Winter sports teams wrap-up seasons
By Stephanie Heelan Cotsonas Fourth grade CAL

The fourth grade Catholic Athletic League team from St. Mark Church had two exciting wins to advance to the quarterfinals, where they lost a close game to Our Lady of Mercy of East Greenwich. Photo courtesy of Susan Baccari

The St. Mark fourth grade Catholic Athletic League (CAL) team played Our Lady of Mercy of East Greenwich in the quarterfinals and lost 19-16. Prior to that game, they had advanced to the Final Four by defeating St. Theresa, 17-8, and Our Lady of Mount Carmel of Bristol by a score of 12-11. The crowd was on the edge of their seats as St. Mark had a one-point lead over OLMC with nine seconds on the clock. According to Coach Chris Varrecchione, "The game was on their home court and what made that win extra sweet was that we had lost to that same OLMC team twice during the regular season."

With only three losses during the regular season, Varrecchione was proud of his team's efforts. "This St. Mark's team really improved tremendously over the course of the season. We didn't have any one dominant player on our team, so we really had to work together as a team. Our defense was exceptional during the playoffs and we really shut down the opposition when we had to," he said. Team members included Stephen Cirella, Robert Haberland, Jacob Jarry, Finn O'Farrell, Jay Patel, Teddy Roberts, Noah Simmons, Jordan Smith, Giancarlo Varrecchione, and Liam Vetter.

Seventh and Eighth

grade CAL

The seventh and eighth grade boys' team had a successful season, placing first in their division and they were the number one seed going into the State tournament with a 10-1 record. St. Mark lost in the semifinals to St. Theresa's, 47-41, after they had beaten them by one point at the buzzer during the regular season. Anthony Will had 13 points, Owen Heath had 11 points, Christian Ellerbe had 6 points, Joe Real 4 points, and Danny Bailey, Kevin McDermott, and Dan Harpool all contributed 2 points. There was great defense and rebounding by Jacob Morris, Harpool, James Chamberlain and Adam Southworth according to Coach Mary Heath.

High School CAL

In an exciting game, the high school CAL team wrapped up their season with a quarterfinal loss to eventual state champions Western Cranston's Holy Apostles by a score of 85-82.

According to Coach Chris Crawford, notable performances were had by Liam O'Farrell, Chris Crawford, Chris Wright and Tommy Stacom, who Crawford noted had his best overall game of the year.

North Kingstown High School

Boys' Basketball

The boys' basketball program had a stellar year overall, with all teams playing in the postseason. The Varsity team had a great season and won their division (I South) and they lost in the state semi-finals to Woonsocket, 59-52, after beating Exeter-West Greenwich in the quarterfinals. The JV team also had a great season that started slow but picked up momentum as the year progressed. They ultimately lost in the state finals to Mt. Pleasant, 45-42. The freshman team had a successful year capped by a win against arch rival and eventual state champion, Bishop Hendricken which was their only loss of the season. The freshmen lost in the state quarterfinals to Tolman.

North Kingstown High School

Competition Cheerleading

In the large school division, North placed second at the state meet to North Providence.

North Kingstown

High School Gymnastics

After a second place finish at the state meet, the North squad placed fifth at New Englands.

North Kingstown High School

Boys' Indoor Track At the New England Championship, the RI state champion 4x400-meter relay team broke their own school record they set at the state meet two weeks prior. The North relay team placed seventh with a time of 3:30.05 and included islanders Nate Wigton, Rory Farrell, Kevin Alexander and Andrew Buresh.

Wigton also placed 11th in the 600-meters at New Englands.