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Barrington Boys Track wins state championship for the first time

Quebec June 2, 2024
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PROVIDENCE – Barrington was one of the founding members of the Interscholastic League nearly a century ago and is still finding ways to make history.

Boys track and field is the latest area in which the Eagles have excelled. A first-time indoor team title in the winter was followed by further glory on an ideal spring Saturday when Barrington won a three-way race for the top step of the podium.

Bishop Hendricken and La Salle offered plenty of fighting spirit, but the Eagles didn't give up at Conley Stadium, collecting three gold medals, nine more top-three finishes and 120 team points, leaving the Hawks (108.5) and Rams (96) far behind as the bright sunshine began to fade.

It's the first time Barrington has prevailed in an outdoor team event since joining the league in the early 1930s. The Eagles have long been a Class B power but haven't quite broken through on the biggest stage. In this meet, they left no doubt as Ethan Knight won both hurdles and Patrick Trainor added a win in the long jump.

More: The Raye sisters help West Warwick to the girls' track and field team title on a day when records fell

“I'm very proud,” said Barrington coach Bill Barrass. “We really are a complete team. We have people for all disciplines, and that's what you need.”

Barrington has the star it needs at the helm in Knight, a Bucknell freshman who has been the state's top hurdler for the past two years. He beat teammate Bobby Wind in a one-two in the 110-meter and used a late start to win the 300-meter relay by nearly a second. Knight was the anchor runner on the 4×400-meter relay and finished the meet as the Eagles secured the silver.

“We don't put too much emphasis on our dual meets and the competitions that follow,” Knight said. “When it comes to states, everyone is ready to go. It seems like everyone is setting (personal records) in their events.”

Trainor was also part of a team victory, taking second in the long jump, the only boy in the field to surpass 22 feet. He went 22-3 to out-jump Caleb Satisfield, 21-11½, while Barrington scored 18 points in that event alone. The Eagles picked up additional silver medals in the 4×100 and 4×800 relays, valuable contributions on the track that helped build a lead throughout the day.

“Hendricken and La Salle really gave us a hard time today,” said Barrass. “We expected that. I knew it was going to be a very close meeting.”

Bishop Hendricken built its overall standings in part by winning four individual gold medals in field events – Carson Dean in the pole vault, Marcus Sukkar in the discus, Matt Giuliano in the hammer and Damon Buchanan in the javelin. The Hawks trailed Barrington in all three relays and were without standout middle-distance runner Tommy Flanders. There was just too much of a gap to make up in the peripheral events.

“The pressure was definitely on,” Sukkar said.

La Salle took gold in two relays and scored points with its sprinters. Joshua Aceto, Garrett Giroux-Pezzullo, Antonio Bearden and Amari Monteiro combined to set a new meet record when they crossed the finish line first in the 4x100m. Monteiro, Thaden Leomensah, Bearden and Giroux-Pezzullo finished the afternoon with a win in the 4x400m, another meet record that beat the classic by more than five seconds.

Portsmouth finished fourth with 39 points and produced one of the most dominant individual performances of the day. Sean Gray went full throttle early and raced to victory in the 3,000 meters, clocking a time of 8:33.13, beating the field by more than 24 seconds. Aidan Chen added 10 team points with his win in the high jump, clearing 1.93m and making fewer misses than four of his competitors.

Central finished fifth, 31 points behind the fastest boy in the state. Elijah Gardea raced to victory in the 100 meters in 10.70 seconds, a time that drew football coach Mike Washington from the stands to the infield to celebrate. The Knights took bronze in the 4×100 meters.

Chariho senior Eli Sposato set the only individual meet record, and in an event he just added this spring. Sposato raced to victory in the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.44, well undercutting the 21.47 set by La Salle star Kadeem Kushimo in 2010. Sposato earned another gold medal in his specialty event by beating the field by more than a second in the 400-meter dash.

“Two of my best performances of my life,” said Sposato. “There couldn't be a better day for it.”

Classical's Thomas Breen (800m), Cumberland's Will O'Shea (1500m), Smithfield's Konny Ezeama (triple jump) and Pilgrim's Brandon Wolfenden (shot put) also took individual gold. Breen ran one leg of the Purple's 4×800 relay team that finished first and set a new meet record, along with fellow Sensers James Courtney, Michael Healey and Ben O'Sullivan.

