It's a long-awaited girls outdoor track title for North Kingstown

PROVIDENCE – Saturday saw North Kingstown finally get over the last hurdle when it comes to outdoor girls track and field success.

Southern Division and Class A championships have come by the handful in previous years, but the state meet crown remained elusive. Multiple recent versions of the Skippers came up just shy when the action shifted to Brown Stadium on the final weekend.

This summer-like afternoon finally brought a certain long-awaited trophy for the program, with North Kingstown pulling away from the field and breaking through in style. They racked up 108 points on June 6 to take down La Salle (80), Barrington (61), Moses Brown (58) and Exeter-West Greenwich (46), completing a clean sweep of their three major meets this season.

Abby O’Neil, Reagan Farrell and Tayla Schneider all hit for individual gold, with Schneider doubling up in the hammer and shot put. O’Neil also ran a leg on the 4×800-meter relay to help set the tone for the day, as the Skippers crossed the line first in the opening event on the track. No other team was able to match the combination of top-end talent and significant depth flashed by the eventual champions.

“Everyone did great,” O’Neil said. “We knew everything just had to align.

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“Last year on paper it looked like we had a chance, but the rain delay, we had an injury, someone couldn’t make it – it didn’t line up. This year it did, and everyone did their best.”

O’Neil, Lucy Stowe, Maura Whitney and Abbie Tighe made an early statement in the distance relay, clocking a time of 9:18.32 to beat the Rams by more than three seconds. O’Neil extended that strong form into the 800, making her move with about 200 meters left and holding off the field in a time of 2:14.11 that stands as the state’s best this season. It was early in the meet but North Kingstown was starting to build a cushion.

“That’s what allowed us to win,” O’Neil said. “We have girls everywhere. We got points everywhere we could in relays, throwing, jumping, hurdles.”

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Farrell emerged as a star this spring and put away the 300 hurdles by more than a second. Schneider was watching the action unfold on her phone while doing her work outside the oval. She uncorked a personal best by three feet to win the hammer and posted a mark of 39-6 to grind out the shot put by less than an inch.

“A big part of it was for the team, obviously,” Schneider said. “I love these girls. It’s great practicing with them.

“I love the distance runners. They’re some of my best friends.”

Alyssa Parenteau captured the 1,500 to give La Salle an individual gold, and the Rams went with a collective approach from there. Olivia Wahlberg closed third in the 1,500, Parenteau took fourth in the 800 and Jillian Lewis secured top-four places in the 100 hurdles, 300 hurdles and high jump. La Salle also collected some points in the relays with three top-four finishes.

Helena Hyde took silver in the high jump and Kitty Wang claimed bronze in the discus for the Eagles, who also took team silver in the 4×100 and 4×400. Barrington started its day on the track with bronze in the 4×800, a relay result that helped put them in contention.

The Quakers did the bulk of their scoring in the sprints, with Skyler Maxwell in terrific form to the tune of four gold medals. She set a new meet record while winning the 400, clocked a personal best while claiming the 200 and ran a leg of a pair of winning relays with Rose Couto, Kendra Satine and Amaya Felder. That was the only quartet to crack the 50-second mark in the 4×100, and they crushed the field by more than 12 seconds in the 4×400.

“All credit to our coaches,” Maxwell said. “They prepared us so well. And we’ve been running together for a really long time.”

Nini Olawuyi signed off with gold in the 100 hurdles and triple jump to help power the Scarlet Knights into the team top five. St. Raphael boasted a pair of winners at opposite ends of the distance spectrum – Francesca Justin in the 100 and Mackenzie Lickert in the 3,000. South Kingstown’s Jasmine Thompson claimed the high jump while the Warwick pair of Vanessa Jones and Lia Wasilewski took the discus and javelin for Toll Gate and Pilgrim, respectively.

Thea Jackson made the most of her last long jump attempt with Mt. Hope, matching a personal best at 19-1 and repeating as the champion. She hit the same distance last year and needed every bit of it to edge Portsmouth’s Loosaper Tate, whose mark of 18-11¾ was good for the lead to that point. Jackson also took bronze in the 100 and scored in the high jump.

The day’s only girls state record came thanks to a previous holder – Ponaganset pole vaulter Amber Shaw. She cleared 12-9 to better the 12-1¼ she posted early in May, and three attempts at 13-0 all came up just shy. Shaw also took down a long-standing meet record in the process, erasing the 11-1¼ set by Noelle Battista all the way back in June 2001.

