“Around the Oval’’/State meet preview
By BOB LEDDY (TAFWA)
R.I. Track & Field Foundation
[divider]
The boys’ and girls’ teams of La Salle Academy enter the 2014-2015 State Indoor Track & Field Championship in the hopes of defending their team championships. Last year, the Rams were in front of Classical at the conclusion of both meets. At the end of the day, the La Salle boys scored an 81-69 victory over the Purple, while the girls’ State Meet resulted in a 93-88 win for the Rams. Indeed, the ‘14 girls’ championship wasn’t really decided until the results of the high jump event were posted. Leading up to that, it was La Salle over Classical by a one-point margin. The Purple that day received a 40-point performance by senior wunderkind Maddy Berkson. But a fourth-place finish by Ram junior Mary Ernster in the high jump iced the win for La Salle. (The Purple had no high jumpers in the top six.) But, as with every State Championship, challenges loom. It’s axiomatic that student/athletes train and peak for the season’s premiere event. An exhibition (non-scoring) pole vault event will again be held. Last year, Barrington’s Jon Cavanagh won this event at 12 feet (3.65).
The meet begins on Saturday (21 Feb.) at the PCTA track with field events at 11:30 a.m. Running events go off at 12 noon with the 4×800 relay. Boys’ events will precede the girls’. (See order of events below.)
Here’s a glimpse of some of today’s top scorers:
GIRLS: Rams, Classical, Cumberland, Hope, Toll Gate among teams to watch
Classical will tally throws points via senior Alva Hicks, who last year placed second in the 20-pound weight throw and the shot. Hicks – who has been ranked among the nation’s top 10 weight practitioners all season – copped this year’s Large School Class titles in the weight and shot put. Hicks won the Dartmouth Relays weight and shot titles last month, as well as double wins at December’s RITCA Championships, and the gold medal at the Millrose Games event. Hicks’ teammate, Lysah Russell, will also score.
The Wheeler School has its most impressive female track athlete since Konique Ballah competed in the mid-1990s in senior distance runner Lily Foulkes. At the Small Schools Class Championship here earlier this month, Foulkes mined triple gold: in the 600, 1000 and 1500 meters.
Pilgrim’s Melanie Brunelle is one to watch in the long jump; she’s this year’s Medium Schools Class champ in that event, as well as in the high jump. In the dashes, it’s Quashira “Q” Mc Intosh, the Hope High senior. Last year here, “Q” handily won both the 55-meter and 300- dashes. This season, she broke her own state records in those events. At the Armory track in New York last month, “Q” went 7.09 in the dash, and 38.89 for 300 meters. For Cranston West, look for shot putter Jenn Iozzi, and on the track Elini and Nicole Grammas, and Abby Turchetta. Cumberland’s Meaghan Scullin will seek to defend her state title in the long jump. Scullin went 17-6.75 (5.35 meters) to win the event last year. At the Large Schools Class Championship this month she was a triple winner, taking the long and high jumps and the 300. Also back is Narragansett’s Carly Timpson, who won the state high jump last year at 5-4 (1.62).
For La Salle, look for Eliza Rego in the distances. At last year’s State Meet, she placed second to Berkson in the 1000, 1500 and 3000-meter runs. This season, Rego came off a winning cross country campaign to help power the Rams’ distance corps. She won the Class meet 600 and 1500. At the Feb. 10 Headley ‘Last Chance’’ meet, Rego broke a 12 year-old state record in the 1500 meters. She clocked a winning time of 4:34.30, eliminating that of Westerly High’s Samantha Gawrych, whose 2003 mark was 4:34.78. Rego teammate Karina Tavares is this year’s Large Class 1000-meter champ (3:02.41).
The Titans have received yeoman’s work this season from Erika Pena, who captured the Medium Schools class meet 55 hurdles (8.81), and Courtney Jacobsen, a top practitioner with the 20-pound weight. Jacobsen went 50 feet (15.24) to win the Medium Class event. Freshman Randi Burr, of Westerly High, clocked 4:53.02 to win the Medium Schools 1500, then came back to win the 1000 meters (3:12.82). She went 3:11.35 to win the “Rhody’’ Invitational 1000 meters. Beth Nunnery, of North Kingstown, is another top distance runner to watch for, as is teammate Katarina Ho.
Smithfield easily won the Small Schools Class crown, and were abetted in that victory by Meagan Mc Donald’s win in the weight throw. Sentinel long jumper Stephanie Mattson will be on the long jump runway. She went 17-4 (5.28) to win Class meet gold. Darchell Judd, of Juanita Sanchez School, ran 7.49 to win the Small Class 55 meters, and placed third in the 300.
BOYS: It’s ‘Ram-tough’ and Kelly-strong
The La Salle distance guys have more than lived up to their reputations as top “long rangers’’. Matt Bouthillette, DJ Principe, Dan Paiva, Jack Salisbury and Jamie Placco have put up impressive numbers all season; be these performances done individually or in relay combinations. Salisbury enters today’s championship meet as defending champ in the 1000 and 1500 (2:36.32 and 4:-4.51 respectively). Bouthillette is last year’s 3000-meter champ (8:43.50).
In the weight throw circle, Adam Kelly, a Barrington senior, will ply his trade. At the Feb. 14 Millrose Games weight competition at the Armory in New York, Kelly again bettered his state and New England record with the 25-pound implement. Kelly got off a winning toss of 83 feet, 3.25 inches (25.38 meters). He has been consistently ranked No. 1 nationally, and he also puts the shot. Kelly’s teammates Bobby Colantonio and Mike Alvernaz will also be in the hunt. Look for Cumberland’s Andrew Walters and Moses Brown’s Owen Russell to score in both the weight and shot.
Ben Murphy, the rangy Hendricken senior, has been successful al season in the high jump sector. Murphy cleared 6-3 (1.90) to win the Class A title. The distance events will, as usual, be exciting. Besides the La Salle runners, look for Cumberland’s Sean Laverty and Abdullah Kaba; the Hawks’ Tom Grizzetti, Tom McMahon and Mike Kiernan. Classical’s Joe Murphy, Barrington’s Mars Bishop, the Skippers’ Ian Connors, Westerly’s Matt Walker, Chariho’s Mitch Carrier and Tommy Sommer, of East Greenwich, should all post good times.
East Providence will field a top long jumper in Trystan Casey. At the Class A meet, Casey went 21-7 (6.57) to claim the gold medal. Paulo Pereira and Alejandro Duarte are two more Townie scorers in that event. The dashes will feature Coventry’s Jose Santos, Central’s Demetrius O’Connor, Don Djero and Austin Wolo; La Salle’s Broderick Santilli, Classical’s Nathan Narcisse and Christian Pichardo; Yaqoob Iqbal and Scott Marquise, both of Rogers High.
ORDER OF EVENTS
Field: 11:30, G/B pole vault (exhibition, non-scoring); weight throw (B/G); High jump (B/G); Long jump (G/B); Shot (G/B).
Running: Noon, 4×800; 12:30, 4×200; 12:40; 3000; 1:10, 55 hurdles, dash trials; 1:40, 1500; 2:10, 55 hurdles, dash finals; 2:20, 600; 2:35, 300; 2:50, 1000; 3:05, 4×400.