By STEVE MAZZONE

Sports writer

PROVIDENCE – Central Falls sophomore Steven Vasquez is used to double-duty in the winter months, competing for the school’s basketball team and as a high jumper for the track squad.
During the course of a day, it’s not uncommon for Vasquez to participate in both sports.
Prior to Saturday’s Class C Championship at the Providence Career and Technical Academy (PCTA) field house, the Warriors’ standout leaper was just a few hours removed from a grueling conditioning practice for the C.F. cagers. His legs were pretty shot, according to head coach Matt Kelly.
But that still didn’t stop Vasquez from snaring the overall prize and solidifying his status as the No. 1 seed for next weekend’s state championship.
Although he came an inch short from matching his personal-best height set last week in winning the Northern Division Championship, Vasquez still earned the individual title with a strong effort of 6 feet, 4 inches. Classical’s Frank Santos was second at 6-2.
Once the victory was assured, Vasquez had the bar raised to 6-6. In all three of his attempts, he cleared the height with his body, but couldn’t quite get his legs to follow.
“His legs were just shot,” Kelly said. “He was clearing it with his form, he just couldn’t get his legs over. We are going to try and see if he can have less basketball the next couple of days (so he can prepare for the state meet).”
Vasquez, a fourth-place finisher in last spring’s outdoor championship, has several worthy contenders when he attempts to claim his first state title. Kadeem Kushimo, the Class A titlist, has cleared 6-4 this season. Central’s Craig Amado has also done 6-4 and North Kingstown’s Mike Sphar and Santos have a best of 6-2.
Classical copped the team title in Saturday’s meet with 128 points. East Greenwich was second at 80 1/2. Central Falls was the top local school, taking fourth overall with 32 points. Shea was fifth at 29 1/2.
Along with Vasquez’s win, the Warriors also had an outstanding afternoon from sophomore Nico Danielson. Danielson had a pair of personal bests in placing second in the 25-pound weight throw (59-2 ¼) and third in the shot put (45-6 ½).
In the weight, Danielson fouled twice during the preliminaries and then uncorked his top throw in the finals. Kelly feels his thrower could finish among the elite in the event at the states. A handful of athletes have cracked the 60-foot mark.
“I talked to (weight) coach Nick Palazzo and he says Nico has been consistently throwing 60 feet in practice,” Kelly said. “Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to do that in any meets yet.”
Shea junior Fred Gobewole took home the only other individual triumph among area athletes in the two-hour meet. Just a week after winning the Northern Division meet, Gobewole broke the tape at the class championship with an identical time of 6.4. East Greenwich’s Mike Monti also finished at 6.4 to take second.
Gobewole ranks in the top 10 statewide and has only run the dash a few times this season. He's been training about three weeks since recovering from an injury suffered during the football season.
“We expect him to do very well in the states,” said Shea coach Mo Jackson.
The Raiders’ Benevido Santos placed in two events. He was fourth in the shot (44-4) and sixth in the weight (53-1 ¾).”
Gobewole and Santos have both qualified for the championship meet for Shea as well as the 4x800 relay squad of Jerry Murillo, Oliver Marroquin, Nilton Tavares and Porfiro Baez.
St. Raphael (seventh, 19 points) had a pair of second-place showings from Rich Casiello in the shot (49-8) and Robert Parker in the 3,000 (9:35.6).
Mount St. Charles (eighth, 18 points) had a busy day from Dan Appenfeller. The Mount senior placed third in the 1,500 (4:18.2), was fifth in the 1,000 (2:48.6) and ran a leg on the second-place 4x800 relay squad (9:08.0).
