PROVIDENCE — Trystan Casey’s victory in the long jump highlighted the performances of East Providence High School athletes in the 2015 Rhode Island State Indoor Track and Field Championship Meet held Saturday, Feb. 21, at the Providence Career and Tech Academy Field House.
Casey, a senior, cleared 21 feet, 4.5 inches to finish slightly ahead of teammate Paulo Pereira and the rest of the competitors in the boys’ long jump competition. Pereira, a junior, was the runner-up with his distance of 21’3.75.” The Townies collected 19 points total in the event, 10 for Casey’s first place finish, eight from Pereira in second place and one from Alejandro Duarte, who finished sixth with his distance of 20’5.5.”
The points in the long jump accounted for more than half of East Providence’s team total of 35, which placed the Townies sixth in the overall standings. LaSalle, led by the two individual victories of city native Jack Salisbury, won the boys’ state title with 104 points.
A junior, Salisbury clocked a winning time of 2 minutes, 39.27 seconds in the 1,000 meters then added a victory in the 1,500 with his time of 4:05.35. He also ran a leg of the Rams’ winning 4×800 relay (8:11.14).
Barrington was the boys’ team runner-up with 58 points. Hendricken was third with 48 followed by Cumberland in fourth with 40 and Central in fifth just ahead of East Providence with 36.
Junior Charles Hazard had the best of the other individual track finishes for the Townies, running fourth in the 55 meter hurdles with a time of 8.12 seconds. Classical’s Nathan Narcisse set a new state meet record with his winning time of 7.54.
Sophomore David Ogunronbi matched Hazard’s effort in the field, finishing fourth in the high jump with his best height of 5’10.” Ben Murphy, a Hendricken senior, won the high jump at 6’4.”
Pereira was fifth in the hurdles with his time of 8.15. Senior Mike Monagle added another solo fifth for the locals, running a time of 1:27.58 in the 600. Barrington’s Mars Bishop won the event in 1:24.13.
The remaining E.P. points came from two of its relay teams. Jayden Chase, Pereira, Chris Santos and Duarte ran sixth (1:36.42) in the 4×200, won by Central in a time of 1:32.52.
In the 4×400, Santos, Monagle, Pereira and Duarte were fourth in a time of 3:38.91. North Kingstown won the race in 3:33.13.
LaSalle made it a sweep of team titles as the Rams won the girls’ championship with 103 points. Hope was a distant second with 58 and Classical was third with 56.
The East Providence girls did not score in the meet, qualifying just its 4×200 relay team. The quartet of Brianna Allienello, Jade Braxton, Tayla Carnevale and Jordan Fansworth ran 14th in 1:56.29.
Neighboring Bay View scored one point in the meet to place 20th as a team. Claire Hanlon, a sophomore, clocked a time of 10:54.23 to place sixth in the 3,000, won by LaSalle senior Sheridan Wilbur in 10:17.50.
— Photos by Tim Marshall
