As they have throughout the winter, the trio of Thea Jackson, Lola Silva and Jessica Deal led the Mt. Hope High School girls to a ninth-place finish in the team standings at the 2025 Rhode Island Interscholastic League State Indoor Track and Field Championship Meet held Saturday, Feb. 15, at the Providence Career and Tech Academy Fieldhouse.

The Huskies earned 24 points during the competition, which was won by West Warwick and the Raye sisters with 67 points. Classical was second with 57 and Cumberland third with 51.

Jackson and Silva had the unenviable task of trying to usurp the superb talents of Lisa Raye, specifically, as well as Xenia Raye, in their events. Both headed to the University of Georgia on scholarship, Lisa Raye won the 55 meter dash, the 55 hurdles and the long jump, which which Jackson and/or Silva vie. The junior also won the 300 meter race to boot (40.24 seconds) with Xenia, a senior, second (40.57).

In the 55, Lisa clocked a winning time of 6.87 followed by her sister in second at 7.06 and Jackson, also a junior, in third at 7.25.

In the hurdles, Lisa Raye clocked an 8.11 to defeat Nini Olawuji of Exeter-West Greenwich (8.69), LaSalle's Jillian Lewis (8.87) and Jackson (8.91), who ran a personal best. Silva narrowly missed earning a spot in the nine-runner final, just clipping a hurdle to finish 10th overall from the qualifying heats (9.343).

And in the long jump, Lisa Raye covered 19 feet, 1 inches to handily beat the rest of the competition led by Olawuji (18'5.25), Jackson (18'3.35") and Silva (18'2.5").

As for Deal, who the previous evening helped the MHHS girls' swim team place second in the Division III championship meet, she clocked a season-best time of 10:41 flat to place seventh in the 3,000 meters. Pilgrim's Keaney Bayha won the event in 10:08.22. North Kingstown's Lucy Stowe was a distant second in 10:13.59.

"(It) went great," said MHHS co-coach Renee Cicchinelli said of the state meet. Jess stuck to the plan and didn’t panic when the field went out fast. She ran her race and steadily climbed her way up the pack. She looked so strong. Both Thea and Lola did outstanding. Thea (in the hurdles) really shot out of the blocks like I have never seen before. Both should be headed to New Englands in a couple of weeks. It's been a great season for them all."

The 2025 New England Indoor Track and Field Championships, the 37th annual edition of the event, are scheduled for Saturday, March 1, at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Boston.

Boys' notes
A small group of Mt. Hope boys did not score in their portion of states won by LaSalle with 124 points. Barrington was second with 111.5 and Hendricken third with 53.

The Huskies qualified to compete in the 4x800 relay where Andy Charest, Jackson Cicchinelli, Gavin Stegall and Tyler Scarborough finished 12th in 8:35.86. Barrington won the event in 8:10.66.

Cicchinelli earned a solo spot into the 1,500, running a personal-best to finish 17th in 4:26.36. LaSalle's Marshall Vernon won the event in 4:08.26. Stegall qualified to run the 600 in which he ran a 1:31.93 to place 19th. LaSalle's Thaden Leomensah also won the event in 1:22.8.

Coach Cicchinelli added, "The boys 4x800 finished higher than what they were seeded and with what was only a few tenths off their best time. Then both Jackson and Gavin were the last to be accepted into the 1,500 and 600 and they both finished way higher than what they were seeded."

More states notes
Some Mt. Hope High School indoor track and field athletes continued their preparation for the upcoming 2025 varsity state championship meet by participating in their respective junior varsity competitions held the fieldhouse earlier in the week.

On Tuesday, Feb. 11, three Huskies placed in the boys' competition. Andy Charest clocked a time of 2 minutes, 57.6 seconds to finish third in the 1,000 meters. Vlad Horvatic of Barrington won the event in 2:55.76 followed by Portsmouth's Jack Marston in second with a 2:56.65

Mt. Hope's Jackson Cicchinelli ran fourth in the 1,500 with his 4:30.13. Chariho's Leo Haxton was the winner in 4:26.41 with East Greenwich's Jeremiah Moon the runner-up in 4:28.75 and Hendricken's Justin Stockford third in 4:29.

Of note as well for the locals, Gavin Stegall ran seventh in the 600 with a time of 1:32.52. Conor Johnson of Lincoln High won the event in 1:30.01.

At girls' JV states held the previous evening, February 10, the Mt. Hope quartet of Sarah Bissonnette Chloe Questel, Kyleigh Durette and Avery Walsh turned in the lone scoring performance with their sixth-place time (13:00.19) in the 4x800 meter relay. The Barrington entry won the event in 11:16.5.