The state meet didn’t go as the East Providence boys track team planned at Brown University on Saturday. Especially for Jack Pawlik, the Townies state champion sprinter who won both the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes last year.  The day started off strong for Pawlik. He and the 4x100-meter relay team of Isaac Rodriguez, Justin Jardine and Julius Cortes, placed second to La Salle and ahead of third place Hendricken with a time of 42.54 seconds. Pawlik also ran the fastest 100-meter-dash time trial, 10.62 seconds, good enough for a new Townies school record. But as the speedster raced across the finish line, he suddenly came up limping and holding his hamstring. He limped over to the trainer’s table and moments later his afternoon was finished. No competing with Barrington’s Patrick Trainor in the 100 and the 200-meter dashes. His day was done. 

Isaac Rodrigues, a junior, stepped up to the plate and took Pawlik’s place in the 4x400-meter relay and he and Julien Monteiro, Cortes and Jardine placed second with a time of 3:23.76 minutes. 

“It was sad that Jack went down, But my teammates were relying on me to run a good leg and I was excited to get the chance to run.”

Rodriguez placed tenth in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 16.21. He finished 15th in the 300-meter hurdles and would have finished much higher, had he not toppled over the final hurdle. 

“I feel satisfied with what I did,” said the Townies football and basketball player. “I’m hoping to come back hungrier next year.” 

 

 

Townies finish fifth as a team with 30 points

Other Townies did their part too as the boys finished fifth as a team with 30 points. Jardine, a senior, had a great day, with a pair of second place finishes in the relays and finishing second in the 400-meter run with a time of 48.86 seconds, .22 behind La Salle’s Garrett Giroux-Pezzullo. Monteiro, a senior, also shined, placing third in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 39.61 seconds. 

Freshman Cormac Moran placed 12th in the state in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:59.55 and Jalen Jackson, also a freshman, placed 14th in the state in the 110-hurdles with a time of 17.02 seconds. 

 

 

Girls 

Junior sprinter Ryley Souto finished 17th in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.01 seconds and 14th in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 17.26 seconds. 

Senior Layla Bates placed 11th in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 49.25 seconds.