Girls’ Track: Patriots Find Strength In Numbers

PROVIDENCE – The Portsmouth High School girls’ track team gained a measure of revenge and then some when it practically lapped the field and ran away with the Division Two-Dwyer Championship Meet title Saturday afternoon at the Providence Career and Technical Academy.

No less than 23 Portsmouth athletes put forth scoring efforts as the Patriots earned points in every event and compiled a team score of 165. Second-place East Providence, which handed the Pats their lone dual-meet setback of the season, was runner-up with 97 points in the eight-team event. West Warwick was a distant third with 55 points.

“I’m not surprised Portsmouth won today. My hat’s off to them,” East Providence coach Bob Duarte said. “They’re a very good team. I knew he had some more bodies so he was able to fill in a little bit better. We were probably fortunate we beat them in the dual-meet season.”

Portsmouth took advantage of its 44-girl roster by slotting athletes in each of the 14 events. Duarte has 25 girls listed on his roster so he was not able to, without tiring out his athletes, match Portsmouth’s depth.

“The way I see it, we have the girls to fill up the entries so you might as well do it,” said Portsmouth coach Jeff Rose. “If you don’t fill up the entries you’re giving away points. Had I not done this we would have lost out on fifth- and sixth-place points which in a close meet, that’s what it comes down to.”

The Townies earned a 74-52 advantage over Portsmouth in the six events where they had a competitor finish ahead of the Patriots. By contrast, in the eight events where Portsmouth placed in front of East Providence, it owned a commanding 109-22 edge over the Townies. The Pats gained 49 points overall in the 3,000, high jump, shot put and weight throw compared to zero points for EP.

“A division meet is all about how deep your team is,” Rose said. “If you can fill up the spots and not have to double the girls, you’re going to do well. That’s what I was able to do with our distance girls.

“I was able to fill up all the events and not really have to double up too many of them so they could focus on their one event and be fresh.”

Portsmouth won three individual events with Becky Cousens taking the weight throw (39’2.75”), Jessica Kaufman topping the 55-meter high hurdle field (9.3) and Leah Hibbad coming in first in the 300 (43.4). Portsmouth’s A‘Lexcyia-Ashana Washington didn’t win the shot put but her third-place heave of 30’11.5” established a new school record.

“We had a lot of performances that were way better than their seed times,” said Rose. “The girls stepped up really big.

“Leah is finally back to where she was last year with a 43.4 in the 300. That’s one of the best times in the state right now and Jessica (Kaufman) is not far behind her with a 44-flat.”

Junior Rachel Perras teamed with freshmen Gretchen Petrie, Gretchen Scott and Natalie Yaw to win the 4 x 400 relay with a time of 4:34.3. Scott, running the third leg, got the baton with her team in fourth place and by the time she was done her two laps, had the Pats in the lead by 25 meters. Yaw kept the distance during her anchor-leg run in the final event of the meet.

“We won the 4 x 4 with three freshmen,” said Rose. “Greta Scott never ran a 400 before. I tried to give her a little bit of advice. I told her I wanted her to run the first lap and sprint the second lap. She went fast the first lap but she saved way more than I thought she had. To see her pull away from almost fourth to way up in the lead was amazing.”

Natalie Yaw earned points in all four events in which she participated to lead Portsmouth. Mariah Kaiser, Kaufman, Hibbad, Perras and Gretchen Petrie each tallied points in three events while Jamie Proffitt, Haley Yaw and Scott gathered points in two events apiece.

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Abby Cousens, Katie Lucier, Rowan Goss, Sarah Petty, Hayley McClintock, Lauren Borg, Raegan Holland, Mackay Eyster, Mariah Cardone, Laurel McIntosh, Hannah Petrie and Alanna Shea each scored points in one event.

“We’ve been talking all week at practice that we’ve been working all season for today,” Rose said. “So they knew that today was the day to put everything on the line and they did it. Depth is fortunately where our strength lies. Strength in numbers.”

Portsmouth’s 4 x 200 group of Scott, Natalie Yaw and the Petries finished second as did the 4 x 800 quartet of Proffitt, Perras, Shea and Haley Yaw. Other Portsmouth competitors to finish as runners-up were Kaufman in the 300, Lucier in the 3,000 and Kaiser in the long jump.

Patriots finishing third in an event were Abby Cousens in the weight throw, Natalie Yaw in the high jump, Goss in the 3,000, Proffitt in the 1,500, Kaiser in the 55 dash and McIntosh in the 55 high hurdles.

