We’re in the thick of the winter playoffs. Some championships have gone down, other tournaments are starting this week. The next few weeks are my favorite of the year.
Here are my takes on what we have seen so far.
We had a trio of girls take home state championships last weekend. Pilgrim’s Keaney Bayha and Toll Gate’s Vanessa Jones took home indoor track titles while Cranston West’s Gianna Desmarais won the all-around title at the gymnastics meet.
Bayha’s stellar senior year continues after she won the individual cross country title back in the fall. Now, she has another medal to add to the collection as she cements her place as one of Pilgrim’s greatest athletes.
Jones made a splash as a sophomore by taking home a top-5 finish in the weight throw and took another step forward this year by winning the state championship as a junior. I’m not sure if she is looking to continue her throwing career at the college level, but by the time she’s a senior, she will have no shortage in opportunities to compete for a college club.
On a similar note, Desmarais had a breakout year as a freshman and won the Vault last season before securing a top-10 finish in the all-around category.
She was dominant at Sunday’s event, defending her Vault title before winning Bars and taking third on the Beam. Although she was considered to be in the mix to take the All-Around championship, I’m not sure if anyone would have guessed she’d take it in dominant fashion before the weekend. It’s impressive to think that she has another two seasons of high school ahead of her. She was a big deal at the youth level when she competed out of Dream Big and now she is the best high school athlete in the state.
The basketball playoffs tip off this week and we have a handful of teams that made the cut.
I know that choosing the Division I boys tournament as my most intriguing is as cliché as it gets, but I am fascinated by how this is going to shake out.
La Salle remained undefeated and enters the postseason as the favorite, but the next few teams all beat up on each other and are fully capable of pulling off a potential upset. Classical played the Rams tough and are the defending champs, Hendricken split its games with the Purple, and fourth-place Barrington beat the Hawks when they met. Central, Portsmouth and Lincoln are all capable of emerging as factors as well. Although the Rams are the top dog, it is pretty wide open from there.
The girls race that I will be following closest to will be in Division III, where third-seeded Pilgrim will represent our coverage area.
The Pats flew out the gate this season and proved to be a contender with an 11-2 league record. Matchups make fights, so you can’t do simple scoreboard math, but No.1 Lincoln School’s only loss came to second-seeded Exeter West Greenwich, who the Pats beat. Pilgrim’s losses came to the Lynx and fourth-place Prout, who is right in the mix as well. This is a true four-team race in the state’s most interesting division.
The Toll Gate wrestling team took home the Division II/III Championship and will have a few grapplers looking to make noise at next weekend’s state championship. As always, the Hawks will be well-represented along with Cranston West. Johnston’s Logan Martins will be a player and Cranston East may send one or two guys as well.
Ponaganset has built a super team up north, and from what I have seen and heard it appears to be the real deal. The Chieftains will have a chance to run away with the team title with relative ease. Let’s see how many of our guys can pull off wins and make this a fight on the team level.
The swimming division championships went down at Roger Williams last weekend and the defending champion Hawks took home the DI crown, setting them up as the favorite to win the state meet coming up on March 2nd.
It has been an intriguing regular season in DI swim. Hendricken has been impressive with largely a new lineup while the South County co-op has been right in the mix and beat Hendricken when they met. North Kingstown and Barrington were also very competitive at divisions.
It is too close of a race to declare a firm favorite for states, but the Hawks seem to have the inside track. Any of those other three teams can win, though, which should make it one of the closest state championships in recent years.
Hockey playoffs start next weekend so we will get into that next week once we see how the seeding breaks down. Hendricken is fighting for the top spot in DI, while Toll Gate-East Greenwich is clinging onto first place in DII. The Cranston co-op will be a dark horse in DII. Just as a preview.