Rhode Island high school track stars Xenia and Lisa Raye are preparing to run away with gold for the last time. All eyes will be on the sisters from West Warwick at the Rhode Island Interscholastic League Outdoor Track and Field State Championships on June 7 at Brown Stadium.
For three years, the Rayes have ruled the sprints. Since it is spring, let’s focus on outdoor track. In 2022, Xenia was a Providence Journal All-Stater. The Coaches Association named her second team in the 100 and 200 and the third team in the 400. Lisa, a class behind Xenia, arrived in 2023 and swept the 100 and 200; Xenia finished second. Xenia won the 400. Both were named to the Providence Journal and Coaches Association All-State teams. Last year, the sisters repeated as champions and All-State selections.
This indoor season, Lisa broke the U.S. girls’ national high school record while winning the 60-meter dash at the Millrose Games in New York City. Her time: 7.13 seconds. She also broke the state long jump record with a leap of 19 feet, 7.75 inches, eighth best in the nation, according to Ocean State Running. At the Class B meet, she won the 55 meters, 55 hurdles in state record time, long jump and 300 meters.
Next fall, the sisters will run for the University of Georgia. Xenia, a senior, committed last December. Lisa, a junior, said she would follow a year later, but in March she announced that she would graduate early and join Xenia in Athens.
About 50 miles north of Providence, Sophia Gorriaran has an idea of what Xenia and Lisa are experiencing as they approach the end of one phase of their careers and the beginning of another. A Harvard sophomore now, Gorriaran was the track phenom while running for Moses Brown. She was a Providence Journal All-State selection in the middle distance and distance events, and in 2022, even earned All-State recognition as a sprinter as well. She ran in the 2020 Olympic Trials and in 2023 was the USA Track and Field 800-meter champion.
Gorriaran has continued to excel for the Crimson. On May 11, she won the 800 at the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships in 2:02.17, a meet record. She is a three-time All-American in the 800 indoors and outdoors. This spring she has also run on Harvard’s 4×400 and Distance Medley Relay teams.
“She has a big ceiling,” associate head coach Alex Gibby told me last week. How big? Think perennial Ivy League, NCAA, USA Track and Field and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics big.
“Can she do all of these things? Absolutely,” Gibby said. “If she puts her head down and follows the process, the results will come.”
Gorriaran is acquainted with Xenia and Lisa Raye through the Providence Cobras track club. Her success at Moses Brown and at Harvard gives her the gravitas to offer tips to college-bound athletes like the Raye sisters on what to expect as they leave home.
“I would tell them to trust the process. Trust your coaches. Trust those around you. Trust your teammates even if things are not going well,” she said when we spoke after practice last week.
“Embrace the challenge. Trust your preparations. There are lots of ups and downs. Progress is not linear,” she added.
There’s more.
“Sleep right. Eat right. Get your work done on time. Practices are longer. Lift (weight training) is longer. You have to balance your work life and school life,” she said,“The first year is hard. People often run slower. Getting back to the times you ran in high school is an accomplishment. Don’t stress about it,” she said.
Gorriaran and 32 Crimson teammates are in Jacksonville, Fla,, this weekend for the NCAA Division I East Championships. The top 12 finishers in each event will compete in the national championships June 11-14 in Eugene, Oregon.
Gorriaran is confident. She has the eighth fastest time in the 800 meters — 2:01.88 — of the 54 women entered in the preliminaries. She finished seventh at the indoor championships. Teammate Victoria Bossong is in the field with a 1:59.48.
Gorriaran may also run a leg on the 4×400 relay team that is 12th in the east with a 3:30.
Halfway through her career, Gorriaran said the college experience “has exceeded my expectations for what I thought college track would be like. You have a team and teammates to support you. You have people to practice with. You have a specific schedule. The coaching staff is awesome. They are super flexible around your class schedule.”
She added, “School was definitely a little adjustment. You have to figure out what not to do and what to do. You have to look for things yourself. I feel comfortable now. I definitely got a hold on things.”
She has decided on a government major and a psychology minor.
Running was also an adjustment after Moses Brown.
“Freshman year I ran cross country in the fall. My first practice was like a slap in the face. Wow! These girls are incredibly strong! I was working hard and was at the back of the pack. I didn’t expect how hard people train at this level.”
She was sick for a month during the 2024 indoor season last year but rebounded and ran well outdoors. Last summer, she won a bronze medal at the U20 World Championships.
Gorriaran started running when she was 4 years old because her siblings were doing it, and “I didn’t want to be left behind.” When she was “super young,” as she put it, she decided she wanted to go to Harvard. Impressed by her results, Harvard started recruiting her after her sophomore year.
“She was a multiple U18 world record holder. Her credentials were terrific,” said Gibby, Harvard’s middle distance assistant. “Her dad [Brown football alum Steve Gorriaran] managed her through high school. Her family wanted a top-flight education and a top-flight athletics experience for her. She’s a warm, kind, engaging person. We thought she would be a good fit in our environment.”
Sophia Gorriaran is more than a good fit at Harvard.
“Soft skill intangibles, she nailed those and continues to nail them,” Gibby said. “She enjoys her teammates. She’s a great fit.”
