to St. Andrew’s, has had three Division I offers so far. They’ve come from Merrimack, the University of North Florida and, on July 28, Fairleigh Dickinson got in as well. Hill, who was a junior on the 2020-21 All-State team, reclassed at St. Andrew’s and will graduate this spring.

Another member of the team, Mia Mancini, recently posted about her college hoops future. The former Wheeler star — also a junior on that All-State team before going the prep route — recently posted that she has committed to play at Brown University.

Amaya Dowdy, the St. Raphael star who was The Providence Journal Girls Basketball Player of the Year in 2020-21, is already playing Division I hoops at UMass-Lowell.

East Greenwich’s Alex Mega was also on the 2020-21 team and will be playing Division I sports, but it won’t be hoops. Mega is the state’s top field hockey player and has committed to play at Northeastern.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: At the Schools looks at several high school athletes' summer vacations