Hawks chasing 16th title in a row

The Bishop Hendricken, Toll Gate, Pilgrim and Warwick Vets boys’ indoor track teams kicked off their schedules late last week at the brand new Providence Career & Technical Academy athletic facility. It marked the first regular season dual-meet for the teams at the state’s new home for indoor track and we caught up with all four squads as they got accustomed to their updated surroundings.

BISHOP HENDRICKEN

Bishop Hendricken has found many ways to win over the years: 15 straight state championships don’t just happen by accident. The Hawks have won with overwhelming talent and they’ve won with sheer numbers. Now, if they’re going to make it 16 in a row, they’ll need to strike a balance between the two.

“The signature of Bishop Hendricken is our depth,” assistant coach Nate Greene said. “And that’s what we have this year. I don’t know how many state champions we have, but we do have a lot of guys that can score points for us. We’re very much invested in that kind of team approach, it is very important to us, and we’re excited about what we have this year.”

And with good reason. The Hawks are fresh off the most successful cross country season in Rhode Island history, where they won the state, New England and Northeast titles before finishing 10th in the United States at the Nike National Cross Country championships just a few weeks ago. For their efforts Hendricken’s seven distance runners: Jake Sienko, Brian Doyle, Ryan Meehan, Drew Manning, Andrew Andraka and Mark Vuono, earned some well-deserved accolades, but not much time off.

While the rest of the state’s distance runners rested and prepared for the indoor season, the Hawks’ septet stayed out on the course. A month after winning the state title, Hendricken’s cross country team was still running and stayed that way, right up to the start of the indoor schedule.

“We have all our cross country guys coming back and it is always interesting making that transition from cross country to indoor,” Hendricken head coach Jim Doyle said. “There is no rest. Normally you end the season and have a few weeks to rest, but we didn’t get any of that. We tried to get them a few days off but that’s really all they got; just a few days.”

Hendricken will rely on that core group to anchor its distance team, but they won’t be alone. Despite the absence of the team’s only individual state champions from last year, Mike Gama and Ross Riordan, the Hawks aren’t lacking for standout performers. Senior captains Mike Guadagno and Andre Collins lead a talented group of returning athletes looking to keep Hendricken’s championship run intact. Guadagno ran on the Hawks’ All-State 4x400 relay team last year and Collins is expected to run on both relays and will compete in the 55-meter dash as well.

“We lost some big performers,” Doyle said “But it has never been about individuals for us; it has been about depth. And we have a lot of good guys coming back. Last year we had a very young team and we were weak in some events, but they have come a long way. We’re confident that our guys are maturing.”

For all their maturity, the Hawks’ will be looking for some newcomers to make significant contributions this season. Greene also served as an assistant coach with the Hendricken football program this fall and used that connection to mine some fresh talent for the indoor team. Zach Conte, David Revens, Rob Manning and Ryan Brannigan will add depth to the sprint team while Anthony Bucci and Jose Montanez will join the throwers.

“We have a couple of football guys out who haven’t been out before,” Greene said. “They’re going to be able to help us but some of them are a little banged up right now. Football is like cross country in the sense that it goes late and you need some time to rest before the next season begins. So they will be contributing members of this team but they might not start making those contributions until about halfway through the year.”

Conte finished second in the 55 dash with a time of 6.9 seconds last week and Revens finished fourth in the 300. Bucci placed second in the shot put and Montanez came in second in the weight. But it was Brannigan, competing in his first dual-meet, that shined brightest. The sophomore took first in the 300 with a time of 30.3 seconds.

Jeff Roy, an All-State baseball standout, will compete in the sprints, while sophomores Kyle O’Connell and Louis Falcone will step in to lead the team in the hurdles. Drew Manning and sophomore Jordan Barboza are expected to lead Hendricken in the high jump.

“We’re deep in a lot of places,” Greene said. “And that’s a great thing for us.”

The Hawks’ greatest depth may be in the weight events, where a strong returning crop is ready to emerge this season. Gama dominated the throwing events during his time at Hendricken and, even though his graduation left a hole in the Hawks’ lineup, there are plenty of suitors ready to step in.

Dan Freeman, Bucci, Mike Maloof and Nolan Kiernan swept the top four spots in the shot put in Hendricken’s first meet against West Warwick and Cranston East last week while Max Milder, Montanez and Mike Yanish went one-two-three in the weight. That combination figures to score plenty of points for the Hawks this season.

Hendricken defeated West Warwick 81-19 and blanked the Thunderbolts 100-0 in the season opener. The Hawks will have a few weeks off before returning to dual-meet competition on Jan. 6 when they take on Warwick Vets and Toll Gate at the Providence Athletic Facility at 7:45 p.m. From there Hendricken will take aim at capturing the 23rd indoor championship in the program’s history.

