There were a number of strong performances by Rhode Island athletes at this weekend's 26th annual Brown Track & Field Invitational in addition to Victoria Flowers' national record-setting win in the weight throw (61-0.75), as well as her victory in the shot put (43-6.25).

Here are some of the most notable:

La Salle's Jeanne Mack, who is attempting to secure an invitation to the high school mile at the prestigious Millrose Games, placed fifth in the Girls Championship Mile with a time of 5:04.84.

On Friday, the La Salle girls took third (12:11.90) in the Championship Distance Medley Relay, the other premier event at the Brown meet, with Mack running a swift lead-off leg that gave the Rams a 40-yard lead.

Rachelle Sylvia of Westerly clocked a time of 1:19.03 to take first in the girls’ 500 meters.

Hope was victorious in the girls’ 4x200-meter relay with a time of 1:50.66, while La Salle won the 4x400 in 4:04.97.

Classical’s Patrick Onye captured first place in both the boys’ weight throw (66-9.75) and shot put (49-4.5).

Hendricken’s Scott Capista took first in the high jump (6-4), while Hawks teammate Nicholas Casbarro cleared 13 feet to win the pole vault.

Elton Duarte of East Providence won the long jump with a leap of 21-6.

Top honors in the boys’ distance medley relay went to Westerly (11:04.01), while Hope took first in the 4x200 (1:34.22) and Hendricken won the freshman/sophomore DMR (11:21.86).

Click here for a complete list of R.I. results from Saturday's events, provided courtesy of Bob Leddy.

26TH BROWN UNIVERSITY TRACK AND FIELD INVITATIONAL
At Olney-Margolies Fieldhouse
R.I. GIRLS' RESULTS SATURDAY
WT - 1, Flowers, Class. 61-0.75 (18.61 meters. AR; OR: 60-10.50 (18.55) Maureen Griffin, Pocatello, Id. 1997. SR; OR: 60-0.75 (18.51) Kristen Michalski, W. Warwick, 2002); 2, Bidemi, Class. 44-3.50 (13.50); 4, Stowers, LS 39-10 (12.14); 5, Barkley, Class. 38-7 (11.76); 6, Nepshinsky, SK 38-4 (11.68).
SP - 1, Flowers, Class. 43-6.25 (13.26).
HJ - 2, Terwilliger, WW 5-4 (1.62); 3, Meehan, SK 5-2 (1.57); 10, Norman, SK 5-0 (1.52).
3000 - 2, Christensen, LS 10:32.34; 6, Beaudette, BV 10:59.63.
Mile - 5, Mack, LS 5:05.84.
800 - 5, Cocozza, LS 2:24.74; 7, Braboy, BV 2:32.42.
500 - 1, Sylvia, West. 1:19.03; 2, Marrow, Hope 1:19.58; 7, Palumbo, Smith. 1:22.69.
55m - 8, Dacruz, Hope 7.83.
55mH - 2, McKenna, TG 8.76.
4x200 - 1, Hope (Carto, Dacruz, Jefferies, Marrow) 1:50.66; 4, La Salle 1:52.80; 6, Toll Gate 1:53.15; 7, S. Kingstown 1:53.19.
4x400 - 1, La Salle (NNR) 4:04.97; 6, Westerly 4:18.80; 9, S. Kingstown 4:22.37.
4x800 - 9, Coventry 10:19.19.
Fr./Soph. 4x400 - 3, Westerly 4:34.51; 11, La Salle 4:49.14.
Fr./Soph. SMR - 2, Westerly 4:38.72.
SMR - 5, La Salle 4:25.23.
Fr./Soph. DMR - 7, La Salle 14:39.74.
DMR - 2, Westerly 12:57.13.
Champ. DMR - 3, La Salle 12:11.90.

