Message to the community

Our athletes, other coaches and I are so fortunate to have such an important army of parents there to support us all along the way. It was really special to have so many of them in the crowd and on the floor afterwards to celebrate the win. This is now a very solid track and field community here in Barrington. It starts with Coach Gunness and his excellent Middle School program, and has built up to this. We even had alumni and alumni parents on the floor afterwards. I received a lot of texts congratulating the team, including from 2003 BHS pole vault star Brad Holtz. This means a lot to the whole BHS track and field community, and I am very happy for everyone involved.”

BHS Boys Track Coach Bill Barrass

State track meet, team scoring

1. Barrington — 97.5 points

2. LaSalle — 64.5

3. Hendricken — 57

4. Moses Brown — 33

5. (Tie) Classical, Central, Westerly — 24

8. Cranston West — 21

9. Portsmouth — 20

10. North Smithfield — 19

11. (Tie) Lincoln, Narragansett — 16

13. (Tie) Chariho, Ponaganset — 13

15. Smithfield — 12

16. East Greenwich — 10

17. (Tie) Cumberland, Woonsocket — 9

19. (Tie) St. Raphael’s, Rogers — 8

21. Toll Gate — 7.5

22. North Kingstown — 6.5

23. (Tie) Pilgrim, Shea, MSC — 6

26. (Tie) Exeter-WG, South Kingstown — 4

28. Mount Pleasant — 3

29. (Tie) North Providence, Prout — 2

31. Hope — 1

The Barrington High School boys indoor track team highlighted a memorable season by winning the state championship on Saturday, Feb. 17. 

It was the first-ever state title for a BHS boys track team — indoor or outdoor.

Barrington High School Coach Bill Barrass said he has never seen a team so focused and committed going into the state championship meet.

“There was energy on the bus, but also calm and confidence,” Barrass wrote in an email to the Barrington Times. “They were relaxed. I asked them whether they had confidence that they could win this one, and it was a resounding yes. I really knew then that this was going to be the day. I think it was only the coaches who were feeling pressure. I have a sense that the athletes knew that they were going to dominate. I was shocked at how much they won by. That was an incredible margin.”

The Eagles scored 97.5 points and finished well ahead of second place LaSalle Academy (64.5 points) and third place Bishop Hendricken (57 points). 

“It means a lot to all of us. I think everyone knew we had this potential,” Coach Barrass wrote. 

Barrington scored points in 12 out of the 14 events and had three school record performances. 

The Eagles’ 4x400-meter relay team of Will DiGiacomo, Hayden Knight, Iain DeBoth and Ethan Knight won a state title and set a new school record. The team’s time of 3:30.24 snapped the 2017 school record held by Mars Bishop, Hayden Ivatts, Sam Read and George Wicker. 

Ethan Knight also won an individual state title in the 55-meter hurdles. Knight, a senior, finished with a time of 7.54 seconds. Barrington scored key team points in that event as Bobby Wind finished second overall, just four one-hundredths of a second behind Ethan Knight. Jared Lesk finished fifth and Ryan Martin was eighth. 

The 4x200-meter relay team of Gabe Tanous, Charly Potter, Ethan Knight and DeBoth finished second overall and set a new school record with a time of 1:32.50. That time broke the 2010 record set by Marc DeSisto, Ryan Gower, Ed Mercer and Mike Read. Tanous also celebrated a fourth place finish in the 55-meter race with a time of 6.58 seconds. 

The biggest surprise of the meet may have come in the long jump. 

Barrington High School senior Chucky Potter entered the meet as the 16th seed overall — it was just his second time ever competing in the long jump. Potter jumped 21 feet, eight inches and finished in second place overall. The distance also tied a school record set in 2021 by Will Sanchez. 

Aden Memoli jumped 20 feet, 7.75 inches and finished in ninth place overall.

Lost shoe

Barrington’s 4x800-meter relay team started the meet with a memorable performance. 

The group of Henry Stockwell, Daniel Chun, Marius Bonard, and Myles Napolitano lost a shoe on the first leg of the relay and then dropped the baton between the third and fourth legs. Despite the slips, the Eagles finished second overall with a season’s best time 8:15.41. 

Joe Adams picked the perfect time to have his best throw of the season. The sophomore tallied a distance of 67 feet, 6.5 inches in the weight throw and finished second overall. Adams entered the event seeded seventh. Adams also scored key points in the shot put — despite entering the meet unseeded in the event, Adams finished fourth overall with a distance of 46 feet, 11 inches. 

Brandon Piedade put together his best race of the season in the 1,500-meters — Piedade, a senior, clocked a 4:05.24 and finished third overall. Piedade was not done for the afternoon. Competing in the 1,000-meter race later in the meet, Piedade clocked a 2:40.66 and finished eighth overall. 

Barrington scored team points in the 300-meter race, as Ethan Knight finished fourth, Wind finished fifth, and DiGiacomo finished sixth. Knight clocked a 36.36, while Wind had a 36.74, and DiGiacomo finished with a time of 36.78. 

Shea Parish had a strong showing in the high jump. The junior cleared the bar at six feet, two inches. That tied his season-best height and was good enough for fifth place overall. Chucky Potter cleared six feet and finished tied for ninth in the event. 

Coach Barrass said Barrington will boast 14 All-State athletes from the meet, between the individual events and the relays. 

“These athletes are truly experts in their events,” Barrass wrote. “They study. They work on what they know that they need to work on. Honestly, we have one coach for 25-plus distance runners and one coach for probably 40-plus sprinters and jumpers and hurdlers. There is no way this team could have done this without the dedication and intelligence of the athletes. 

“Many of these athletes could be great event coaches in their own right someday. At the same time, they are also having fun. They enjoy hanging out with each other at practice. They can get pretty goofy. It is tough getting them to go home at the end of practice sometimes. They are good students, and know how to balance their academics with their responsibilities on the team. That is what high school athletics is all about. This is a team of great student-athletes. They show great sportsmanship and character: Early in the meet I watched an official drop some cones on the track, and our senior standout Ethan Knight stepped out on the track and helped him pick them up. Little things like that speak volumes about the character of the team.”

Coach Barrass also praised the contributions from his assistant coaches, Mike Katz and Robyn McFetters. He said the state championship title would not have been possible without them.

“We were facing teams that have many more coaches on staff, while we have only three, (and Robyn works with both the boys and the girls.) Hendricken, I think, has eight coaches on their roster,” Barrass wrote. “Coach Katz has so much respect from his distance runners, and is so invested in their success. I get to work as his assistant in cross country, and he is the track and field assistant during indoor and outdoor. I have never seen him so proud of the kids and happy as yesterday. And Coach McFetters is excellent. She was hand-picked by the late Great Coach Gourley to be his replacement, and she has not disappointed. She is so dedicated to her throwers. She told me that Joe Adams was right where she had hoped going into the championships, and was going to do something good. She was right! Coaches Ed Roskiewicz and Jon Barnes on our girls side are also a big help, just to bounce ideas off and their support.”

Coach Barrass said some of the BHS student-athletes will compete at the indoor New England championships, but many more will turn their attention to the outdoor season. 

“Our hopes are to have the opportunity to repeat this in the spring,” Coach Barrass wrote. “And although we are losing some talented seniors next year, this is a strong program with a lot of very talented juniors, sophomores, and freshmen. I hope we can see this more as the beginning of a plateau for the team rather than a peak. We're already thinking of next year's state meet.”