EAST PROVIDENCE — A handful of East Providence-middle school aged track and field athletes enjoyed continued successes during the recent summer club season, including a visit to the youth nationals at the University of Oregon in Eugene.

Jack Pawlik, Juliana Maldonado, Laejah Preston, Jordin Peckham, Vivyana Gomes and Caitlin Massey took part as members of the Fast Track Track and Field Club operated by Ernest Fennell, who also just completed his first year as the Martin Middle School girls' outdoor coach this past spring.

Maldonado specialized in the long jump, high jump, hurdles, sprints, and 4x100 meter relay; Preston the high jump, short sprints, and the 4x100 meter relay; Peckham the high jump, long sprints, and both the 4x100 and 4x400 meter relays; Gomes both the short and long sprints, the 4x100 and 4x400 relays, and the long and high jump as well; and Massey the long sprints, and both the 4x100 and 4x400 meter relays.

"Initially, the girls were hesitant to join Fast Track due to being involved in other sports during the summer and the possibility of taking family vacations," said Fennell. "However, with the success the girls had during the middle school season, the girls did not hesitate."

At the USATF New England Association Junior Olympic Championship Meet at Fitchburg (Mass.) State University on June 24, the girls placed 4th in the 4x100m relay with a time of 58.8 and 2nd place in the 4x400m Relay with a time of 4:50.18. They continued their success and improved once again at the USATF Region 1 Championship by placing 3rd in the 4x100m relay with a time 56.44 with newcomer Serenity Lewis.

In the 4x400m relay with newcomer Eleanor Lial, who attends Kickemuit Middle School in the Bristol-Warren regional school, and assigning double duty to short sprinter Preston, both teamed up with Caitlin Massey, and Jordin Peckham to muster up a 4th place finished in which garnered them a qualifying spot at the USATF National Junior Olympics that was held at famed Hayward Field in Eugene.

At Nationals, the 4x100m relay were going to be without their two speedsters, Gomes and Lewis, but newcomer Lial agreed to a triple duty role by running the 4x100m relay on Thursday night, the 4x400m relay on late Friday night, and to come back early morning at 8 a.m. to run her individual race in the 3000 meters.

Not only did the four girls persevere in the 4x100m relay, they improved their time in the 4x400m relay, and Lial had an impressive personal best of 23.97 seconds in her individual event after perfecting the role of team player in her other two events.

"In moving forward, I look forward to having Jordin, Laejah and Caitlin continue to lead the Martin Middle School girls track and field team as they did when I arrived," Fennell added. "Hopefully, the rest of the girls will extend their spring season into the summer by getting on the right track with Fast Track in the summer of 2024."

As for Pawlik, he specialized in the long jump, sprints, and relays. However, the athletes were able to focus only on the running events due to not having a high jump or long jump pit to practice.

Pawlik did well at both the New England and Region 1 championships, but fell short of qualifying for nationals. He did complete his season by winning the gold Medal in 100 and 200 meter dash at the 3rd Annual CLCF Summer Showdown in Cranston.

Other athletes from East Providence were also successful at the New England and Region 1 Championships.

In the 4x100m relays, at New Englands, we had newcomers Jaden Gonzalez leading off to Zekiel Palacios-Palmucci to Rocco Conti, and to veteran Azirel Deandrade anchoring the team to a Gold First Place Finish as USATF New England Junior Olympic Champions.

In the absence of Azirel Deandrade and Gabriel Chantre, both of Pawtucket, stepped in as an alternate and showed that he's a contender as well and led the team to another gold first place finish as Region 1 Junior Olympic Champions. Palacios-Palmucci, Jaden Gonzalez and Rocco Conti are all East Providence residents.

All five athletes qualified for the national championship, but were unable to make the trip. Although Gonzalez, Palacios-Palmucci, Conti, and Chantre did not attend nationals they represented again at the 3rd Annual CLCF Summer Showdown and won the 800 meter Sprint Medley Relay with first place finish of 2:14.40.

At the USATF Junior New Englands, Alaysiah Kane and Zariella Palacios-Palmucci placed 7th and 8th respectively in the 100 meter dash with times of 18.11 and 18.58. In the 200, Kane placed 8th with a time of 42.54. At the Region 1 Junior Olympic Championship, Palacios-Palmucci and Kane both ran a personal best of 17.91 and 18.067, respectively.