R.I. BOYS' RESULTS SATURDAY
WT - 1, Onye, Class. 66-9.75 (20.36 meters); 4, Conklin, BH 57-6.75 (17.54); 5, Gama, BH 56-8.75 (17.29); 6, Faboyede, Class. 56-2 (17.11); 7, Resendes, BH 54-3 (16.53); 8, Taylor, Class. 54-1.50 (16.49).
SP - 1, Onye, Class. 49-4.50 (15.04); 6, Rooney, LS 46-5.75 (14.16).
HJ - 1, Capista, BH 6-4 (1.93); 9, Joseph, Class. 6-0 (1.82) .
LJ - 1, Duarte, EP 21-6 (6.55); 3, Woodley, EP 19-11 (6.07).
TJ - 3, Woodley, EP 43-7 (13.28); 9, Verdier, Cumb. 37-8.50 (11.49).
PV - 1, Casbarro, BH 13-0 (3.96).
3000 - 2, Springer, West. 8:55.94; 3, O’Loughlin, West. 8:59.90; 5, Venable, BH 9:06.82; 6, Griffin, Barr. 9:08.01; 7, Hurley, Char. 9:09.86.
800 - 5, Wigton, NK 2:03.05.
500 - 7, Arrico, TG 1:16.04.
55m - 3, Washington, Hope 6.58; 5, Duarte, EP 6.60; 7, Biah, MP 6.72.
4x200 - 1, Hope (Washington, Benjamin, Wento, McCants) 1:34.22; 7, E. Providence 1:37.48.
Champ. 4x200 - 6, Mount Pleasant 1:34.92.
4x400 - 8, Hope 3:37.44; 9, Hendricken 3:37.95.
4x800 - 6, Hendricken 8:40.40.
Fr./Soph,. 4x400 - 5, Hope 3:49.41; 7, Westerly 3:52.91; 8, Hendricken 3:53.91.
Fr./Soph. SMR - 4, Hendricken 4:01.65; 6, La Salle 4:03.20; 8, Hope 4:05.78; 9, Westerly 4:07.56.
SMR - 5, Hendricken 3:44.80; 8, Westerly 3:50.96.
Champ. SMR - 3, Hendricken
Fr./Soph. DMR - 1, Hendricken “A“ (MacKenzie, Riordan, Sienko, Doyle) 11:21.86; 8, Cumberland 12:15.18; 9, Hendricken “B’’ 12:21.13.3:44.80.
DMR - 1, Westerly (O’Loughlin, Liang, Wilcox, Springer) 11:04.01; 8, La Salle 11:20.85.
Champ. DMR - 5, S. Kingstown 10:54.14.

Posted by Carolyn Thornton at 8:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Courtesy of Bob Gourley:

Victoria Flowers set a new national high school 20# weight throw record of 61’00.75” at the 26th Annual Brown University Track & Field High School Invitational on Friday, December 28, 2007.

This performance was indoors at Brown University’s Olney-Margolies Athletic Center in Providence, RI, and broke the record of 60’10.50” set by Maureen Griffin (JR/Pocatello, ID) at the 1997 National Scholastic Indoor Championships at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center, Roxbury, MA on March 8, 1997.

Flowers (1/17/90) SR - Classical High School, Providence, RI
Series: LSF 61’00.75” 60’04.50”

Posted by Carolyn Thornton at 9:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Courtesy of Bob Gourley, the U.S. High School Weight Throw Performance List, as of Dec. 14:

U.S. HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' 25# WEIGHT THROW

NATIONAL RECORD

86’05.50” Walter Henning SR St. Anthony's, South Huntington, NY 03-11-07

CLASS RECORDS

63'06.25" Wes Wright FR Villa Rica, GA 01-23-05
75'00.50" Walter Henning SO St. Anthony's, South Huntington, NY 02-26-05
85'06.00" Walter Henning JR St. Anthony's, South Huntington, NY 03-12-06
86'05.50" Walter Henning SR St. Anthony's, South Huntington, NY 03-11-07

