PROVIDENCE — The East Providence High School boys' indoor track and field squad split its return from the holiday break to Metropolitan Division duals last week when the Townies beat Burrillville, but lost to Barrington Tuesday night, Jan. 2, at the Providence Career and Tech Academy Fieldhouse.

East Providence had no trouble dispatching the Broncos 84-22, though the locals, down a couple of key contributors who may have made things a bit tighter, were almost equally bettered by the neighboring Eagles 94-15. Barrington battered Burrillville as well, 105-4.

Senior Dylan Slavick produced the top individual results for East Providence, including a meet win in the high jump. Slavick cleared 6 feet in the event as did Barrington's Chucky Potter, but did the Townies' standout did so on fewer attempts. Slavick's height was two inches lower than the overall best on the evening posted by Central's Demetrius Outland in the Knight's Metro meet against Central, Hope and Juanita Sanchez.

Slavick was also second in the dual and seventh overall on the night in the long jump with a distance of 18'11.25." Barrington's Patrick Trainor was first in the meet and second overall at 20'.5." Ephraim Abhulime of LaSalle, in the Rams' Metro outing against Moses Brown, Mt. Pleasant and Mt. Hope, leaped an evening-best 20'4.75."

Also in the field, East Providence's Michael Precious earned points for the Townies with his toss of 42'.5" in the 25-pound weight throw, good for second in the meet and eighth on the night. Barrington's Joe Adams was best in both with a throw of 58'3."

On the track, East Providence's top result came from the quartet of Jietan Ruiz, Julius Cortes, David Vieira and Jack Pawlik, who clocked a time of 1 minute, 42.63 seconds in the 4x200 meter relay. That was good for second in the meet and fourth overall. Barrington's was the overall winner with a 1:34.43.

Of note as well, Nolan Travassos was sixth overall with a time of 9.53 in the 55 meter hurdles. Ethan Knight led a 1-2-3 Barrington sweep of the event with a winning time of 7.68. Pawlik was ninth individually and second in the meet with a time of 7.03 in the 55 dash. Barrington's Gabe Tanous was third overall with a 6.82. Joseph Forbes of Central won the event with a 6.73.

East Providence's early-season Metro dual meet record moved to 3-2 with the split. Some Townies are next scheduled to compete at the 2024 East Coast Invitational Saturday, Jan. 13, at the PCTA Fieldhouse. The entire EPHS squad returns to the PCTA two nights later for its next Metro outing against against Mt. Hope, Mt. Pleasant and Classical Monday, Jan. 15, at 9 a.m.