Fifty-four years is a long time.
Even longer when you’ve come so close before.
Since girls’ high school track & field was first introduced as a sport in the Rhode Island Interscholastic League in 1972, North Kingstown had never won an outdoor team championship. The heartache has been plentiful, including 2016, when 0.50 seconds in the meet-ending 4×400-meter relay proved to be the difference in Smithfield edging the Skippers, 62-60, for the title.
On Saturday at the RIIL Track & Field Championships, it all came to an end. All the near misses and all the titles that appeared to slip away when the odds were favorable are now things of the past.
Under a blazing sun at Brown Stadium, everything finally fell into place. In what was a true team effort, North Kingstown finally has some championship hardware it can proudly display in its trophy case.
The 54-year-old championship drought is over, courtesy of a convincing 108-80 victory over runner-up La Salle Academy. Barrington High was third with 61 points.
“It’s awesome,” Chabot said. “There is no other way to describe it. My kids have worked so hard all season. Every year, we go in trying to win, every year we’ve come so close. Finally we’ve got the title. That’s all we were trying to accomplish.”
The Skippers got off to a strong start, earning 10 points with their victory in the 4×800-meter relay (9 minutes, 18.32 seconds), the first event of the day. North Kingstown got additional event titles from senior Abby O’Neil in the 800m (2:14.11), junior Reagan Farrell in the 300m hurdles (45.84) and junior Tayla Schneider in both the hammer (180 feet, 6 inches) and the shot (39-6).
While the individual and relay victories were instrumental, it was the team’s depth across the lineup that ultimately separated the Skippers from a very talented La Salle squad. In 10 of the 19 events, NK earned one or more podium finishes.
In addition to her gold medal in the 300m hurdles, Farrell also placed sixth in the 100m hurdles (15.81), second in the triple jump (35-9.75) and fourth in the long jump (17-6.25).
Schneider added a sixth-place finish in the javelin (104-6), while sophomore Daniella Sisco was sixth in the high jump (5-0). Senior Julianna Williams contributed a third-place finish in the 100m hurdles (15.23).
North Kingstown also received points from junior Samantha Vance (third, pole vault), junior Sophie Tamboe (sixth, pole vault), junior Abbie Tighe (fifth, 3,000m), junior Lucy Stowe (seventh, 3,000m), sophomore Ellie Gagnon (eighth, 100m) and junior Lily Mbai (eighth, triple jump). The Skippers were also third in the 4x100m relay and sixth in the 4x400m.
“It was a total team effort,” Chabot said. “We had points in the throws, the jumps, the relays, sprinting, hurdling, all around. It was definitely a team effort.”
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Amber Shaw of Ponaganset continued her excellence in the pole vault with another state record. The Chieftain senior soared to a height of 12-9, breaking her previous record from the Class B Championship by six inches. Shaw nearly cleared 13 feet on her second attempt at the milestone.
“I am so excited. I am so happy,” she said. “I came into the meet with a goal of 12-6. I cleared that height on my first attempt. I got 12-9 on my second attempt. I am really happy.”
Moses Brown, which finished fourth overall with 58 points, had a big day from Skyler Maxwell. The Quaker senior established a new meet record and PR of 54.65 in the 400m. She also came out on top in the 200m, with another best of 24.77. She also ran anchor legs on her team’s winning 4x100m (47.99) and 4x400m (3:55.52) relays. Both squads also consisted of Amaya Felder, Rose Coutu, and Kendra Satine.
“I have been looking at this meet as it’s my last meet ever in Rhode Island. I just really wanted to leave it with no regrets and give it everything I had,” she said. “And also, I wanted to take it one race at a time, so in the 4×100, just focus on the 4×100, 400 just focus on the 400, leave anything I did in the past in the past. I jsut really want to finish my season well and have no regrets. I am really happy about it.”
Exeter-West Greenwich’s Nini Olawuyi was also a multiple winner. The Scarlet Knights senior captured the 100m hurdles (15.06) and triple jump (39-2). She was also third in the long jump (18-2) and fourth in the high jump (5-0) for a combined 31 points, a total that would have placed her seventh in the team scoring.
Indoor 1,500m champion Alyssa Parenteau of La Salle Academy made it a clean sweep of that event at Saturday’s meet. Parenteau never left the outcome in doubt, bolting to the front right from the start, building a sizable gap by the midway point and cruising across the line in 4:39.97.
Parenteau hit her opening 800m split around 2:26. She admitted the fast start was by design.
“That was definitely the strategy,” said Parenteau, who was also fourth in the 800m (2:17.76). “Me and my coaches realize I do so much better going out fast and setting the pace. It makes people work harder if someone does come with me. They really need to work for it and if they can’t hold it they’re going to end up falling off. That was the case because I know I am comfortable with that.”
St Raphael Academy, an eighth-place finisher with 29 points, had two of its athletes make the top of the podium. Sophomore Francesca Justin won a close race in the 100m dash, edging Hope’s Zariyah Brown by 0.03 seconds with state-leading 12.13. She was also fourth in the 200m at 25.43. In the 3,000m, junior Mackenzie Lickert held back early and took over a lead she would not relinquish by 1,200m en route to a an outdoor best of 10:22.70.
Other winners in the meet included Toll Gate’s Vanessa Jones in the discus (129-5), Pilgrim’s Lia Wasiewski in the javelin (135-6), South Kingstown’s Jasmine Thompson in the high jump (5-4), and Mount Hope’s Thea Jackson in the long jump (19-1).
