First, I'ld like to thank all of the guys that made the effort to get out to the track and workout/attend the meets throughout the vacation.  Thats true commitment and dedication, good work.  
        Second let me fill you in on this weeks highlights as well as some area's we have to improve.
                Highlights:  
                        1.  We had 22 guys participate in our JV meet today.  A lot of pr's and solid performances by the guys.  I was very happy with throwers Andrew DelSanto, Matt Julius, and Ryan Fletcher.  Those guys have been pushing themselves in workouts and practicing their technique a lot.  DelSanto and Julius threw 40 and 39 feet respectively in the weight.  Reaching 40 feet is a big step for a weight thrower.  Fletcher hit 35 feet in the shot put which is a 3 foot pr from last week.  Keep it up guys!  I was also very happy with performances by our young distance team, in particular, Cooper Richmond and Sean Blythe.  They both broke 5 minutes in the 1500, and it was their first ever time running the 1500.  Cooper also ran a 55.9 opening split in the 4x400m relay.  Thats the fastest 400 by anyone on the jv or varsity team so far this season.  Great job Cooper!  Also, Sam Rakip, in his first ever high jump competition won the jv high jump with a jump of 5-2!  Great showing today JV guys!
                        2.  The varisty guys had an AWESOME workout this morning.  The sprinters went 80-100-120 x 2.  The guys were really moving today, I was very happy with their effort on those reps.  They finished the day with a shoulders and core circuit.   The distance guys did 14x200 meters. Thats 1.75 miles of speed work.  Joe Maiato, Tyler Rosenberg, and Alex Jenkins were giving me flashbacks of our incredible mid-distance squad from last year.  I was very proud to see both groups showing heart and grit on the track today.  Meanwhile in the hammer circle, there must have been some fast spinning going on today because they broke 3 hammer wires!  One of them went through the cage and nearly took my foot off!  The throwers finished up with a good core and grip strength circuit.            
                        3.  In terms of how our meet went on Wednesday, I was a little disappointed in our performances....BUT....I also think some of you redeemed yourselves with the varsity workout and jv meet today.  Listen, there is no better feeling then setting a new personal best, winning your heat, having the best throw of the day, etc.  Thats the pay off of hard work.  We have to have more practices and meets like today, where guys are pushing themselves and each other and giving everything they have.  Don't hold back!  Be tough and find that last bit of energy!  Trust me, you'll look back on your accomplishments and be proud of how far you've come. 

Have a safe and happy new year!  See you on Monday!

We had a really good turn out on the first day of vacation for the intersquad meet!  We also had 7 alumni athletes compete on an all-alumni team against the current team.... And they won!  Way to go Alumni!  What is pretty impressive is that we have at least five athletes from last years team competing on the college level.
John Corbett-Johns Hokpins-Distance
Chris Corbett-Johns Hopkins-Distance
Marcus Sandoval-Rhode Island College-Mid Distance/Jumps
RJ Wilkie-Keene State-Mid Distance
Tyler Oliveira-University of Rhode Island-Sprints
A few other alum's came by to tear it up on the track and in the field, Kyle Torres, Arthur Tyler, Jamie Brown, and Andrew DeSousa.  Also, awesome job helpers/timers Ali Coyne and Mackenzie Donovan!

It was a beautiful day for an outdoor meet and we ended the event with a bunch of pizza!   I hope we can keep this tradition going, it was great to see the older guys come back and push the current team!

The most recent edition of the Gourley's List of the best 25lb-Weight Throwers in the United States came out on Monday.  Our own senior captain Alex Briggs was listed as 10th!  Congrats Alex, hard work pays off!

We had our first statewide meeting this past Saturday at PCTA.  The meet started with a cancer awareness ceremony which I thought was very inspiring.  Thank you to all the athletes that made a donation and decorated a bag for the Light Up the Track walk. 
Top finishers:
    Alex Briggs, 58-08.75 in the weight throw.  Not only is that mark a school record, but that effort will put him in the top 20 of the national rankings.  Yes...the nation.  Rhode Island one of the 14 or 16 states that throw the 25 pound weight AND we are very competitive.  RI will  typically send 10 or 12 athletes to nationals each year(including our own Alex Briggs, Laura Thurston, and Becky Cousens last year!)
    Peter Lowen, 19-09.5 in the long jump.  Placed 7th overall, top underclassman in the event and a personal best.  Also ran on the 4x200 and tied his pr in the 55 dash in 6.9, just missed making semi's.
    Ryan Ake, 1:31.6 in the 600.  Placed 7th overall, pr of 3 seconds.  Ryan opened up his season well and is at or near the top of our depth chart in the 400 and 600 meter races. 