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1, North Kingstown, 108; 2, La Salle, 80; 3, Barrington, 61; 4, Moses Brown, 58; 5, Exeter-West Greenwich, 46; 6, Cumberland, 33; 7, Classical, 30; 8, St. Raphael, 29; 9, Ponaganset, 28; 10, Mt. Hope, 23.5; 11, Hope, 22; 12, Portsmouth, 21; T13, South Kingstown and Chariho, 20; 15, Pilgrim, 18; 16, East Greenwich, 17.5; 17, Prout, 17; 18, Toll Gate, 14; 19, West Warwick, 12; T20, Lincoln, Smithfield and Woonsocket, 10; 23, Westerly, 9; T24, Coventry and Scituate, 8; 26, Central, 6; T27, Middletown and Cranston West, 5; T29, Rogers and North Providence, 4; T31, Cranston East and Tolman, 2.

100 – 1, Francesca Justin, SR, 12.13; 2, Zariyah Brown, H, 12.16; 3, Thea Jackson, MH, 12.23; 4, Kendra Satine, MB, 12.24; 5, Jezayah Gomes, Cent., 12.50; 6, Kate Hebert, EWG, 12.51; 7, KaNai Perry-Spann, CE, 12.53; 8, Ellie Gagnon, NK, 12.74.

200 – 1, Skyler Maxwell, MB, 24.77; 2, Brown, H, 24.83; 3, Rose Couto, MB, 25.40; 4, Justin, SR, 25.43; 5, Hebert, EWG, 25.58; 6, Kate Pearse, Barr., 25.71; 7, Gomes, Cent., 25.77; 8, Gagnon, NK, 25.99.

400 – 1, Maxwell, MB, 54.65 (meet record – Xenia Raye, WW, 54.73, 2024); 2, Hebert, EWG, 56.23; 3, Brown, H, 56.65; 4, Pearse, Barr., 56.70; 5, Couto, MB, 57.00; 6, Maci LaFontaine, Ponag., 57.67; 7, Jasleen Freitas, Tol., 58.27; 8, Olivia Tucker, LS, 59.93.

800 – 1, Abby O’Neil, NK, 2:14.11; 2, Aubrey Jarvis, Pil., 2:16.10; 3, Meriden Alge, Char., 2:17.15; 4, Alyssa Parenteau, LS, 2:17.76; 5, Kayla Siedliski, EG, 2:18.29; 6, Carolina Terlato, LS, 2:18.60; 7, Layne Stevens, LS, 2:19.22; 8, Maura Whitney, NK, 2:19.58.

1500 – 1, Parenteau, LS, 4:39.97; 2, Charli McCue, Cumb., 4:43.07; 3, Olivia Wahlberg, LS, 4:43.79; 4, Cecelia Ludwig, Cumb., 4:44.87; 5, Stevens, LS, 4:44.96; 6, Sienna Adams, Ports., 4:47.44; 7, Meg Adams, Ports., 4:49.52; 8, Ellie Jackson, Ponag., 4:51.19.

3000 – 1, Mackenzie Lickert, SR, 10:22.70; 2, Molly Richardson, Cov., 10:30.04; 3, Ludwig, Cumb., 10:34.74; 4, Evelyn Lefort, Barr., 10:39.98; 5, Abbie Tighe, NK, 10:42.20; 6, Anna Bianchi, Cumb., 10:42.65; 7, Lucy Stowe, NK, 10:43.88; 8, Satya Mohan, LS, 10:46.06.

100 hurdles – 1, Nini Olawuyi, EWG, 15.06; 2, Jailynn Huffman, WW, 15.21; 3, Julianna Williams, NK, 15.23; 4, Jillian Lewis, LS, 15.30; 5, Deslian Robles, Rog., 15.74; 6, Reagan Farrell, NK, 15.81; 7, Anna LaFontaine, Ponag., 16.52; 8, Ivory Black, WW, 16.54.

300 hurdles – 1, Farrell, NK, 45.84; 2, Bria Bender, SK, 46.87; 3, Lewis, LS, 47.06; 4, Maya Ferris, Midd., 47.11; 5, Charlotte Farrell, Barr., 47.53; 6, Loosaper Tate, Ports., 48.28; 7, A. LaFontaine, Ponag., 48.57; 8, Elena Pacheco, Cumb., 48.85.

