PROVIDENCE — Kit Ruddock capped a steady rise from novice to titleist after the East Providence High School senior won the boys’ 300 meter race at the 2023 Rhode Island Interscholastic League Indoor Track and Field State Championship Meet Saturday, Feb. 18, at the Providence Career and Tech Academy Fieldhouse.

Ruddock won the third of four heats in the event in a time of 36.56 seconds to claim the 300 crown. Hendricken junior Jacob Coates won the fourth and final heat in a time of 36.8 to place second.

Ruddock wasn't the only athlete with local ties to claim an individual victory. St. Mary Academy-Bay View senior Francine Miller bettered the rest in the girls’ 600, winning in 1:38.68.

Overall, Hendricken won its 31st state title with 100 points, defeating reigning champion LaSalle, which placed second with 87. St. Raphael was third with 66. EPHS finished ninth alone with 17 points.

On the girls’ side, LaSalle, which had won or shared the last 16 indoor titles, didn’t make the podium. Classical, the only school to break up the Rams' dominance by finishing tied with LaSalle for the 2013 championship, placed first last weekend with 68 points. Cranston West and Moses Brown shared second with 46 apiece.

The aforementioned Rams wound up fifth with 31 points. Bay View finished tied seventh with 24 points. East Providence shared 27th with four.

More boys’ notes
Ruddock added the state title to the 300 Class A win he took two weeks ago on the same PCTA Fieldhouse surface. In that race, he clocked a 37.16 to beat Toll Gate’s Domenic Calise (37.59).

“It could not have happened to a better kid,” said EPHS head coach Bob Lyons. “No one works harder at practice than Kit. He won out of lane four in the unseeded heat. He followed the plan perfectly making up the stagger early getting to the cones/corner first, cutting in first and letting his conditioning carry him to the line. He was increasing his lead at the finish line.”

Ruddock also had a fine finish in the 55 meter dash, clocking a 6.72 to place fifth in the final after running a 6.74 and placing sixth in the preliminaries.

LaSalle senior Jared Gibbons repeated as the state’s fastest indoor sprinter, clocking a 6.48 this winter after running a 6.53 last season. Salter Arms of Moses Brown, who won the prelims with a 6.57 while Gibbons ran third in 6.64, was second in the final at 6.53.

East Providence’s other points came from junior Dylan Slavick, who placed sixth alone in the high jump by clearing 5 feet, 10 inches on his first attempt.

LaSalle’s Brady Fisher, like his teammate in the dash, defended his title, clearing 6’4” on his initial try, two inches better than his winning height of a year ago. Central’s Demetrius Outland also cleared 6’4” but needed more tries.

East Providence’s Kenaz Ochgwu also cleared 5’10,” but placed ninth overall because like others he needed more attempts to do so.

More girls’ notes
Miller edged South Kingstown’s Laurel Filiberto (1:38.85) for the 600 meter crown with Kylie Eaton of Moses Brown placing third (1:41.17).

Moses Brown superstar Sophia Gorriaran, a serious contender to make the 2024 US Olympic team next summer and who will run at Havard University beginning this fall, did not compete in the event. She won the indoor 600 title last winter in 1:37.47. Last weekend she did defend her indoor 1,000 meter title by running a 2:58.22.

The rest of the Bengals' points came courtesy of two other top efforts. Suraily Sam was second in the shot put (37’1.5”) to Cumberland’s Alyssa Yankee (37’8.75”) while Amy Papa ran third in the 55 meter hurdles (9.12) behind the winner Bethany Marsella of North Smithfield (8.67) and Lisa Raye of West Warwick (9.01).

Sophomore Nazarae Phillip contributed two of the four East Providence points by placing solo seventh in the 55 dash (7.583). West Warwick’s Ray won both the prelims (7.19) and the state final (7.10), the latter in a new meet record time while unseating reigning champ Ailani Sutherland of Cranston West, who was second with a 7.15.

Ray bettered the state meet mark of 7.11 set in 2015 by Hope’s Quashira McIntosh, who maintains the overall indoor state record with a 7.09 she ran earlier in that same season in a meet on January 17, 2015.

The other pair of EPHS points came from the seventh-place (4:21.03) of 4x400 meter relay team with Kandace Daniel, Kendra Daniel, Giselle Raphael and Samantha Clarke.

Moses Brown, including Sophia Gorriaran and Eaton as well as Keilly Quezada and Skyler Maxwell, set a new PCTA Fieldhouse record in winning the event in 3:59.84. The first three runners along with former mate Hannah Roodhouse won the event last winter in 4:05.2. The previous facility record was 4:00.59 set back in December 2011 by runners from Hillhouse (Conn.) High School.

JV states
The PCTA Fieldhouse also hosted the respective junior varsity indoor track and field championships last week where EPHS scored six points in the boys’ competition to place 19th. Cumberland won the boys title with 78. Barrington was second with 73.5 and Hendricken third with 64.

All of the Townies’ points came from the third place run (3:53.76) of Jaidin Ivy, Roger Beaudet, Lucas Santa Cruz and Brian Rutkowski in the 4x4 relay. LaSalle won the event in 3:50.91 and Scituate was second in 3:52.91.

EPHS did not score in the girls’ portion of the competition, which was won by Smithfield with 49 points. Classical was second with 42 and Portsmouth third with 40. Kathryn Patalano had the top finish for the Townies, running 12th (1:57.80) in the 600 meters.

Bay View finished in a share of 20th place with two other schools with 11 points apiece, led by the fifth-place run of Jackie Mattos (12:18.49) in the 3,000 meters. Eleni Drosinos of Portsmouth won the event in 11:36.92.

The Bengals added two other sixth-place results: Sophia DiChiaro (5:29.12) in the 1,500, won by Burrillville’s Jillian Russell (5:19.08) and the 4x2 relay team of Merryana Barbosa, Sophie Roda, Phoebe Dolan and Margaret Lima (2:00.65), won by Classical (1:55.8).

— East Providence Post and eastbayri.com staff photographer Rich Dionne shot the accompanying gallery of photos.