Team ranking

1, Barrington, 120; 2, Bishop Hendricken, 108.5; 3, La Salle, 96; 4, Portsmouth, 39; 5, Central, 31; 6, Classical, 30; 7, Moses Brown, 27.5; 8, Chariho, 25; 9, Cumberland, 24; 10, Cranston West, 21; 11, Pilgrims, 19; 12, North Smithfield, 17; 13, Smithfield, 16; T14, Rogers, North Kingstown, Ponaganset, East Greenwich, 15; 18, Narragansett, 11; 19, Lincoln, 10; T20, South Kingstown, Toll Gate, Hope, West Warwick, Prout, Mount St. Charles, 8; T26, Middletown and Shea, 7; 28, Exeter-West Greenwich, 6; 29, East Providence, 5.5; T30, Westerly and Woonsocket, 5; 32, North Providence, 1; 33, Mount Pleasant, 0.5.

Individual placements

100 – 1, Elijah Gardea, Cent., 10.70; 2, Alonso Parker-Sharpe, CW, 10.76; 3, Joel Felix, BH, 10.92; 4, Tyrell O'Connell, Sh., 10.99; 5, Ryder Kinzler, MSC, 11.05; 6, Amari Monteiro, LS, 11.10; 7, Garrett Giroux-Pezzullo, LS, 11.18.

200 – 1, Eli Sposato, Char., 21.44 (meet record – Kadeem Kushimo, LS, 21.47, 2010); 2, Parker-Sharpe, CW, 21.51; 3, Giroux-Pezzullo, LS, 21.64; 4, Gardea, Cent., 21.81; 5, Joshua Aceto, LS, 21.96; 6, Monteiro, LS, 21.98; 7, O'Connell, Sh., 22.22; 8, Iain DeBoth, Barr., 22.37.

400 – 1, Sposato, Char., 47.85; 2, Jacob Coates, BH, 48.96; 3, Will DiGiacomo, Barr., 49.62; 4, Thaden Leomensah, LS, 49.91; 5, Tunmise Moloku, H, 50.50; 6, Eli Wood, Prout, 50.63; 7, Nick Lamoureux, NS, 50.66; 8, Alex Zenit, MB, 51.28.

800 – 1, Thomas Breen., Class., 1:54.85; 2, Owen Buroker, MB, 1:55.75; 3, Jeremy Roe, Ponag., 1:56.69; 4, Robbie Wade, West., 1:56.90; 5, Eli Ziegler, MB, 1:57.17; 6, Miki Ashenafi, NK, 1:57.89; 7, Bowen Healey, Narr., 1:58.00; 8, Brooks Mello, Barr., 1:58.62.

1500 – 1, Will O'Shea, Cumb., 3:56.69; 2, Marshall Vernon, LS, 3:57.08; 3, Brandon Piedade, Barr., 3:57.44; 4, Cole Francis, Narr., 3:58.33; 5, Ziegler, MB, 3:59.56; 6, Myles Napolitano, Barr., 4:03.69; 7, Colby Flynn, BH, 4:03.81; 8, Connor Magill, Cumb., 4:10.07.

3000 – 1, Sean Gray, Ports., 8:33.13; 2, Vernon, LS, 8:57.43; 3, Will Olsen, BH, 8:58.47; 4, Nolan Rogalski, Cumb., 9:01.75; 5, Ethan Fadden, MSC, 9:03.66; 6, BJ Kerachsky, BH, 9:04.27; 7, Flynn, BH, 9:05.51; 8, Francis, Narr., 9:10.64.

110m hurdles – 1, Ethan Knight, Barr., 14.31; 2, Bobby Wind, Barr., 14.55; 3, Jalen Moseley, LS, 15.36; 4, Landon Rodrigues, Ports., 15.54; 5, Tristan Jordan, BH, 15.70; 6, Jared Lesk, Barr., 15.81; 7, Jakari Medina, Rog., 15.81; 8, Ryan Martin, Barr., 15.88.

300 hurdles – 1, Knight, Barr., 38.40; 2, Aidan Bienvenue, NS, 39.17; 3, Rodrigues, Ports., 39.36; 4, Jack McEntee, Ponag., 40.13; 5, Antonio Bearden, LS, 40.14; 6, Wind, Barr., 40.42; 7, Jason Marcelino, NK, 41.28; 8, Grady Hazlett, Barr., 41.37.