“In cross country we might hold guys out of dual meets but you have to run the dual meets indoors in order to get the qualifying marks,” Greene said. “So then we’ll gear up for our bigger invitationals and we’ll focus on the state meet, but it’s gotten to the point where I think our kids are even looking beyond that. They’ll run fast times but they see the state meet as a time to win the state championship and get to New Englands. We’ve got a lot of kids on the team that buy into that selfless approach to the team and it pays off in the end.”

TOLL GATE

The Toll Gate boys’ indoor track team lists just six seniors on a roster that also features 20 underclassmen but while the Titans are small in numbers, they are big on leadership.

“We have a good group of seniors,” Toll Gate coach Jon Deming said. “We don’t have a lot of them, but they are the leaders of this team.”

Seniors Zach Smith, Brad Valletta and Steve Bell are charged with leading a youthful cast this season. The Titans lost some important contributors from last year’s team to graduation, like Austin Pena, John Spelman and Brendan Dohonoey, but a number of other non-returning athletes have put the team in a rebuilding mode. That has also left Toll Gate with a number of holes to fill.

“Last year was a rebuilding year,” Deming said. “We were really young last year and now we have some of those guys coming back as sophomores. But we’re still pretty young.”

Valletta and Bell will lead the Titans’ sprint team, along with Jun Isaji, sophomore Derick Durand and first-year junior Tyler Malo. Malo will run on both of Toll Gate’s relays and will compete in the hurdles.

“We picked up some new guys and that’s going to make a difference for us,” Deming said. “Malo is an example of that. He’s new in the hurdles and he’ll probably need a whole season to completely get the hang of it, but he’s caught on quickly so far. He’s improved a lot over the last few weeks. And that’s how it’s going to be; we have a young team, we have a lot of new faces, but we’re looking to build it back up to where it was in 2005 when we won the Class Championship.”

Toll Gate’s youth movement continues in its distance ranks. Smith will provide the leadership, but will be joined by a pair of sophomores, Joe Frost and Collin Shea, at the top of the Titans’ lineup. Sophomore Josh Frank and freshmen Colin Higgins and Jared Burt also ran distance for Toll Gate in the team’s first dual meet last Friday. Frost (fourth) and Higgins (seventh) competed in the 1,000; Smith (fifth), Frank (sixth), Higgins (eighth) and Burt (ninth) ran the 1,500; and Frost (fifth) and Shea (seventh) represented Toll Gate in the 3,000.

The Titans’ greatest success on the track, not surprisingly, came from their upperclassmen. Valletta placed second in the 55-meter dash in 6.8 seconds and Bell took third in the 300 with a time of 41.6 seconds. Senior Nick Caldwell finished third in the 600 (1:39.60) and Malo grabbed third in the hurdles in 9.9 seconds.

Toll Gate’s 4x200 relay team of Bell, Valletta, Isaji and Malo claimed first place with a time of 1:41.1 while senior Nick Gallagher grabbed the Titans’ lone individual win with a first-place showing in the shot put. Junior Christian Pickering placed second in the shot put and junior Matt Brodeur took second in the weight throw.

“We have some pretty good throwers,” Deming said. “Gallagher is leading the way and he is already throwing really well. He’s right around 40 feet right now and he is going to be big in the shot for us this year.”

Toll Gate tied, 48-48, with Cranston West in the opening meet but lost 57-39 to East Greenwich. The Titans will look to find consistency over the course of the regular season but the team’s goal is going to be tailored more toward its individual performers.

“We just want to try and get as many kids qualified for states as we can,” Deming said. “Gallagher definitely has a good shot and, other than that, I’m not sure. Our sprinters like Bell and Valletta have a chance and, even though the distance events are really stacked this year, our guys could get there with hard work. The first step for us is trying to get as many kids qualifying for the state meet as possible. We want to get them used to competing at the varsity level. We’ll just go from there.”

Toll Gate will be back on the track Jan. 6 to take on Warwick Vets and Bishop Hendricken at the Providence Athletic Facility at 7:45 p.m.

PILGRIM

Pilgrim doesn’t have huge numbers but, the way the Patriots compete, they might not need them. The Pats have an extremely versatile lineup and they are counting on that to take them a long way as they look to make a move in a competitive Suburban Division this winter.

“We use all of our guys in utility roles, so they have to be versatile,” Pilgrim coach Mike Daniels said. “If a guy can do the high hurdles, then maybe he can go out and do the middle distance for us too. If you can run the 4x400 then maybe we use you in the high jump too. We move our guys around like chess pieces and we need them to be able to do multiple things.”

That game plan holds true from Pilgrim’s rookies all the way up to the team’s veterans. Junior Dillin Alexander, the Pats’ most experienced runner, is a shining example of Daniels’ emphasis on multi-tasking. Alexander is slated to run the 600 and 1,000 in addition to doing the high jump and 4x400 relay this season. And he’s not alone. Junior Andrew Carter will compete in the 400, the 4x200 and the high jump.

