EAST PROVIDENCE — The East Providence High School boys’ swimming team completed a perfect season Saturday, March 6, defeating Cranston East, 48-42, to capture the 2021 Division III championship in the league final meet held at the PODs Swim Center in city.

Nick Capobianco and Andrew Langille each won a pair of solo events for the Townies, who actually clinched the title with first and third place finishes by Capobianco and Cam Evora, respectively, in the ninth of 11 events during the meet, the 100-yard backstroke.

For East Providence, it was the fourth division championship in program history and fifth overall. Coaches Kathy Dias and Kris Rose also led the Townies to the D-III title in 2015. EPHS won back-to-back D-II titles in 2009 and 2010. And the Townies won the outright state championship back in 1969, a team that included former head coach Sandy Gorham, who mentored the ’09 and 10 teams.

Nick Capobianco along with brother David, Ryan Heatherton and Langille opened the meet with a second place swim (2 minutes, 2 seconds) in the 200-yard medley relay. Cranston West won the race in 1:59.

The Falcons next went 1-4 in the 200-freestyle to maintain their lead. West’s Gavin Kiernan won the event in 2:04. Cam Evora was second for E.P. in 2:23 and Jacob Langille third in 2:34.

Nick Capobianco followed with his first solo win, swimming 2:27 to take the 200-individual medley. Heatherton (26.91) and Ryan Branch (29.75) next added second and third place finishes in the 50-free, an event won by West’s David Marcello in 23.71.

The Townies drew the meet even overall at 20 when Andrew Langille won his initial individual event, the 100-butterfly in 1:10. Jacob Langille (1:31) was second. E.P. was aided when a West swimmer was disqualified by the officials.

David Capobianco proved to give the Townies the lead for keeps when he won the 100-free in 55:37 with Branch second in 1:08. E.P. jumped ahead of the Falcons by the score of 27-21 at the time.

Andrew Langille followed with his second victory, this one in the 500-free (6:55). He was then joined by Heatherton, Evora and David Capobianco to win the 200-free relay in 1:49.

Nick Capobianco (1:06) and Evora (1:18) next completed their meet-clinching swims in the 100-back. The Townies took an insurmountable 42-31 lead in the team scoring.

David Capobianco (1:14) and Heatherton (1:28) next went 2-4 in the 100-breastroke, an event won by West’s David Marcello in 1:07, before Branch, Jacob Langille, Evora and Nick Capobianco (4:39) completed the day with a second-place finish in the 400-free. The Falcons won the race in 4:08.

The Townies finished the 2021 season with an unblemished 9-0 record, including prior playoff wins over Blackstone Valley Prep in the quarterfinals and Mount St. Charles in the semis.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Interscholastic League conducted only division championships this winter and used a bracketed format of eight teams rather than a single open meet among all teams in the league to determine the titles.