La Salle girls track and field triples team score for 15th consecutive RIIL indoor title
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (BVM) — At the 2021 Rhode Island Interscholastic League (RIIL) Indoor Track State championships, the La Salle Academy (LSA) girls swept the team results with 107 points — tripling the score of the schools that tied for second place with 36 points.
“In past years we’ve doubled the score [from the team in second] which was already impressive,” Head coach David Wright said. “We knew we had a good shot at winning this year but to see that we tripled was crazy.”
Aside from dominating at the state meet this is also LSA’s 15th consecutive girls indoor title. But the journey to defend that No.1 ranking was different this year because the team did not have a full indoor track to practice on until just three weeks before the state meet.
“Because of the pandemic they had to make an area of the track into a cafeteria,” Wright said. “So we lost a portion and we maybe only had a 30 to 40-meter straight away left. But eventually we were cleared to rent out Rhode Island College’s track leading up to state.”
Like other teams across the country LSA had an abbreviated season. They had only eight weeks — rather than 12 — to train for the state meet. But the team was still able to surpass what was expected out of them.
“It was a little tough to get kids running fast in a short period of time for competition,” Distance coach Kelly Raso said. “We noticed a big difference in their abilities since there was more time off with sports this year. But the last two weeks of the season our kids really started turning it on.”
Several athletes went on to earn the title in their events. Kaylie Armitage took first in the 1,000-meter (3:02.27) and 3,000-meter (9:54.79). Edie Tomka sprinted to victory in the 55-meter hurdles (9.00) while Jackie Comeau became the champion in the 55-meter (7.35).
“Being on a top team comes with some pressures,” said Comeau, who has been a part of every indoor championship over the past four years. “But having people who are selfless enough to triple and even quadruple in events at regular meets for the benefit of the team is what makes us great.”
Comeau, who will also run at West Point next year, also placed first in the 4×200-meter relay race with Jordan Teguis, Emma Prestage and Madeline Reynolds with a time of 1:49.89. Another relay was also snatched by LSA; Catherine Clements, Julia D’Amico, Caroline Williams and Caroline Cummings took home the 4×800 first place honor with 9:50.63 on the clock.
Since multiple LSA distance and sprinting athletes took home the gold there is curiosity surrounding how they did it yet again. Wright and Raso have actually been coaching the LSA girls since they acquired their first indoor championship 15 years ago. Little did they know at the time it would be the first of many to come and together the duo have grown the program into the powerhouse they are today.
“In the beginning it was just me and Kelly and one throws coach,” Wright said. “But now we have help from James who specializes in hurdles and can coach any event on the track and some field. We’ve hired another throws coach and we also have Dakota who specializes in jumps and has even competed in the Olympic Trials.”
“If we can have the consistency in the coaches we have then moving forward we’ll see even more success,” Raso said. “Now we can be more specific in practice sessions.”
Both Raso and Wright noted that their success also comes from always being on the same page with one another. They said the athletes all need to hear one message about what is required so that there are no excuses. They also made it clear that a balance of coaching techniques also benefits the team.
“Coach Wright is more laid back while I’m more in your face,” Raso said, “[Everyone needs something different] so we balance each other’s coaching styles out to set the kids up for success. James is intense and we need that while Dakota is funny and we all have our own personalities that complement each other.”
All in all it’s clear that the main secret behind the team’s consistent success lies purely with LSA since none of the girls do club track and field.
Now that the outdoor season has started the team is training to acquire double state championships in one season. They have four outdoor titles and are going for the 5th one.
“Outdoor is interesting because we don’t see the same streak we have during indoor,” Wright said. “There’s more events and sometimes we don’t have enough to cover all the events. Lots of teams have been able to spread themselves out but [after seeing what happened during indoor state] I definitely think we can win.”