4×100 – 1, MB (Couto, Maxwell, Amaya Felder, Satine), 47.99; 2, Barr., 50.14; 3, NK, 50.34; 4, LS, 50.65; 5, Class., 50.86; 6, WW, 51.46; 7, SK, 51.53; 8, Char., 51.60.

4×400 – 1, MB (Felder, Couto, Satine, Maxwell), 3:55.52; 2, Barr., 4:07.86; 3, LS, 4:08.73; 4, Ports., 4:08.91; 5, EG, 4:11.74; 6, NK, 4:11.99; 7, Linc., 4:12.17; 8, Char., 4:12.85.

4×800 – 1, NK (O’Neil, Whitney, Stowe, Tighe), 9:18.32; 2, LS, 9:21.44; 3, Barr., 9:35.48; 4, CW, 10:01.48; 5, Cumb., 10:10.34; 6, Char., 10:17.23; 7, Class., 10:21.69; 8, EG, 10:23.59.

High jump – 1, Jasmine Thompson, SK, 5-4; 2, Helena Hyde, Barr., 5-2; 3, Lewis, LS, 5-2; 4, Olawuyi, EWG, 5-0; 5, Lillian Baxter, Char., 5-0; 6, Daniella Sisco, NK, 5-0; T7, Jackson, MH, and Addison Fain, EG, 4-10.

Long jump – 1, Jackson, MH, 19-1; 2, Tate, Ports., 18-11¼; 3, Olawuyi, EWG, 18-2; 4, Farrell, NK, 17-6¼; 5, Jourdan Cicchinelli, MH, 17-2; 6, Satine, MB, 16-11¼; 7, Allie Ford, Barr., 16-4¾; 8, Ella Intrieri, NP, 16-2¼.

Triple jump – 1, Olawuyi, EWG, 39-2; 2, Farrell, NK, 35-9¾; 3, Gulianna Hasenfus, Cumb. 34-10; 4, Quinn Folan, Barr., 34-5½; 5, Allison Kuznar, EG, 34-1½; 6, Hannah Gorham, EG, 33-8¼; 7, Kara Pisasale, MH, 33-5¾; 8, Lily Mbai, NK, 33-4¾.

Pole vault – 1, Amber Shaw, Ponag., 12-9 (state and meet record – Shaw, Ponag., 12-1¼, 5-2-26; Noelle Battista, TG, 11-1¼, June 2001); 2, Addie Daigle, Pr., 10-6; 3, Samantha Vance, NK, 10-0; 4, Aislinn Henry, Linc. 10-0; 5, Camryn Bromage, LS, 9-0; 6, Sophie Tamboe, NK, 9-0; 7, Mackenzie Baker, NK, 9-0; 8, Siena Leland, Barr., 9-0.

Hammer – 1, Tayla Schneider, NK, 180-6; 2, Nelmarix Santos Mojica, Class., 178-3; 3, Avaree Caron, Woon., 172-1; 4, Emma Reed, Smith., 171-8; 5, Cecelia Bizon, Ponag., 168-7; 6, Lilah Fortier, Linc., 168-5; 7, Vanessa Jones, TG, 168-1; 8, Julia Smith, Pr., 168-1.

Shot put – 1, Schneider, NK, 39-6; 2, Valentina Mancini, Scit., 39-5¼; 3, Madison Pellegrino, West., 35-1¾; 4, Sonja Beasley, Char., 34-4¾; 5, Caron, Woon., 33-9¾; 6, Santos Mojica, Class., 33-9¼; 7, Jones, TG, 33-6½; 8, Jaida DellaMorte-Pitts, NP, 33-¾.

Discus – 1, Jones, TG, 129-5; 2, Santos Mojica, Class., 122-11; 3, Kitty Wang, Barr., 116-1; 4, Taylor McGinness, Smith., 110-4; 5, Sahara Argamonte, Class., 109-9; 6, Pellegrino, West., 108-10; 7, DellaMorte-Pitts, NP, 103-6; 8, Chibuzo Ihenacho, Class., 103-3.

Javelin – 1, Lia Wasilewski, Pil., 135-6; 2, Caroline Smith, Pr., 118-7; 3, Dylan Wolf, LS, 116-9; 4, Alyssa Lupo, Ponag., 107-8; 5, Maddie Varone, SR, 107-2; 6, Schneider, NK, 104-6; 7, Gabriella Rossi, LS, 101-1; 8, Zoe Glover, Ponag., 100-8.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Results from the 2026 RIIL Girls Track State Championships on Saturday