PROVIDENCE – Lincoln High seniors Christian Toro and Jillian Leahy continued to add to their collection of track and field medals at the New England Weight Championships last Wednesday, March 1, at the Providence Career & Technical Academy field house, as the defending state champions easily took first place in their respective events.
Toro won the boys’ 25-pound weight with a throw of 73 feet, 5 1/2 inches that was nearly four feet further than the one turned in by the runner-up finisher, Bishop Hendricken senior Keith Daigneau.
Also landing All-New England honors was Lincoln senior Aidan Moreau, who finished sixth with a throw of 61-5, and junior Tyler Durang rounded out the top 10 placements with a 57-foot throw. Cumberland senior Patrick Conserve also took 11th place with a 56-foot throw, and his classmate, Jared Ptaszek, placed 14th with a throw of 52-4 1/4.
Leahy, meanwhile, captured the girls’ 20-pound weight with a throw of 52 feet, 5 3/4 inches. Finishing a distant second was Woonsocket sophomore Bella Piette, whose throw was 45 feet, 2 3/4 inches.
Cumberland senior Morgan Champi and sophomore Brynn Patterson also picked up All-New England honors, as Champi finished fourth with a throw of 44-11 1/4 and Patterson placed seventh at 40-7 3/4.
On deck for the area’s throwers are two national meets that are being held this weekend in this part of the nation – the New Balance Championships at The Track, New Balance’s new $300 million facility near its headquarters on Guest Street in Boston, and the Nike Championships at The Armory in Manhattan, N.Y.
Leahy and Champi will compete in the Championship Division on Friday at 4:30 p.m. at the New Balance meet, and Toro and Moreau will be in action at the Nike meet that same afternoon at 2 p.m.
On Saturday at 2 p.m., Toro and Moreau will arrive in Boston and join their teammates, juniors Tyler Durang and Ravi Kapadia. in the Championship Division of the New Balance meet.
Patterson and Ptaszek, meanwhile, will compete in the Nike meet’s Emerging Elite Division – Patterson on Friday at 11 a.m. and Ptaszek on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. – and participating in the Rising Stars weight throw on Sunday at noon at the New Balance meet will be Lincoln junior Mitch Murtha.
“I am very happy with how our throwers have competed so far this season,” reported Lincoln coach Brian Grant. “Christian and Jill have both broken the previous school records in the weight held by Kyle Moison and Sam Andrews.”
With school vacation taking place right after the state meet on Saturday, Feb, 18, Grant decided to give his throwers some time off before stepping into the circle for last Wednesday’s meet, and he was very pleased with their performances.
“I knew they wouldn’t be at their best, but to have them compete at a high level makes me feel good about the upcoming national championships,” he added.
Last weekend, the 35th annual New England Indoor Track & Field Championships also returned to the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury, Mass., and picking up a top-10 finish in that meet was Conserve, who placed eighth in the boys’ shot put with a throw of 51-9.
Cumberland senior Cole McCue also finished 13th in the boys’ mile in a time of 4:25.81, and the girls’ 4x800 relay team of junior Summer Sartini, freshman Charli McCue, and sophomores Emily Bourke and Rose Tuomisto placed 16th in 9:58.44.
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