Sadie Gagnon capped her debut season on the East Providence High School swim team in fine fashion by the leading the Townies at the 2024 Rhode Island Interscholastic League State Championship Meet held Saturday, March 2, at Brown University's Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center.

Gagnon, East Providence's superb freshman, had the top individual result for the locals. She was edged at the wall in the girls' 200 yard freestyle event, her runner-up swim the best for either EPHS outfit Saturday.

The Townies, unbeaten first-place finishers in the regular season and winners of the Division IV Championship Meet two weeks ago, finished 13th overall in the girls' portion at states with 62 points. The Barrington dynasty, under city native and local coaching legend John "Sandy" Gorham, continued as the Eagles won their 10th title in a row with 331.5 points. North Kingstown was a distant second with 231 and EP's neighboring Providence Country Day-St. Raphael Academy co-op third with 213.

The EPHS boys, second both in the D-IV regular season duals and championship meet, placed in a tie for 17th with Rogers, each team earning 30 points. Hendricken, three years removed from its most recent championship, won its record 34th state trophy with 296 points. NK was also second in the boys' competition with 241. Moses Brown was third with 220. Gorham's two-time reigning state champion Barrington side settled for fourth this winter with 198.5 points.

"Things went excellent for both teams. Both the girls and boys swimmers swam really well," said Bob Hassan, who completed his third year as the EPHS program coach. "It was exciting to see the boys finish in 17th place with only two boys qualified individually and with three relays. And it was even more exciting seeing the girls place 13th with three girls qualifying individually and three relays, but the outstanding swims of Sadie Gagnon really helped. That's for sure."

More girls' notes

Gagnon's day individually began with her slim second-place finish to senior Savannah Lombardi of the Lincoln School in the 200 free when she clocked in at 1 minute, 55.56 seconds to the winner's time of 1:55.06. It was still a high school personal and season best for Gagnon, who qualified for states in the event with a time of 1:59.

"It was an extremely close race," said Hassan. "Sadie had a better approach. We wanted her to go out fast, get ahead of the pack, and she did, but (Lombardi) just kept creeping up, creeping up until the very end."

Gagnon added a sixth-place solo effort in the 100 yard butterfly with a time of 1:01.52, just a shade off her personal and season best of 1:01.07. Vivien Wienert, a sophomore from Classical, won the state title in 59.49.

"For Sadie, being a freshman, she had a great day. She has a great high school career ahead of her," said Hassan. "She's a hard worker. She swims nearly year-round. She brought a great energy to our team, a great work-ethic, and she always does it with a smile on her face."

Gagnon's day, which included her first three swims in a matter of 40-odd minutes, started with the meet-opening 200 medley relay where the Townies placed 11th with a time of 2:04.97. The quartet of Gagnon, Ines Benadouda, Abigail Ellison and Maddie Luu bettered their previous top time of 2:07.72 and Gagnon's swim of 27.62 seconds in the breaststroke portion was a personal best.

Mid-meet, Benadouda, Luu, Ellison and Cassie Delude swam 11th in 1:56 flat in the 200 free relay, a program best in the event this season. It was actually the first time that foursome had competed together. In the other relay, the 400 free, Gagnon again swam a personal best leg of 54.43 as she, Delude, Luu and Benadouda swam a season best 4:05.27 to place 12th. Gagnon's previous 50 free best was 56 flat. Prior to Saturday, the group clocked a best of 4:14.

Ellison and Benadouda were the two other Townies to qualify for solo swims. Ellison finished 30th in the 50 free with a 28.09. Benadouda finished 20th in the 100 butterfly in a personal and season best 1:11.02. It was the third year in a row Benadouda, a senior, qualified for states individually. It would have been four, but her freshman season was ended prematurely with the onset of the COVID 19 pandemic in the late winter of 2020.

"Ines has been with me since she began swimming on the 8-and-u team at the East Providence Boys & Girls Club," said Hassan, who doubles as the youth team coach, the "Tidal Waves," for the city non-profit. "She's meant a lot to the program. I could use her in different events, wherever we needed a fill-in with her versatility I could put her in anything."

More boys' notes

Season and personal bests continued on the boys' side as senior Ryan Branch clocked a 24.35 in the 50 free anchor leg of the 200 medley relay. He, classmate Nick Capobianco as well as juniors Kevin Bettencourt and Gavin Hanley finished 13th in 2:05.95, also a season best for the group.

The same foursome closed the meet by swimming 12th in the 400 free relay in a time of 3:54.42. In the mid-meet 200 free relay, Bettencourt, Hanley, Jaden Bettencourt and Kaden Vaughn placed 17th in 2:02.14, again a season best.

Later, in the solo 50 free event, Branch settled for 19th in a time of 24.35. He also set season and personal bests with a time of 5:40.46 to place 18th in the 500 free. Hassan noted he qualified at 5:46.69 and started season swimming over 6 minutes in the event.

Like his fellow senior, Capobianco also clocked a personal best time swimming the medley, his coming with a 27.08 in the backstroke. Also like Branch, Capobianco competed solo in the same stroke, finishing 11th in the 100 back with a time of 59.45. He later placed 11th once again, this time in the 200 individual medley with a 2:13.87, another season best.

"Ryan and Nick were our co-captains, hard-working guys," Hassan said of his two seniors. "They were great examples for the younger kids. They were always on time, they worked hard and they helped out the newer swimmers on the team. They were just great teammates."

On why the Townies had such superb times last weekend, Hassan added, "It's the way the kids trained. They put in the time. There's also the excitement of being at states. And the pool is very good, too."

Of the EPHS program as a whole going forward, Hassan continued, "The girls' team is really headed up. We have about four or five incoming freshmen who will really help the team. I'm not so sure about the boys. It seems like a lot of schools around the start are struggling with low numbers, and we're no different. Hopefully we can recruit some kids from the middle school and say, hey, come join the swim team, see what we can do."

More PCD notes

The second-place result for the PCD/SRA girls' contingent was highlighted by four victories, including two solo triumphs by junior Maggie Holland, who won the 200 IM in 2:07.79 and repeated as the best girls' swimmer of the 100 breast in 1:05.65. A year ago, she won the event in in 1:08.73.

Holland was also a member of the meet-closing victory by 400 free relay team including Korryn Cartwright, Meghan Iannella and Kate Porter, who clocked a 3:41.47. NK was well off the pace in 3:46.16. Porter added the other solo victory for the Knights/Saints, clocking a 53.67 to win the 100 free.

Porter, Holland, Cartwright and Denise Castanos also began the meet with a close second-place finish (1:52.63) in the medley relay behind only Barrington (1:52.33).

On the boys' side, the best performance for PCD/SRA, which finished 19th with 25 points, came in the 200 medley relay as Martim Conceicao, Sam Woodsmall, Matt Cabral and Ryan Boline finished 11th in 2:00.68. The same quartet later clocked a 1:46.48 in the 200 free relay to place 12th.