This Saturday’s state championships will begin at 10 a.m. at the PCTA field house.
***
Team standings - 1, Classical 128; 2, E. Greenwich 80.5; 3, Portsmouth 55; 4, Central Falls 32; 5, Shea 29.5; 6, Rogers 22; 7, St. Raphael 19; 8, Mt. St. Charles 18; 9, Wheeler 8; 10, Prov. Country Day 6.
Complete results
WT - 1, Tim Phok, Class., 61-11.75 (18.89 meters); 2, Nico Danielson, CF,
59-2.25 (18.04); 3, Gabe Winters, Class, 58-11.50 (17.97); 4, Mike Mulligan,
Rog, 58-7.25 (17.86); 5, Gustavo Reynoso, Class., 55-7.25 (16.94); 6,
Benvinido Santos, Shea, 53-1.75 (16.19).
SP - 1, Reynoso, Class., 51-4 (15.64); 2, Rich Casiello, SRA, 49-8 (15.13);
3, Danielson, CF, 45-6.50 (13.88); 4, Santos, Shea, 44-4 (13.51); 5, Andrew
Desousa, Ports. 43-5.50 (13.24); 6, Winters, Class., 41-8 (13.00).
HJ - 1, Steve Vasquez, CF, 6-4 (1.93); 2, Frank Santos, Class., 6-2 (1.87);
3, Monzel Coley, Rog., 5-10 (1.77); 4,  Christian Savage, Rog., 5-8 (1.72);
5, Nate Hurd, Rog., 5-6 (1.67); 6, Marcus  Sandoval, Ports. 5-4(1.62).
3000 - 1, Nick Ross, EG, 9:21.5; 2, Robert Parker, SRA, 9:35.6; 3, Matt
Cloherty, PCD, 9:44.2; 4,  Harry Feigen, EG, 9:50.2; 5, Scott Kulm, EG, 10:06.7; 6, Dave Molina, Class., 10:33.8.
1500 - 1, Ross, EG, 4:07.9; 2, John Corbett, Ports., 4:16.5; 3, Dan
Appenfeller, MSC, 4:18.2; 4, Mike Cooney, Class., 4:23.0; 5,  Zach Burkett, SRA, 4:27.3; 6, Ted Palumbo, EG, 4:28.5.
1000 - 1, Martin Gallogly, Class., 2:43.0; 2, Austin Schaefer, EG, 2:43.3; 
3, Nick Tyler, Ports., 2:44.4; 4, Chris Corbett, Ports., 2:47.4; 5,
Appenfeller,  MSC, 2:48.6; 6, Caleb Gladstone, EG, 2:52.0.
600 - 1, Jerrel Forbes, Class., 1:27.1; 2, Nick Codola, Wheeler, 1:27.3; 3,
Andy  Keene, EG, 1:28.7; 4, Luis Melendez, CF, 1:30.7; 5, RJ Wilkie, Ports.,
1:31.6; 6, Taylor Fagan, SRA 1:31.8.
300 - 1, Santos, Class., 37.5 (MR. OR: 37.9(h), 2000); 2, Allen Moise,
Class., 37.8; 3, Dylan Manning, EG, 39.1; 4, Spencer Gaye, Class., 39.1; 5, Dillon Danforth, EG, 39.2; 6, Emmanuel  Garcia, Shea, 39.2.
55m - 1, Fred Gobewole, Shea, 6.4; 2, Mike Monti, EG, 6.4; 3, Tyler
Oliveira, Ports., 6.6; 4, Santos, Class., 6.6; 5,  Garcia, Shea, 6.7; 6, Mack Murphey, Class., 6.8.
55mH - 1, Forbes, Class., 7.7; 2, Murphy, Class., 7.8; 3, Luke Chaves, Rog.,
8.6; 4, Gdunue Grimes, class., 8.7; 5, Eddy Millcette, Class., 9.0; 6,
Porfiro Baez, Shea, 9.0.
4x200 - 1, Portsmouth (Mello, Sandoval, Torres, Oliveira) 1:35.7; 2,
Classical, 1:36.0; 3, E. Greenwich, 1:36.8; 4, Shea, 1:38.0; 5, Mt. St. Charles, 1:45.8.
4x400 - 1, Portsmouth (Sandoval, Oliveira, Torres, Mello) 3:41.0; 2, E.
Greenwich, 3:47.9; 3, Classical, 3:53.0; 4, Central Falls 4:04.8; 5, Shea, 4:05.9.
4x800 - 1, E. Greenwich (Schaefer, Palumbo, Keene, Millman) 8:31.7 (MR. O:
8:34.6, 2000); 2, Mt. St. Charles 9:08.0; 3, Portsmouth 9:08.6; 4, Shea, 10:35.4.


BOSTON -- Seekonk High’s sprint medley relay team set a new school record on Sunday while winning its specialty at the Elite Relays meet.
“All of the top relay teams in the state were at the meet today,” Seekonk coach Matt McCartin said. “Our time was also the eighth fastest in the country this year.”
John Gregorek, Joe and Jacob Texeira and Casey O’Brien formed the winning relay team for Seekonk, which also won the distance medley event in this meet.
***
Mass. Elite Relays
at Reggie Lewis Center
Seekonk placements
Sprint medley -- 1. (John Gregorek, Joe Teixeira, Jacob Teixeira, Casey O’Brien) 3:35.46 (new school record, 8th fastest time in country)
4x200 relay -- 7. (Kevin Pomerleau, Joe Texeira, Jake Texeira, Casey O’Brien) 1:34.9
Distance medely -- 1. (John Gregorek, Ryan Brown, Mark Hafley, Cody Archambault) 11:09.7

pretty good showing, top relay teams, d-m old rochester in new rochester. matt mccartin.