With the class and state championships less than a month away, the competition is starting to heat up.
That was evident based on what transpired at the Eastern and Southern division championships on Saturday, the first two of four divisionals held this weekend.
Barrington High, which captured the boys’ indoor team title, proved it’s ready to do the same on the outdoor surface. The host Eagles racked up an incredible 325 points at the Eastern Division Championships to easily winning the team plaque. Portsmouth was a distance second with 111 points. In the girls’ competition, the Lady Eagles also were victorious, defeating runner-up East Providence, 211.50-120.50.
For the boys, Barrington captured 11 events, including multiple wins from Ethan Knight and Brandon Piedade. Knight swept the hurdle events, taking the 110-meter high hurdles in a PR and state No. 2 of 14.27 seconds and the 300m IH in 39.69. In the 110m HH, Knight held off teammate and state-leader Bobby Wind, who was timed in 14.42. Wind clocked an all-time best of 14.22 at last weekend’s Classical Classic. Facing most of the hurdlers he’ll be matched up against at the State Meet in early June, Knight powered his way to the 300m IH crown, beating St. Ray’s Devan Taveres (40.09) by less than a half second. Portsmouth’s Landon Rodrigues (third, 40.26) and Wind (fourth, 40.34) also broke 41 seconds. In all, Barrington scored nearly 50 points in the hurdle events. Wind and Knight were also on the Eagles’ winning 4x100m squad (43.28). Knight was also part of the first-place 4x400m (3:33.33).
Piedade copped the1,500m, taking over the lead from front-runner Sean Gray of Portsmouth (third, 4:10.60) with a lap and a half to go en route to a solid 4:04.88. The Eagles’ Myles Napolitano was second at 4:06.34. in the 3K, Piedade led a 1-2-3-4-7 finish by Barrington with a time of 9:06.02.
Shea’s Tyrell O’Connell was the fastest of the day, winning the 100m and 200m. O’Connell, a third-place finisher in the 100m last year at the states, was timed in 11.10 in that event. He was the lone sprinter under 23 seconds in the 200m with a 22.91 clocking.
Other top performances included Rogers’ Kayden Thomas winning the shot (55-5.5) and the discus (150-4), the Eagles’ Will DiGiacomo coming out on top in the 400m (50.99), and Middletown’s Cam Miller leaping 6-4 to win a jump-off in the high jump. Barrington’s Shea Parrish and Chucky Potter V, who finished second and third, respectively, also cleared 6-4.
Mount Hope’s Thea Jackson was the star of the day on the girls’ side. The Huskies sophomore left the meet with three gold medals. Jackson captured the 100m (12.31), 200m (26.12) and the triple jump (34-10.25). She was also second in the long jump (16-11.5), coming a mere inch from making it four wins. Mount Hope teammate Lola Silva prevented that from happening with a distance of 17-0.5.
A day after finishing second at the BSR Elite Scholastic Mile, St. Raphael’s Rory Sullivan led a 1-2-3 finish by the Saints in the 800m with a time of 2:19.07. Sullivan also ran a leg on her team’s first-place 4x400m squad that was timed in 4:18.63.
Portsmouth’s Allie Kaull ran away with the 3K crown. She crossed the line in a state No. 4 of 10:21.43, nearly 40 seconds ahead of Mount Hope’s Jessica Deal (10:58.60). Earlier in the meet, Deal was winner in the 1,500m with a time of 5:01.76.
In the high jump, state-leader Katelin Cruikshank of Middletown leaped 5-3 to take the crown. Her best this season is 5-4 from last week’s victory at the Classical Classic.
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Just like the Eagles, one team took the hardware in the girls’ and boys’ competition at the Southern Division Championships at Coventry. North Kingstown secured the team championships with the Skippers beating Chariho, 150-115 for the girls’ title and defeating South Kingstown, 155-107, for the boys’ crown.
Not surprisingly, West Warwick’s Lisa and Xenia Raye had big days in the girls’ competition. Xenia won the 400m with a nearly two-second PR of 55.11. She was all second in the 200m (25.0) and the 100m (12.28) dashes. Lisa was a quadruple winner, capturing the 100m (11.87) , 200m (24.44), 100m HH (14.45) and 300m hurdles (43.89). In the 100m HH, the gifted sophomore was just one hundredth of a second from the state record of 14.44 by South Kingstown’s Molly Reilly in 2010.
NK freshman Abbie Tighe went sub-5 in the 1,500m, earning gold with a time of 4:56.34, Tighe was also second to Chariho’s Erin vonHousen in the 3,000m where she was timed in 10:32.56. VonHousen won with a 10:23.18 effort.
The high jump proved to be one of the more competitive events of the meet with three athletes clearing 5-3. Chariho teammates Sonja Beasley and Emily Brown went 1-2. South Kingstown’s Sierra Thompson was third. Thompson was also second in the 400m at 58.01.
Exeter/West Greenwich’s Nioni Olawuyi has solid victories in the long and triple jumps with respective leaps of 17-8.5 and 35.9.75.
In the boys’ meet, Chariho scored 65 points for fifth overall in the team standings. Elias Sposato was responsible for more than 30 of those points. The Charger senior captured three events with triumphs in the 100m (11.60), 200m (22.86) and the 400m (meet record, 49.40). He also ran a leg the team’s third-place 4x400m relay (3:44.83).
West Warwick’s William Correia dominated the jumps with victories in all three on Saturday. He cleared 6-0 in the high jump and had respective leaps of 42-6.25 and 20-3.5 in the triple and long jumps.
North Kingstown won the 4x800m relay (8:47.90) and had three of its athletes win their respective events to highlight its day. The Skippers’ Gavin Shipperley scored 18 points by taking the 3,000m (9;16.41) and placing second in the 1,500m (4:14.37). Ethan Evans took the pole vault (10-0) and Artur Porto was a winner in the shot (46-5).
In the hammer, Coventry’s Zack Del Sasso, who is ranked No. 4 in the country, had a big toss of 209-1 to take the event by nearly 11 feet over Exeter/West Greenwich’s Owen Spira (second, 198-2). Del Sasso current best is 210-6.
