The East Providence High School girls' swim squad took home the first title of any kind in recent program history after the Townies won the Division IV Championship Meet Friday night, Feb. 16, at Roger Williams University.

EPHS, unbeaten winners of the 2023-24 dual meet regular season title as well at 6-0, tallied 358 points. Pilgrim was second with 318 and Blackstone Valley Prep third with 271.

On the other side of the ledger, the EPHS boys' team, second to BVP during duals, was also second to the regular season champs last weekend. BVP won the D-IV boys' crown with 446 points, the Townies were second with 299 and the Pilgrim-Toll Gate co-op was third with 206.

"The kids swam great," said EPHS girls' and boys' head coach Bob Hassan. "With the girls team, we knew that we were outnumbered and we'd have to win at least two of the relays and three of the individual events to have a shot at the title."

More girls' notes

The Townies adhered to that formula right from the start as Maddie Luu, Sadie Gagnon, Ines Benadouda and Cassie Delude won the meet-opening 200 yard medley relay in a time of 2 minutes, 9.45 seconds.

It continued to begin the solo events with Gagnon taking the 200 freestyle with a 1:59.56 while teammate Bethany Bernard was third at 2:33.28.

The victory was the first of the two solos for the fantastic frosh, Gagnon later adding a win in 100 butterfly (1:01.07). Delude (third) and Aalina Amoros (fourth) contributed important points to squad with their top placements in the event.

EP's early dominance continued in the 200 individual medley as Benadouda earned the 20 points for first place with her win in 2:41.44.

Like her younger mate, the senior later won the 500 free (6:45.81). Maggie Robinson was fourth and Jayla Dagraca (eighth)

Delude (third), Robinson (fifth) and Dagraca also provided the locals with ample points in the 50 free as did Luu (third) in the 100 version.

Bernard, Amoros, Dagraca and Robinson were the runners-up in the mid-meet 200 free relay. Back to individual events, Luu (third) and Bernard (fifth) scored in the 100 back as did Amoros (10th) in the 100 breaststroke.

East Providence closed out its team triumph in fine fashion as Benadouda, Delude, Luu and Gagnon won the 400 free relay in 4:16.72.

"(The girls knew they) would have to swim hard and move up in the standings to help the team in order to have a shot at the championship. They swam great and most of them achieved their best times of the season," Hassan added.

More boys' notes

The Blackstone Valley boys, as EPHS did in the girls' meet, set the tone from the opening event with a win in the 200 medley relay (1:49.02).

The Townies' quartet of Nick Capobianco, Gavin Hanley, Kevin Bettencourt and Ryan Branch were second in 2:02.5.

East Providence's Jaden Bettencourt, Slate Vandal, Kaden Vaughn and Hanley later swam third in the 200 free relay. Branch, Hanley, Capobianco and Kevin Bettencourt capped the meet with another runner-up result to BVP in the 400 free relay.

Individually, Branch won the 50 free in 24.24. Vandal earned points for the locals by finishing ninth.

Branch second in the 500 free while Capobianco added a pair of solo seconds, in the 200 IM and the 100 back.

Other scoring slots for the Townies included: Jaden Bettencourt was third in the 200 free; Kevin Bettencourt fourth in the 200 IM; Vaughn third in the 100 fly; Jaden Bettencourt and Hanley fourth and fifth in the 100 free; and Kevin Bettencourt and Vaughn were fourth and fifth in the 100 breast.

"The boys team also swam well," said Hassan. "They were outnumbered, but had many personal best times.

The coached continued on the meet overall, "The team had a lot of fun at the meet and each swimmer from both the girls and the boys team received at least one medal for an event that they were in."

Up next
Both EPHS sides will have relay teams and individuals competing next at the 2024 Rhode Island Interscholastic League State Championship Meets Saturday, March 2, at the Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center on the Brown University campus in Providence.

The boys' qualifiers are as follows: 200 IM - Nick Capobianco, 200 IM and 100 back; Ryan Branch, 50 free and 100 free.

The girls' qualifiers are as follows: Sadie Gagnon, 200 free and 100 fly; Abigail Ellison, 50 free; Ines Benadouda, 100 fly.