2007/2008 PERFORMANCE LIST

71’10.25” Wes Wright SR Villa Rica, GA 11-24 C
65’08.75” Mitchell Gormley SR Brookwood, Snellville, GA 12-02 I
58’08.00” Andrew Dunkleberger FR Whitfield Academy, Mableton, GA 10-07
57’04.00” Mark Conklin SR Bishop Hendricken, Warwick, RI 12-08
54’06.00” Garrett Grey SR Tri-Valley Secondary, Grahamsville, NY 12-08 I
53’09.25” Mike Gama JR Bishop Hendricken, Warwick, RI 12-07
53’07.75” John Spelman JR Toll Gate, Warwick, RI 12-07
53’07.75” Simon Cleary JR St. John the Baptist, West Islip, NY 12-09
53’02.25” Nick Resendes SR Bishop Hendricken, Warwick, RI 12-07
52’09.75” Mike Taylor SR Classical, Providence, RI 12-07
52’09.50” Braydon Anderson SR Sprayberry, Maraietta, GA 10-07
52’07.50” Brad Foote SR Jacobs, Algonquin, IL 11-10
51’03.00” Alec Faldermeyer SO Minisink Valley, Slate Hill, NY 12-08 I
50’10.75” Brett Ramirez SR Prairie Ridge, Crystal Lake, IL 10-28
50’08.50” Bob Fiedler JR Tri-Valley Secondary, Grahamsville, NY 12-08 I
50’02.75” David Carbajal SR Prairie Ridge, Crystal Lake, IL 11-10
50’00.25” Mike Morris SR Bishop Hendricken, Warwick, RI 12-07
49’06.50” Davis Fraker SO McIntosh, Peachtree City, GA 12-02 I
49’05.75” Justin Nicoll SR East Providence, RI 12-07
48’05.50” Tom Davis SR East Greenwich, RI 12-07
48’03.25” Josh Faboyde JR Classical, Providence, RI 12-07
48’03.00” Juan German SR Classical, Providence, RI 12-07
47’07.25” Will Janes JR Rogers, Newport, RI 12-07
46’07.00” Tanzeel Kahn SR Tri-Valley Secondary, Grahamsville, NY 12-08 I
46’02.75” Kris Lerevette SO Marietta, GA 10-28
45’07.00” Edward Brentnall FR Lovette, Atlanta, GA 10-07
45’05.00” Nathan Fetter JR Warwick Veterans Memorial, Warwick, RI 12-07
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U.S. HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' 35# WEIGHT THROW

NATIONAL RECORD

64’00.50” Josh McCaughey SR Bishop Hendricken, Warwick, RI 01-23-00

2007/2008 PERFORMANCE LIST

57’02.25” Wes Wright SR Villa Rica, GA 10-07
50’09.50” Mitchell Gormley SR Brookwood, Snellville, GA 09-02
41’04.25” Brad Foote SR Jacobs, Algonquin, IL 11-10
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS' 20# WEIGHT THROW

NATIONAL RECORD

60’10.50” Maureen Griffin JR Pocatello, ID 03-08-97

CLASS RECORDS

52’07.25” Lauren Chambers FR Kell, Marietta, GA 03-12-06
53’07.75” Kate Johnston SO Warwick Veterans Memorial, RI 03-13-99
60’10.50” Maureen Griffin JR Pocatello, ID 03-08-97
60’08.75” Kristen Michalski SR West Warwick, RI 03-09-02

2007/2008 PERFORMANCE LIST

54’11.25” Patrice Gates SO Villa Rica, GA 10-28
54’08.75” Lauren Chambers JR Kell, Marietta, GA 12-02 I
52’04.00” Allison Horner SR Lovett, Marietta, GA 11-24
45’03.50” Ashley Clasen JR Shoreham-Wading River, Shoreham, NY 12-09
45’03.50” Caitlin Jordan JR Union Grove, McDonough, GA 09-02
43’09.25” Jazmin Miller JR Hiram, GA 10-28
43’03.00” Careker Skylar SR Walton, Marietta, GA 11-24
43’01.50” Tope Waheed SR East Providence, RI 12-06
41’11.50” Lili Barboza SR Oxford, AL 09-02
41’09’75” Christina John JR Lassiter, Marietta, GA 10-07
41’03.00” Katie Bragg JR Star’s Mill, Peachtree City, GA 10-28
39’11.50” Breanna Radford JR Alpharetta, GA 10-07
38’05.50” Bianca Silvestri JR West Warwick, RI 12-08
38’05.25” Meg Nepshinsky SR South Kingstown, Wakefield, RI 12-06
38’03.25” Megan Fannon JR St. Pius X, Atlanta, GA 11-24
37’08.00” Bidemi Balogun SR Classical, Providence, RI 12-06
37’06.00” Nina Renker JR Sacred Heart, Yonkers, NY 12-09
37’05.75” Genay Miller JR Mill Creek, Hoschton, GA 10-28
37’05.25” Sarah Herndon SR Statesboro, GA 10-07
35’11.00” Lee Stowers JR LaSalle Academy, Providence, RI 12-06
34’06.00” Casey Aubin SR LaSalle Academy, Providence, RI 12-06
34’05.50” Kollette Barclay SR Classical, Providence, RI 12-06
33’05.00” Ali Procopio JR Toll Gate, Warwick, RI 12-08
33’04.00” Molly Gouveia SR Toll Gate, Warwick, RI 12-08
33’01.25” Anne Sullivan SR Classical, Providence, RI 12-06
33’01.00” Robyn McFetters FR Barrington, RI 12-08
31’10.00” Jerilynn Turenne JR West Warwick, RI 12-06
31’00.50” Lauren Manning SR East Providence, RI 12-06
30’06.00 Stephanie Dion SO Toll Gate, Warwick, RI 12-08
30’02.00” Paulina Renggli SR Eldred, NY 12-01 I
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
C after date of performance indicates correction to distance.