High Jump – 1, Aidan Chen, Ports., 6-4; T2, Lamoureux, NS, and Cam Miller, Midd., 6-4; 4, Demetrius Outland, Cent., 6-4; 5, Caleb Satisfield, Barr., 6-4; T6, Chucky Potter V, Barr., and Shea Parrish, Barr., 6-2; 8, Kevin Barker, TG, 6-0.

Pole Vault – 1, Carson Dean, BH, 14-6; T2, Alexander Campbell, LS, and Alex Dwyer, Cumb., 12-6; 4, Judah Mullings, LS, 12-6; 5, Ryan Martin, Barr., 12-6; 6, Ethan Evans, NK, 11-6; T7, Gabe Lane, MB, and Nathan Lewis, BH, 11-0.

Long Jump – 1, Patrick Trainor, Barr., 22-3; 2, Satisfield, Barr., 21-11½; 3, Bearden, LS, 21-5; 4, Hunter Schobel, Pil., 21-4½; 5, Moseley, LS, 21-3; 6, Gabe Lane, MB, 21-¼; 7, Joshua Dabanka, Class., 21-0; 8, Gavin Claxton, MP, 20-5.

Triple Jump – 1, Konny Ezeama, Smith., 44-9¾; 2, William Correia, WW, 42-10; 3, Michael Shah, BH, 42-8¾; 4, Diego Rocchio, Prout, 42-8¾; 5, Schobel, Pil., 42-5¼; 6, Nathanel Tarlue, BH, 42-3; 7, Cameron Evora, EP, 42-2½; 8, Brayden Rodgers, NK, 41-11¾.

Discus – 1, Marcus Sukkar, BH, 159-8; 2, Ryan Evans, EG, 152-6; 3, Joe Adams, Barr., 152-0; 4, Mitchell Murtha, Linc., 143-11; 5, Tyler Durang, Linc., 140-6; 6, Ian Garcia, BH, 140-4; 7, Artur Porto, NK, 138-5; 8, Caden Thomas, Rog., 134-3.

Hammer – 1, Matt Giuliano, BH, 217-9; 2, Derek Goll, BH, 216-8; 3, Owen Spira, EWG, 213-0; 4, Shamrock Thoun, Woon., 208-7; 5, Owen Allen, Ponag., 205-4; 6, Owen Degnan, Narr., 205-0; 7, Adams, Barr., 204-3; 8, Durang, Linc., 202-8.

Javelin Throw – 1, Damon Buchanan, BH, 166-2; 2, Kai Sorlien, SK, 165-10; 3, Charly Potter VI, Barr., 164-11; 4, Domenic Corona, LS, 163-1; 5, Gideon Lane, MB, 160-6; ​​6, Javien David, EG, 157-8; 7, Neil Porter, Rog., 155-7; 8, Kelan Cornell, CW, 149-9.

Shot Put – 1, Brandon Wolfenden, Pil., 56-10½; 2, Thomas, Rog., 53-1½; 3, Ben Cicchitelli, Smith., 49-2¾; 4, Nas Berry, Cent., 49-1¼; 5, Porto, NK, 47-9½; 6, Arion Amoruso, BH, 44-11½; 7, Nicolas Kennedy, Rog., 44-10¼; 8, Jacob Braud, Ports., 44-10.

4×100 – 1, LS (Aceto, Giroux-Pezzullo, Bearden, Monteiro), 41.94 (Competition record – H, 42.20, 2007); 2, Barr., 42.38; 3, Cent., 42.39; 4, BH, 42.65; 5, H, 43.46; 6, CW, 43.53; 7, MB, 44.47; 8, NP, 44.56.

4×400 – 1, LS (Monteiro, Leomensah, Bearden, Giroux-Pezzullo), 3:19.34 (Competition record – Cent., 3:20.99, 2010); 2, Class., 3:24.87; 3, Barr., 3:25.11; 4, TG, 3:28.15; 5, Ports., 3:28.31; 6, EP, 3:29.00; 7, BH, 3:29.15; 8, CW, 3:29.49.

4×800 – 1, Class. (Breen, James Courtney, Michael Healey, Ben O'Sullivan), 7:53.49 (Competition record – West., 7:55.05, 2009); 2, Barr., 8:00.11; 3, BH, 8:19.26; 4, Char., 8:24.06; 5, EG, 8:25.38; 6, Ports., 8:33.57; 7, TG, 8:35.84; 8, Cumb., 8:35.90.

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