Patriots end drought, Win Class C crown
Last Saturday’s R.I. Interscholastic League Class C Championship marked the end of a long drought for the Portsmouth boys outdoor track team.
After coming ``very, very close’’ last year, only to finish second to Classical, the Patriots came out on top this time, winning their first Class C crown since 1991.
``So for us, this was a very big deal,’’ said coach Kyle Howard, whose squad compiled 192 points to hold off second-place Hope, which finished with 125.
``Based on the seedings, we were a slight favorite to win, but we had a prom on Friday, so that was a concern. But the boys stepped it up and took it to task. This was the best day we’ve had all season.’’
It was certainly a good day for Max Willett, Jeff Hunter and Bobby Sewall, who combined for 73 points, many of them in the jumping events.
Click here to find out more about what Willett, Hunter and Sewall accomplished.
Willett, a junior, won both the high jump (6-feet) and the long jump (20-4) and finished fourth in the javelin (51-4).
Hunter, a senior, won both hurdle events, clocking 16.1 seconds to win the 110-meter high hurdles and 42.9 seconds to take the 300-meter hurdles. He then placed fourth in the high jump (5-6).
Sewall, a senior All-State football player headed to Brown University in the fall, took first in the triple jump with a leap of 38-3 and was second to Hope’s Kevin Morgan in both the 100- and 200-meter dash.
``Those three have been our top scorers all season long,’’ Howard said. ``Without them, we’d be nowhere.’’
That said, Portsmouth has also received valuable contributions from other competitors, including senior Adam Martens and sophomores Andrew Chilabato and Patrick O’Brien.
Martens ran on the Patriots' second-place 4x100 relay, was second in the discus and fourth in the shot. Chilabato was second in the 110-meter high hurdles and fifth in the 300-meter hurdles, while O’Brien was third in the 110HH and fourth in both the 300 hurdles and the triple jump.