H after city/town and state is hometown of athlete.

I after date of performance indicates indoor performance.
All other performances outdoors.

* after date of performance indicates addition or change since last update.

Town/city of school same as school name unless noted otherwise.

Cutoff 12-09-07 - Update 12-14-07

Addition, updates, or corrections would be appreciated.
Please send to: Bob Gourley 3 Greenville Drive, Barrington, RI 02806
(401) 246-0243 or via e-mail at rmgourley@fctvplus.net

Posted by Carolyn Thornton at 1:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Paul Evasick, assistant coach to his wife Charlotte, provides this recap of the season-opener for the East Greenwich boys indoor track team:

East Greenwich 78 vs Cranston East 8
East Greenwich 76 vs Warwick Vets 10

East Greenwich Boys Indoor Track opened the regular season as expected with two dominant performances! The Avengers are hoping this is the season they can give Track powerhouse Bishop Hendricken a run for the Division title. The Av’s started strong on Friday night and had some outstanding performances. East tied or set three school records on Friday night as they cruised to 2-0.

East came out of the gate sweeping the 3000 meter race for a 9-0 start and were lead by Sophomore sensation Nick Ross who destroyed the current 3000 meter record for the school. Nick strided to an easy victory as he blew away the 3000 meter record set by Cornelius McCaffrey 2 years ago of 9:25.0. Nick ran a 9:05.1. “Nick looked very strong tonight, he is in excellent shape coming off a great cross country season in the fall. He has even more to give, that is not even the best performance he has, he has so much more!!” Senior Captain Akash Chougule and senior Gabe Hayek finished off the sweep of the event in 9:46.5 and 10:44.3 respectively.

The next two events on the track saw Avenger tracksters tie or break school records. Senior Captain Wes Evasick came out of the blocks in the 45 hurdles to tie his own school record of 6.8 seconds and lead another sweep in our second event as junior Mike Swartz and senior Chris Walsh finished 2nd and 3rd in 7.3 and 7.6 seconds, putting another 9 points on the board. “Wes has been working hard all off season. He hopes to compete for the state title this winter and his opening performance sure helps his confidence as we go forward!”

The third event on the track was the 45 dash and East saw another school record fall as junior Harrison Saunders lead another sweep and 9 points on the board. Harrison ran a 5.6 in the 45 and fell Kevin Dubuc’s record of 5.7 seconds set back in 2003. Senior captain Alex Iwomoto and senior Dustin Baker followed him in second and third in 5.8 and 5.9 seconds respectively. “Harrison is truly a powerful runner who found his focus late last year and we expect big things from him this season. He has come to practice fully engaged and focused, he will be a force to recon with in the sprints this season!” others having a good night were senior Tom Davis first place in shot put 39-2, senior Andrew Glod 1st in 600 1:31.5, Junior Mark Feigan 1st in 1500 4:22.6

Coach E- “ It was an exciting start to the evening but after the third school record falling in the first three events it became alittle surreal. We knew we had a good team this season lead by a group of seniors that have been with this program the past 4 years, but this start was more then any of us expected!” “What is scary is this team has room to improve before this season is over.” “We have BIG goals this season to compete for our Division and Class C titles and then finish in the top three teams at the state meet at URI. Not bad for an Indoor program that did not exist 4 years ago.”

They have started the momentum running in the right direction and now will take the track again after the holidays on Jan 4th against West Warwick and Cranston West.