Dwyer Division Championship

Team scores

1, Portsmouth 165; 2, E. Providence 97; 3, W. Warwick 55; 4, Ponaganset 53; 5, Wheeler 23; 6, Tolman 12; 7, St. Raphael 10; 8, Mt. Pleasant 2.

Individual results

WT – 1, Becky Cousens, Ports. 39-2.75 (11.96 meters); 2, Vicky Ebert, EWG 35-4 (10.77); 3, Abby Cousens, Ports. 33-1.75 (10.10); 4, Oksana Goretaya, WW 33-1 (10.08); 5, Leslie Alvarez, 32-11.25 (10.05); 6, Veronica Wiggins, Tol. 31-11 (10.03).

SP – 1, Ebert, EWG 35-0.75 (10.68); 2, Wiggins, Tol. 33-11 (10.33); 3, Washington, Ports. 30-11.50 (9.43); 4, Ami Humphrey, Pon. 28-4.50 (8.65); 5, Lauren Cando, Pon. 27-0.75 (8.25); 6, Goretaya, WW 25-5.75 (8.07).

HJ – 1, Cate Dominick, Pon. 5-0 (1.52); 2, Sierra Smith, Pon. 4-10 (1.47); 3, Natalie Yaw, Ports. 4-8 (1.42); 4, Mariah Kaiser, Ports. 4-6 (1.37); 5, Becky Pacheco, WW 4-6; 6, (tie) Alex Caniero and Dana Barclay, WW 4-4 (1.32).

LJ – 1, Darian Dailey, EP 16-2.50 (4.94); 2, Kaiser, Ports. 15-7 (4.750; 3, Kait Bellamy, EP 15-4.75 (4.70); 4, Jess Kaufman, Ports. 14-9.50 (4.51); 5, Yaw, Ports. 14-5.75 (4.42); 6, Leah Hibbad, Ports. 14-5.75.

3000 – 1, Casey Mc Grath, Pon. 11:22.2; 2, Katie Lucier, Ports. 13:19.8; 3, Rowan Goss, Ports. 13:39.9; 4, Jess D’Agostino, Wheeler 13:50.4; 5, Eliza Petty, Ports. 14:47.8; 6, Hayley McClintock, Ports. 16:52.9.

1500 – 1, Ashley Jackson, SRA 5:19.1; 2, Yulaindra Henriquez, EP 5:31.0; 3, Jamie Proffitt, Ports. 5;40.5; 4, Cate Browning, EP 5:46.1; 5, Alondra Berrios, MP 6:02.3; 6, Lauren Borg, Ports. 6:07.5.

1000 – 1, Lily Foulkes, Wheeler 3:25.8; 2, Henriquez, EP 3:31.5; 3, Nicole Mc Adams, WW 3:36.5; 4, Raegan Holland, Ports. 3:38.6; 5, Makay Eyster, Ports. 3:39.6; 6, maria Cardone, Ports. 3:48.5.

600 – 1, Mc Adams, WW 1:49.9; 2, Taressa Jones, EP 1:50.0; 3, Ada Glazzard, Wheeler 1:55.6; 4, Rachel Perras, Ports. 1:56.9; 5, Silvia Yanez, PCD 1:57.9; 6, Yaw, Ports. 2:01.0.

300 – 1, Hibbad, Ports. 43.4; 2, Kaufman, Ports. 44.0; 3, Sierra Cunningham, EP 44.7; 4, Kaiser, Ports. 44.8; 5, Barclay, WW 46.0; 6, Amanda Horton, EP 46.6.

55m – 1, Cunningham, EP 7.3; 2, Deona DaSilva, EP 7.5; 3, Kaiser, Ports. 7.5; 4, Hibbad, Ports. 7.6; 5, Dailey, EP 7.6; 6, Yin Agbotean, Wheeler 8.1.

55mH – 1, Kaufman, Ports. 9.3; 2, Goretaya, WW 9.6; 3, Laurel McIntosh, Ports. 9.9;4, Gretchen Petrie, Ports. 10.0; 5, Bellamy, EP 10.5; 6, Lauren Vine, EP 11.1.

4×200 – 1, E. Providence (NNR) 1:51.9; 2, Portsmouth 1:54.5; 3, Ponaganset 1:59.2; 4, W. Warwick 2:04.5; 5, Wheeler 2:07.4.

4×400 – 1, Portsmouth (NNR) 4:34.3; 2, Ponaganset 4:39.1; 3, E. Providence 4:42.8.

4×800 – 1, W. Warwick (NNR) 10:55.1; 2, Portsmouth 11:08.6; 3, E. Providence 11:29.8.