By Isabella Feroce
Talon Staff
Along with the recent measurable snowfalls, winter sports also returned to Barrington High School on the court and the ice and in the pool.
Between ice hockey, swimming, winter track, and basketball, BHS fans have their hands full. And, of course, some of that has to do with ongoing restrictions and mask mandates during the recent Omicron surge.
Normally, basketball game crowds would be full and filled with spirit. Instead, boys and girls basketball crowds have looked small this year per the new admission ticket rule.
Students can apply for an admission ticket to a game and they are only allowed in if they are lucky enough to receive one. Of course, the intention of this is to limit the spread of COVID-19. And although the tickets are limited, the student section’s determination to stay strong makes the games still fun to attend.
Boys basketball finished the season at 9-10 overall and faces Mt. Pleasant (12-8) on Friday for a chance to advance to the quarterfinal round of the Rhode Island Interscholastic League (RIIL) Boys Basketball Division 1 Championship.
Girls basketball (14-4) faces Cranston West (11-6) on Monday, February 21, in the quarterfinal round of the division championship.
Boys ice hockey (7-11-4) returned to the rink at Portsmouth Abbey, but a fan rule was put into place, not allowing students at home games. Still, players kept their spirits up by coming together as a team and supporting one another.
“We all worked together to have a great season,” says Sophomore Johnny O’Connell. “It stinks that there were not many fans, but our hopes are high that at some point fans will be allowed back.”
Like their counterparts, girls hockey (2-6-1) was greatly affected by the pandemic restrictions as well.
“For a week and a half our team was out with COVID,” says sophomore skater Hannah Leblanc. “So when we were exercising and playing, we were still recovering, making it difficult to match our opponents’ energy.”
Still, though these times are hard, the underclassmen on these teams know that they can get through it and next year will be easier!
Winter track, on the other hand, was in full swing and thriving. On the girls track team (6-2-0), sophomore members Stella Hillier and Kate Mellen came off the starting blocks ready for action, saying, “So far we’ve had a successful season. We're excited to see how the rest of it is going to go. We're aiming for states!”
The boys track team (9-1-0) feels the same way, having worked hard this season.
“With our success during the season and our recent win in the class championships, we are hoping to see a lot of our runners qualify for states,” said sophomore Iain Deboth.
The RIIL Indoor Track State Championships for both boys and girls take place this Saturday at the Providence Career & Technical Academy.
The BHS boys and girls swim teams both finished their seasons undefeated at 6-0, staying strong as they won their respective championships last year.
The boys will swim in the divisional round of the RIIL championships on Saturday at Roger Williams University and the girls will swim on Sunday.
“We have a legacy to maintain and we kept the winning streak alive,” remarks Sophomore Emma Bell. “The season went very, very well. We have a really strong team this year and I believe we are more than capable of winning at States.”
Go all you Eagles!