Townies sprinters and hurdlers win gold at Classical Classic. Jack Pawlik, Justin Jardine, Julian Monteiro and the 4x100 team all won gold at the annual Classical Classic held at Conley Stadium on Saturday morning.

“We did well,” said Townies head coach Bob Lyons. “But it’s early. I was impressed how well some of the team performed. Many were battling illness and banged up. There is much improvement that will need to be made, if we are going to achieve our goals that we made at the start of the season. Hopefully we get healthy, stay healthy and work the kinks out before the state meet.”

The kinks seemed to be ironing out for Pawlik, the defending state 100 and 200-meter dash champion. The junior beat Barrington rival, Patrick Trainor, by-a-nose in the 100-meter dash. Pawlik started strong and finished the distance in a flash, 10.80 seconds, while Trainor ran it 10.93 seconds.

“I was a little injured earlier, but I’m getting back to business,” said Pawlik during a recent meet at Barrington. “Im getting back to full health.”

Pawlik felt that the Townies could compete for states as a team in June.

“We are going to make a push to win states this year. There's a few other good teams, but I'm confident we can also be one.”

Trainor, a senior who has also been nursing injuries, held himself out of the dual meet in Barrington last week. The two rivals and friends, have each won races against each other in the past.

“It’s always a more exciting race when Patrick is there. We talk a lot out at the track. We’ll have a conversation during warm ups about what’s happening around the state and track and just talk. It’s been fun.”

The rest of the Townies are also working out the kinks, nicely. Jardine, a senior, won the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.11 seconds. Jardine also placed second in the 400-meter run with a time of 49.07 seconds, just .44 of-a-second off the pace.

Monteiro, a senior soccer star, won gold in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 40.29 seconds. He placed second in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 16.30 seconds. Freshman teammate Jalen Jackson placed right behind him in the 110-hurdles with a time of 16.31 seconds.

Monteiro, in his second season as a hurdler said he wanted to come out stronger this season.

“I’ve been practicing a lot. A lot of reps. Trying to get faster. I’m excited for this season and what it will bring.”

Coach Lyons took the Townies out to the Penn Relays, one of the oldest relay carnivals in the country, he said, earlier this month and the team used the experience and has responded well.

“They ran the second fastest time in school history in the 4x100,” he said. “We got some decent kids at the top of the roster that can compete. We are looking for a top five finish at states.”

The relay team has a ton of speed with Jardine, Isaac Rodriguez, Julius Cortes and Pawlik as the anchor. They placed first at the Classical Classic in the 4x100 relay, with a time of 42.71 seconds. The Townies beat both Bishop Hendricken who finished second with a time of 43.02 and Barrington who placed third with a time of 43.49 seconds.

“They are motivated,” Coach Lyons said. “I’m just hoping that they can stay healthy and happy and away from illness and we’ll be alright.”

More Townies finishers

Senior Julius Cortes placed tenth in the 400-meter run with a time of 52.29 seconds.

Sophomore Sean Black placed 59th in the 1500-meter run with a time of 4:49.01 minutes.

Isaac Rodriguez placed fourth in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 42.97 seconds. Jalen Jackson placed 13th in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 45.71 seconds.

Jaidyn DaSilva placed 15th in the high jump with a leap of 5 feet, 2 inches.

Isaac Rodriguez placed 14th in the long jump with a jump of 19 feet, 2.5 inches.

Giovanni Daluz placed 18th in the long jump event with a leap of 18 feet, 9.5 inches. DaSilva placed 29th and Xavier Rodriguez placed 36th.

Jackson placed 12th in the triple jump with a jump of 37 feet, 7 inches. Daluz placed 17th in the triple jump. 

East Providence girls finishers

Layla Bates finished fifth in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 50.70 seconds. She finished 14th in 100-meter hurdles preliminaries with a time of 18.05 seconds

Lillian Costa finished 34th in preliminaries. Bates, a senior, feels that the season began slow for the girls and they are hopeful to build momentum as the year progresses.

“The individuals events have been good,” she said. “I'm trying to push myself, get those PRs, and like, trying to focus on that and not always focusing on winning. It’s my senior year and it's just like all laid out and I can just like be confident and like reassured of what I'm doing. So far I feel like it's been a good season.”

The 4x100-meter relay team of Ryley Souto, Bates, Abby Raphael and Laejah Preston finished eighth with a time of 53.18 seconds.

Victoria Capelo finished 22nd in the high jump with a jump of 4 feet 4 inches.