“Dillin has been great for us,” Daniels said. “We’re expecting more big things out of him this year. What else can I say? And Andrew Carter is a great leader and all-around guy. You name it and he can do it for us. He’s an all-around competitor and that helps give us a lot more depth.”

Pilgrim’s depth is most evident in the distance and middle distance events. Alexander, Ilyas Saad, Ben O’Donnell and Aaron Kazarian ran the 600 in last week’s opening meet against Warwick Vets while Chris Beneduce and Cameron Devine competed in the 1,000. Junior Colin Sutherland finished second in the 1,500 and won the 3,000 with a time of 11 minutes, 37.9 seconds. Senior captain Pat Rice, sophomore Brian Masse and junior Cameron Nunes also ran the 1,500.

“We have a lot of middle distance guys,” Daniels said. “We focus on those events because, if we’re going to score points, that’s where we’re going to score them. We have some good guys running in there and we’re excited to see what they can do.”

Seniors Jeff Conner and Corey Confreda will join Rice as tri-captains for the Pats. Conner is charged with leading an untested group of sprinters while Confreda will look to set an example in the shot put and weight throw.

The Pats’ throwers made a good showing against Vets last week, with Confreda and freshman Dylan Gardner going 1-2 in the weight. Junior Dylan Morris won the shot put with a distance of 33 feet, 8.5 inches and Confreda finished a close second at 32-08.25.

First-year junior Tom Dwyer won the 55 dash in 7.1 seconds, senior Max Perry won the hurdles in 9.1 seconds and the Pats won both relays. The 4x200 team of Carter, Dwyer, Conner and Christian White took first in 1:43.6 while the 4x400 team of Carter, Dwyer, Perry and Alexander won in 3:49.5.

“We’ve had some good groups over the last couple of years,” Daniels said. “Last year we were testing the waters but this year we’re looking to see even more. These guys have been in the program and they know what to expect. Right now we’re still developing and getting guys where they need to be.”

Pilgrim will take on East Greenwich and West Warwick at the Providence Athletic Facility on Jan. 6 at 7:45 p.m.

WARWICK VETS BOYS INDOOR

The Warwick Vets boys’ indoor track team has a lot of fresh faces on its roster this season and the Hurricanes are relying on those newcomers to step in and contribute right away.

With veterans like Sean Givens, Earl Salisbury, Josh Valladolid,

Greg Smith and Ray Zawadski, Vets has its share of returning talent. But for every experienced runner they have, the ’Canes seem to have one or two underclassmen waiting in the wings. It’s a solid mix that has Vets coach Keith Randall optimistic about the program’s future.

“We lost a lot of seniors last year so we have a lot of new faces,” Randall said during the team’s first dual meet against Pilgrim last week. “That means that we have a lot of young guys looking to step up and lead this team. There’s a lot of potential but this is only our first meet and we’re still trying to find out where everyone belongs. Then we’ll start working on getting their times down.”

Givens will run distance for the ’Canes this season and started off the year on a positive note, winning the 1,500 in Vets’ first dual meet. Senior Chris Catalfamo won the 1,000 and finished second in the 3,000 and junior John Nunes won the 300 in 42.2 seconds. Freshman Kyle Givens and sophomore Kevin Shepard will also help out in the middle distance and distance events.

Smith will take on a leadership role for Vets’ sprint team, which will also feature Nunes and freshmen Andrew Morrissette and Thomas Boyajian.

Morrissette took second in the 55-meter dash last week and finished third, behind Nunes and Smith, in the 300. Boyajian is currently sidelined with an injury but is expected to make an instant contribution when he joins the ’Canes’ sprinters later in the season.

Juniors John Ferreira and Steve Deming will compete in the hurdles and the high jump while the veteran core of Ray Zawadski, Jay Moynihan and Jacob Bedard will lead the throwers.

“Those guys have been doing it for the last three years,” Randall said. “They keep progressing and they’re giving us some real depth there.”

Sophomore Joe Spaziano will add to that depth. He was Vets’ top finisher in the shot put against Pilgrim, finishing third with a throw of 32 feet, 5.25 inches.

“He’s coming along quickly,” Randall said. “He’s learned a lot already and I expect him to be one of our top guys.”

For now, Vets’ primary goal is incremental improvement. The ’Canes want to bring their young athletes along while fielding a competitive club this season. They will have their hands full in the next dual meet on Jan. 6 when they go up against Toll Gate and Bishop Hendricken, but Randall is counting on his upperclassmen to help keep the team focused on its long-term goals.

“We have some seniors that are really taking on a big leadership role with this team,” Randall said. “And they know that we have to stay together as a team. We have to improve our times and build toward qualifying for states at the end of the year. Overall, our goal is to see how many guys we can qualify and I think that some of them have a pretty good chance.”