Back in mid February, Barrington High boys’ coach Bill Barrass watched as his Eagles manufactured a total team performance to win the school’s first indoor state track & field title.
While he admitted it was a great feeling watching his team celebrate the historic win, he also knew his Barrington crew wasn’t finished just yet. There was still some unfinished business before the school year came to a close.
There was still the outdoor season.
With an additional hurdle event and, more importantly, four more field events, he recalled what longtime throwing coach, the late Bob Gourley, often said at the beginning of the indoor campaign – “You know what so great about indoor track? It’s one day closer to outdoor.”
“This is real track & field,” Barrass admitted. “Indoor states, the championship was nice, but we were gunning for this one.”
While the path to the outdoor crown wasn’t an easy one with the likes of defending champion Bishop Hendricken and La Salle Academy standing in their way, the Eagles did their part in ensuring another banner would be hung in their gymnasium.
An expected dogfight took place on a hot Saturday afternoon at Conley Stadium. But much like it did during the indoor season, Barrington put forth its best effort against the state’s best, capturing its first outdoor title with a 120-108.5 decision over Hendricken. La Salle was third with 96 points.
“The guys, they did what they needed to do,” Barrass said. “It was outstanding, an outstanding day. In a lot of events, Hendricken and La Salle, they really put some pressure on us. But that’s fun. That’s what we’re here for…We knew it was going to be close. Going into the 4×4, we were ahead by six and a half points. It’s not a big margin. Anything can happen in the relays. The guys did their job. That’s what we were looking for.”
Barrington had a big day from Ethan Knight in the hurdle events where the Eagles scored 35 events. Knight earned titles in both races. He made it two straight crowns in the 110-meter high hurdles by holding off teammate Bobby Wind with a time of 14.31 seconds to Wind’s 14.55 effort. The Eagles senior added the 300m IH crown later in the meet, coming on strong the last 50m to edge defending champion Aidan Bienvenue of North Smithfield. Knight clocked a PR of 38.40, .77 ahead of Bienvenue.
The BHS standout also blazed a 49-second leg on his squad’s third-place 4x400m squad.
“He’s just a competitor,” said Barrass, about Knight. “If you give him a goal, and with the states out in front of him, he just performs. He’s really mentally in tune with what he needs to do.”
Barrington scored 18 points in the long jump with a 1-2 finish by the sophomore tandem of Patrick Trainor (22 feet, 3 inches) and Caleb Satisfield (21-11.5). Along with other key points, the Eagles also had top-3 placements from Brandon Piedade in the 1,500m (third, 3:57.44), Joe Adams in the discus (third, 152-0), Charley Potter in the javelin (third, 164-11), and their 4x200m (second, 42.38), and 4x800m (second, 8:00.11) squads.
“The competition was really tough over there,” Barrass said. “Everybody responded like they needed to.”
Chariho’s Elias Sposato continued his dominance in the 400m. Sposato finished off an unbeaten season against his RI rivals in the one-lapper by blazing to a PR of 47.85. He came back later to win the 200m in a new meet record and all-time best oi 21.44, leading seven others under the 22 seconds!
Sposato felt he benefitted in the 200m after his inspiring win in the 400m earlier in the meet.
“I had so much adrenaline coming off that 400, first time breaking 48 (seconds),” he said. “I was just pumping the whole time. I got a another quick warm-up in. I knew I could definitely take care of this race. I’m super stoked. I couldn’t be happier right now.”
In one of the more exciting races of the afternoon, Cumberland’s Will O’Shea captured the 1,500m with an all-time best of 3:56.69. O’Shea held the lead briefly in the early parts of the race and with about 150 meters remaining came on strong down the stretch to pass race-leader Marshall Vernon of La Salle Academy with just about 40m remaining. Vernon secured second in 3:57.08. Five in the field went under four minutes with Piedade, Cole Francis (fourth, 3:58.33) and Moses Brown’s Eli Ziegler (fifth, 3:59.66) also dipping under the mark.
O’Shea was in fourth place with a half a lap to go.
“It was mostly, how bad do you want it (at that point)?” he said. “If I want to win the state championship, I have to make a move now. I can’t just sit back and let it happen. It’s about that extra gear and thinking about the why – Why do I want to win this? Why do I run ever day? That kind of thing.”
Hendricken finished with four victories for the day with all of them coming away from the track. Senior Matt Giuliano won a competitive battle in the hammer throw with a toss of 217-9. Teammate Derrick Goff was second at 216-8. Finishing third was Exeter/West Greenwich’s Owen Spira with a distance of 213-0. The Hawks also had wins from Cooper Dean in the pole vault (14-6), Damon Buchanan in the javelin (166-2) and Marcus Sukkar in the discus (159-8. Dean’s effort was a best by a foot!
For the second straight year, Smithfield’s Konny Ezeama captured the triple jump. Ezeama put forth the best effort of his career with a leap of 44-9.75. Portsmouth’s Aidan Chen won a competitive high jump, winning the title on fewer misses with five in the field clearing his winning 6-4 effort.
Classical’s Thomas Breen finished off his most successful season donning the purple & white singlet. With a 1:53 leg, Breen anchored the Purple to a victory in the 4x800m relay with a national-qualifying time of 7:53.49. The Classical star came back and secured the 800m title where he was timed in a winning 1:54.85. Moses Brown’s Owen Buroker was second with a PR of 1:55.75. In all, nine runners broke two minutes.
Portsmouth’s Sean Gray was a gun-to-wire winner in the 3,000m where he was timed in a big-time PR of 8:33.13. By the midway point of the race, which he passed in 4:15, Gray already had a sizable lead on the chase pack. The Rams’ Vernon was second overall in 8:57.43.
“There was great competition here,” Gray said. “I knew I had to get out there and run fast and get away from the pack. I tried to separate myself. I felt really good going into this. I ran 1:59 (earlier) in the 4×8. I want to thank all my coaches, teammates, friends, competitors, everyone. It was amazing to be out here today.”
Withe the quartet of Amari Monteiro, Thaden Leomensah, Antonio Bearden and Garrett Giroux-Pezzullo, top-seed La Salle captured the 4x400m relay with a national-qualifying time of 3:19.34. Pezzullo, Bearden, Monteiro and Joshua Aceto improved their state best in the 4x100m with a winning time of 41.94.
Central’s Elijah Gardea once again proved he’s our state’s fastest runner. Three and a half months after winning the 55m dash at the indoor states, Gardea was at his best in the shortest race on the outdoor surface, too. He captured the 100m dash on Saturday in a PR of 10.70. Want to talk about redemption? The Knights’ senior did it after placing fourth at the Class A meet two weeks earlier.
Hendricken finished with three victories for the day