Posted by Carolyn Thornton at 1:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The big girls indoor track meet scheduled for tonight at CCRI-Lincoln has been postponed due to the weather. The events will be rescheduled over several different days:

Monday at 5:30 p.m.: North Kingstown/Ponaganset

Monday at 8 p.m.: Hope/Warwick Vets/Westerly; Barrington/Coventry/East Providence; La Salle/Pilgrim/West Warwick; Cranston West/East Greenwich; Cumberland/Mt. Hope

Jan. 3 at 4 p.m.: Bay View/South Kingstown

Jan. 3 at 6:30 p.m.: Classical/St. Raphael

Jan. 10 at 6:30 p.m.: Central Falls/Rogers/Shea

Posted by Mike McDermott at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today's Sports cover profiles Erik Murphy, a big-time basketball talent from South Kingstown who has gone to a Massachusetts prep school in search of stronger competition. It's a common story among the best players in Rhode Island. Also, Shalise Manza Young reports on what coaches Bill Belichick and Eric Mangini were saying as their teams prepare to face off in Foxboro.

Click here to download the file in pdf format.

Posted by Mike McDermott at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Three former Rhode Island high school stars who are now competing for Boston College got their indoor collegiate track seasons off to a great start at the Husky Winter Track & Field Carnival, hosted by Northeastern University on Dec. 1 at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston.

Former La Salle All-Stater Alison Fogarty, now a senior at BC, helped the women's team produce a top-five performance in almost every event with her second-place finish in the 400-meter dash (58.76).

Meanwhile, sophomore Samantha Gawrych, a standout at Westerly and former Words Unlimited Schoolgirl Athlete of the Year, placed second in the 1,000-meter run in 2:53.14. She was followed by former North Kingstown All-Stater Siobhan Breagy, who kicked off her rookie indoor season at BC with a third-place finish in that event with a time of 2:55.58.

Breagy and Fogarty then qualified for the ECAC Indoor Championships, to be held later in the season, with strong performances at last weekend's Harvard Open Track Meet.

Both ran qualifying times in the 500-meter dash, with Breagy clocking a time of 1:15.54 and Fogarty running 1:15.91.

Posted by Carolyn Thornton at 2:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

East Greenwich boys indoor track coach Paul Evasick provides this report on his team's outstanding performance on Friday:

East Greenwich 59.5, Classical 45, Toll Gate 34.5, Westerly 32, Portsmouth 30, Rogers 30

East Greenwich Boys Indoor Track opened the season with its first ever Injury Fund Championship. EG competed on Friday night, against half the state in the Injury Fund Relays. There are 36 schools competing in track and field and the state is split in half by size of school. EGHS is the 4th smallest school in the state. Although the odds were stacked against the team, they came into the relays confident they could compete. Coach E, “our goal was to place in the top two going into the meet. Classical and Portsmouth are always so tough and well prepared, to knock off one is a good accomplishment for us and to take down both would be big!”

East did just that, coming out of the gate strong and coasting to what became an easy finish. The Avs had the meet in hand before they even ran the last event, the 4X1 relay. The Avengers relied heavily on the depth of the State Champion cross country team, to turn up the heat on the field. Coach E, “it was really our overall depth that made the difference tonight. We placed a team in all 8 events. We only had 2 overall champions.” We had 2 second place finishes in, Hurdles and 4X880 relay and took 3 thirds in the weight throw, Shot Put and 4X440 relay. East then tied for 5th place in the High Jump.

Those two champions were the Distance medley relay, made up of that state champion cross country team. Lead by captains Mark Feigen and Matt Colavita and helped by senior Mike Pezzullo and sophomore sensation Nick Ross. The other medley team that took home GOLD was the sprint medley team. This team was made up of underclassmen who all preformed very well. Junior Harrison Saunders opened the relay up with an impressive 350 meter run and then 3 sophomores bought home the gold by .10 of a second, JV captain Kyle Dubuc, James Soukamnueth and Matt Gowell.

“It was a big night for this team. This class of seniors have been preparing for this season for the past four years. “ We knew we had something special 4 years ago when this senior class stepped onto our team and the track as freshmen !” They have started the momentum running in the right direction and now open up their regular season against 13-time defending Indoor State Champions Hendricken on Friday night the 14th. “That should be a great meet to measure the work we have left to insure this to be a great season for the kids.” They certainly have a shot at this being a very special season for them if they stay focused and healthy!”

Posted by Carolyn Thornton at 7:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

SMITHFIELD -- Ponaganset won the Division III Super Bowl today at Bryant College with a 13-6 victory over division champion Moses Brown.
The game's Most Valuable Player, Larry Colaluca, stepped in for injured running back Nicholas Keeling and racked up 101 yards in the second half, including a 30-yard touchdown run, to lead the Chieftains to victory.
Read tomorrow's Providence Journal for a full report.

Posted by Rob Lee at 2:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)