'Q' breaks three more state meet records
State Meet Highlights
The RIIL Track and Field Championships come a week after the class championships and take place at Brown University in Providence. Rhode Island is a small state with that had a lot of quality in 2015, including University of Nebraska signee Quashira McIntosh, who became the state’s greatest female sprinter.
Top Performances:
- Senior Quashira McIntosh of Hope continued to dominate the sprints in Rhode Island. She ran 11.82 to crush her own state meet record in the 100 meters, ran 24.32 to beat her own record in the 200 meters and then ran 55.44 to beat the state record in the 400. She also anchored the winning 4x100 relay.
- Jack Salisbury of La Salle, a junior, won the 800 meters in 1:55.25 and also took the 1,500 in 3:58.24. He was also part of the winning 4x800 relay.
- The boys hammer competition was just about the best in the U.S., with Barrington teammates Bobby Colantonio, Adam Kelly, and Mike Alvernaz going 1-2-3 with big throws. Colantonio won it with 234-7, Kelly was next with 227-11 and Alvernaz was third with 198-3.
- In the boys 3,000 meters it was another pair of La Salle teammates, junior Matt Bouthilette (8:32.10) and sophomore David Principe Jr (8:36.54) who went 1-2.
- Eliza Rego, a junior from La Salle, edged out her teammate Sheridan Wilbur to collect the win in the 1,500 meters in 4:32.42 to Wilbur’s 4:33.24. Sophomore Katarina Ho of North Kingstown was third in 4:36.97.
- Sheridan Wilbur, a senior from La Salle, won the 3,000 meters in 9:56.54 to break a state meet record. Cross country state champion Emma McMillan of Barrington was second in 10:09.71.
- Junior Chevell Burgess of Hope won the girls 300 hurdles in 44.57, placed second in the 100 hurdles (15.19) and also was part of her team’s winning 4x400 relay.
- Junior Nathan Narcisse of Classical doubled in the hurdles, taking the 110s in 14.62 and the 300s in 40.22.
- Senior Alva Hicks of Classical won the girls discus by 18 feet, with a meet record toss of 147-9. She also won the shot put with 39-9.25 and was fifth in the hammer.
- Austin Wolo, a sophomore from Central, won the boys 400 meters in 49.33.
Top Teams:
The Smithfield girls got a lot of points out of the field events and pieced enough of them together to overcome the firepower of Hope to win the team title with 83 points. On the boys side, La Salle’s distance runners were able to beat Barrington’s hammer throwers, 80-69.
Top Competition:
It's impossible to ignore that the featured event in Rhode Island is the hammer. Not only is the state one of the few to compete in the high school hammer, but it's got an avid following and Bob Gourley's weekly rankings list is also generated in Rhode Island. The back and forth between Adam Kelly and Bobby Colantonio was a competition that raged throughout the year and all the way to nationals and U.S. juniors. And although congenial, they had different coaches. Kelley was coached by Gourley and Colantonio by his father. Kelly finished the season ranked No. 1 (245-4), Colantonio No. 2 (243-7) and teammate Mike Alvernaz was No. 7 (204-6).
Record-breaker: Quashira McIntosh, who also competes for her native Virgin Islands, stamped her claim as the greatest female sprinter in Rhode Island history.