Nice work fellas, lets have a good week of practice before taking some time off to relax over vacation!

First of all, here's some quick history on the Chariho v Portsmouth battles....
Last Indoor Season:
    Dual Meet: Portsmouth wins, Chariho second
    Southern Division Meet: Chariho wins, Portsmouth second(9 teams)
    Class B Meet: Chariho wins, Portsmouth second(11 teams)
    State Meet: Chariho fourth, Portsmouth eighth(24 teams)
Last Outdoor Season:
    Class B Meet: Chariho first, Portsmouth second(11 teams)
    State Meet: Chariho first, Portsmouth fifth(26 teams)
The battle continued tonight, Chariho won by 4 points, 56 to 52.  It was a solid effort from our guys team.  A few of the highlights were:
    1. Nick Tyler.  Nick long jumped for the first time in practice just about 24 hours before this meet started.  And with that, he won the event with a jump of 19-08.  He also came in 2nd in the hurdles, 3rd in the 600, and ran lead off on the winning 4x200.  Can't think of a better of example of willing to do what ever it takes to help out the team.
    2. Throwers...again!  1-2-3 in the Shot Put and 1-2-3 in the Weight Throw.  You guys are starting the year with a bang!  Briggs is leading both events, and he's only 5 feet off the school record in Weight Throw.  Maloney is starting to find his strength and timing again in the weight with marks out at 47/48.   Serina is making big time improvements in his first couple meets.  We've never had three guys throwing 50 feet in one season....could this be the year?
   1st place finishes:
         -4x200, Jason Burghouwt, Nick Tyler, Tim Mello, Allen Nickerson
        -4x400, Alex Eyster, Cody Anderson, Pete Lowen, Ryan Ake
        -Weight Throw, Alex Briggs
        -Shot Put, Alex Briggs
        -Long Jump, Nick Tyler
    2nd place finishes:
        -High Jump, Peter Lowen
        -Long Jump, Peter Lowen
        -3000, Joe Maiato
        -1500, Austin Grande
        -55 Hurdles, Nick Tyler
        -Weight Throw, Phil Maloney
    3rd place finishes:
        -55 dash, Pete Lown
        -300, Allen Nickerson
        -600, Nick Tyler

Also, I would like to point out our hard working jv guys that had a workout today on the track.  Distance guys did 10x400 meters, Sprints guys did 100-150-200-150-100, and throwers completed 4 sets of a sprint, jump, lift, and twist workout.  The highlight was probabaly the last 400 repeat the distance guys ran in honor of Alex Greer who showed up to practice today with a brace on after dislocating his knee at the jv meet on Saturday.  I have never seen a person bear with so much pain as Alex did on Saturday.  He's a warrior and lets all hope for a speedy recovery.

    The boys team competed in their first ever Large Schools Division Injury Fund competition placing 6th as a team.  I put together the small schools and large schools results later in the evening and came up with some interesting stats...
    1. Turns out the shuttle hurdlers ran the 5th fastest time overall.  That team was comprised of our veteran hurdler Tim Mello and three guys that are all relatively new to the barriers, Nick Tyler, Pat Maiato, and Ryan Ake.  They stepped up big for us, nice job guys.  

    2. Our 4x200 meter relay team had the 4th fastest time in the state.  Nick Tyler, Jason Burghouwt, Tim Mello, and Peter Lowen combined for a time of 1:39.0.  With a whole season to work on speed, strength, hand-offs, etc, the sky is the limit for our sprints corps.
   
    3. The Throwers!  Our Shot Put and our Weight Throw Relay both finished 7th overall!  The amazing part of that story is that we only have two returning throwers from last years indoor team, seniors Alex Briggs and Phil Maloney!  We had Anthony Serina, Ryan Fletcher, Andrew DelSanto all come up big in their first indoor meet.

    It's been a hectic first 2 weeks but I've really been impressed with our teams enthusiasm and work ethic.  Keep pushing each other and working hard and we can make this an awesome season.

    Since the program started in 1998 the boys have competed in the Small Schools Division.  Last year they tied for 1st in the Small Schools Division with Classical High School.