For just the second time in history and the first time in 32 years, public institutions swept the respective boys' and girls' indoor track and field titles after Barrington and West Warwick High Schools each finished first at the 2024 Rhode Island Interscholastic League State Championship Meet held Saturday, Feb. 17, at the Providence Career and Tech Academy Fieldhouse.

Both were also actually first time team titleists as well with the Eagles convincingly taking the boys' crown with a 97.5 points and the Wizards took the girls' trophy with 61. The only other time public schools swept the indoor championships took place in 1992 when Hope (Providence) won both genders.

As for the locals, East Providence placed in two events to earn 10 points in the girls' ranks, finishing 22nd alone. St. Mary Academy-Bay View shared last with Scituate, each scoring two apiece. Reigning champ-Classical was the runner-up to West Warwick on the girls' side with 55.5 points. LaSalle was third with 42.

LaSalle was a distant second to Barrington on the boys' half with 64.5 points. Reigning champ Hendricken finished third with 57. Thirty-one teams scored at least a point, of which EPHS was not one.

More girls' notes
Six of East Providence's points in the girls' meet came from the quartet of Nazarae Phillip, Kandace Daniel, Kendra Daniel and Samantha Clarke, who combined to clock a time of 1 minute, 49.45 seconds to place third in the 4x200 meter relay. Classical won the event in 1:46.09 with LaSalle second in 1:47.54.

Defending champion Lisa Raye led West Warwick to the team title by winning a pair of individual events, including the 55 meter dash in a new state, meet and facility record time of 6.89 seconds. The sophomore previously set the meet and PCTA record after running a 7.1 to win the state title a year ago as a freshman.

Her sister, Xenia, a junior, was second Saturday in 7.11. Ailani Sutherland of Cranston West was third in 7.26, Mt. Hope's Thea Jackson fourth in 7.32 and the Townies' Phillip fifith in 7.33, good to account for EP's other points in the meet.

Of note as well, Lisa Ray set a new meet record in winning the 55 meter hurdles in 8.25 seconds. The previous mark of 8.36 was set by Didi Jusme of Classical back in 2008. The Raye sisters also went 1-2 Saturday in the 300 dash, Lisa winning in 39.59 and Xenia second in 39.66. Both times were better than Lisa's victorious time of 41.15 last winter.

Also among the girls' results, Jackie Mattos scored both of Bay View's points with eighth-place finishes. The sophomore clocked a 10:39.83 in the 3,000 and a 5:05.91 in the 1,500. Chariho's Erin vonHousen won the former in 10:07.70 while Rory Sullivan of St. Raphael won the latter in 4:39.31.

Boys' notes
Although East Providence did not score in the boys' meet, the Townies did come extremely close in one event as Cameron Evora was edged out of the pointing places in the high jump based on tiebreaker scenarios.

The senior was one of seven athletes whose top height was six feet, but Portsmouth's Aidan Chen did so on his first attempt while Toll Gate's Kevin Barker, LaSalle's Antonio Bearden, North Kingstown's Cole Shotwell and Barrington's Chucky Porter each cleared on either their second or attempts.

Chen received four points for finishing sixth with the others splitting points based off of how many attempts they needed to cover the previous height, 5'10." Evora missed on an attempt at the height, leaving him outside of the tiebreaker scenario to receive points at six.

In addition, EPHS teammates Dylan Slavick and Kenaz Ochogwu both covered 5'10," but couldn't get over the bar at six, likewise, each finishing in a share of 12th place.

The top eight finishers in each event earn points towards their team totals (10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1).

Boys' JV states
The EPHS boys contested their Junior Varsity state meet on Valentine's Day at the PCTA where Nolan Travassos won the 55 meter hurdles in a time of 8.86. Travassos bettered his qualifying time of 9.02, which was second in the qualifying heats, to earn 10 points for the team.

The Townies raced to third in the 4x2 relay as Julius Cortes, Jaidin Ivy, Jietan Ruiz and Jack Pawlik clocked a 1:39.66, bested by LaSalle's winning time of 1:36.94 and Hendricken's runner-up result of 1:37.11.

Ivy added a solo fourth in the 300 dash, running 38.91. North Kingstown's Mason Taylor won the race in 37.21. Pawlik, likewise, chipped in with an individual result after placing seventh in the long jump at 19'1.75." Portsmouth's Will Kitzmiller won the event at 20'2.75."

The foursome of Will Anthony, Gerry Gagnon, Luke Grimley and William Massey accounted for the other EPHS points with their sixth place finish (9:21.95) in the 4x8 relay. Barrington won the event in 8:46.41.

Hendricken won the team title with 84 points. Barrington was second with 62, LaSalle third with 60, Portsmouth fourth with 51 and the Townies fifth with 26.