The championship season for the East Providence High School indoor track and field athletes along with their peers concludes for the most part this weekend with the 2024 Rhode Island Interscholastic League State Championship Meet Saturday, Feb. 17, at the Providence Career and Tech Academy Fieldhouse.

The girls' portion starts at 9:30 a.m. while the boys begin at 1:30 p.m.

The EP girls have a chance to score in several events led by their talented cast of sprinters including Nazarae Phillip, Kandace Daniel, Kendra Daniel and Samantha Clarke. That quartet runs the 4x200 relay for the Townies. Phillip and the Daniel sisters should be in the 55 meter dash mix with Phillip also among the top performers in the 300.

Keira Mullen and Trinity Johnson-Carter each have a strong chance to reach the 55 meter hurdles final. EP could earn points in the two other relays: the 4x4 with Clarke Tatum Santos and the Daniels; and the 4x8 with Kathryn Patalano, Alicia Pinto, Adrianna Perry and Melany Sotamayor.

In the field events, Phillip, in the high jump, and Audrey Lepine, in the long jump, have a chance to place.

Leading up to states, the Townies had a couple of noteworthy finishes in the "Last-Chance" qualifying meet held at the PCTA on Saturday, Feb. 10. Clarke, the Daniels and Phillip won the 4x2 relay in 1:49.77. Phillip was also fourth in the 300 (43.84) while Perry, Patalano, Pinto and Sotomayor were seventh in the 4x8 (11:16.55).

A smaller EPHS boys' contingent has qualified for certain into states. High jumpers Cam Evora, Dylan Slavick and Kenaz Ochgwu are among the favorites in their discipline.

The Townies are hoping some late scratches will allow Jaidin Ivy entry into the 300, Nolan Travassos access to the 55 hurdles and Jack Pawlik a spot in the dash. Ivy, Pawlik, Jietan Ruiz and Julius Cortes likely also need some help to run the 4x2 while Ivy, Brian Rutkowski, Gerry Gagnon and Max Prevete likewise, are looking for a scratch to get into the 4x4.

Girls' frosh states
The championship meet slate for the Townies continued last week with the state meets for first-year competitors.
The girls' freshmen states took place Monday. Feb. 5, at the PCTA. 

LaSalle led the 26-school field with 115 points. North Kingstown was second with 97 and Lincoln High third with 56. The Townies placed T14 with two others, scoring eight points.

Ryley Souto was the lone local to score, running seventh for EPHS in the 55 meter dash in a time of 7.95. Autumn Allen of Wheeler won the race in 7.67.

Souto was also part of the same quartet of Townies along with Vivian Bernhardt, Abigail Raphael and Juliana Maldonado, that placed. The foursome ran sixth (2:03.04) in the 4x200 meter event and seventh (5:02) 4x400. LaSalle won each event, clocking times of 1:54.67 and 4:34.43, respectively.

Boys' frosh states
Pawlik's runner-up result in the 55 meter dash led the EPHS boys' team to a seventh place team finish in the boys' frosh states the following evening, Feb. 6, at the PCTA.

Pawlik earned eight of the Townies' 20 points with the placement. LaSalle won the team title with 114 followed by Hendricken in second with 104. North Kingstown was well off the pace in third with 62.

Pawlik clocked a 6.92, edged at the line by LaSalle's Jackson Alves, who won the dash in 6.91. Pawlik also ran a leg of East Providence's third-place 4x200 relay team along with Mac Prevete, Gerry Gagnon and Gus Belanger. The quartet clocked a 1:44.69. LaSalle won with a 1:38.43 and East Greenwich was second at 1:40.78.

Gagnon also pointed individually, finishing sixth in the 600 meters with a time of 1:35.86. Riley Selwyn of Prout was the winner in 1:28.47. Pawlik was likewise sixth in the long jump, covering 18'5.75." Jalen Moseley of LaSalle won the event at 20'2."

Also of note for the Townies, Prevete missed out of the scoring positions by one place, running ninth in the 300 with a 41.04 while Jayden Caverio was 10th in the 3,000 with a 11:45.26. The top eight finishers in each event earn points towards their team totals (10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1).