URI Football Climbs to #17 in National Poll

Cole Swider

• Graduated St. Andrew’s School
• Committed to play basketball at Villanova
• Number 48 in ESPN’s Top 100 Recruits
• Received offers from Xavier, Duke, and Syracuse (where his teammate Brycen Goodine will be going in 2019)
• Averaged 31 ppg this year and scored 2,467 points in his career, the school’s all-time leading scorer
• “Cole will fit in well with Villanova's four-out motion game," St. Andrew's coach Mike Hart told ESPN. "He will give them added size at the guard position. He built a solid relationship with coach Wright and his staff and should have an outstanding career there."

Zachary Cook

• Graduated North Kingstown HS
• Committed to play soccer at URI
• Senior year was selected as first-team all-state and all-American with 17 goals
• Kyle Froberg, who coached Cook’s his club team and for two years in high school, is now an assistant at URI. He said of Cook, “Zach is a talented, smart player who likes to score and set up goals. He makes intelligent runs as a striker that keeps a defense guessing where he’ll end up. It’s usually in behind them 1v1 with the keeper, or he’s passing by you because of his speed.”

Jon Sherman

• Graduated South Kingstown HS
• Committed to play soccer at URI
• Gatorade Player of the Year senior year, first-team all-state (2nd time)
• 17 goals, 8 assists
• Sherman, who played on the same club team as Cook, was coached by Froberg as well. “Jon is a great competitor whatever he’s doing,” said Froberg. “No matter what he’s playing he wants to win. He can play as a striker, wide player or underneath as an attacking midfielder. He has the ability to strike a ball with either foot. He can elevate to win a ball over taller plays with no fear.”

Jehlani Galloway

• Graduated Classical HS
• Committed to play football at Boston College
• First-team all-state as a wide receiver/cornerback
• 11 TD/6 INTs his senior year

Ellie Lawler

• Graduated South Kingstown HS
• Committed to run cross country/track at Syracuse
• Three-time Gatorade Runner of the Year
• Senior year earned first-team all-state (third time), state champion (third time with a time of 17:44.26), all-American (15th at nationals)
• “It is Ellie’s ability to run a very aggressive first mile to establish the pace of the race that sets her apart. Most runners that try to go out with her simply cannot hold the pace. She is one of the best female cross country runners ever to come out of Rhode Island,” commented Smithfield head coach, John Marchand.

Dan Sliney

• Graduated Portsmouth Abbey
• Committed to play hockey at Hobart
• Was the Holt Conference Most Valuable Player
• 30 points on 12 goals and 18 assists senior year

Kate Viera

• Graduated North Kingstown HS
• Committed to play field hockey at St. Francis University
• Forward who scored all but one of North Kingstown’s eight postseason goals en route to their third Division I title in the past three years. One of the goals was the triple OT winner to complete a hattrick in the finals vs Moses Brown
• Senior year first-team all-state
• St. Francis’ head coach Betta Ceretta said, “Kate is a team player who works hard and can handle the pressure in big moments when the game is on the line. We are excited for her to join our team in the fall.”

Oluchi Ezemma

• Graduated Moses Brown School
• Committed to play basketball at Holy Cross
• Gatorade Player of the Year, first-team all-state
• 19.1 points and 14.0 rebounds per game as Moses Brown won the Open State tournament this year
• Henry Herbermann, the South Kingstown High Head Coach, said, “Against us, Oluchi made more high level of difficulty shots that I have seen any other player make this year. She rebounds, defends, hustles and plays team basketball. She is obviously an outstanding athlete.”

Caitlin Tucker

• Graduated Moses Brown School
• Committed to play lacrosse at Bucknell University
• First-team all-state senior year
• Won four straight Division I titles with Moses Brown
• She was also part of the girls basketball team that won the state championship this year

Ben Sears

• Graduated East Providence HS
• Committed to play baseball at Wheaton
• Gatorade Player of the Year, first team all-state
• Shortstop/ RHP (.500 BA, 6-2 1.07 ERA)
• Sears’ head coach, Bobby Rodericks, commented, “Ben has a natural confidence on the mound and in the batter’s box. When Ben is on the mound we know if we score 1-3 runs we have a really good chance of winning that game.”

Emily Kane

• Graduated La Salle Academy
• Committed to run track at Boston College over Cornell, Dartmouth and William and Mary
• Earned her third consecutive first-team all-state and won the indoor state title as a team for her fourth year
• Finished second in 1,500m, third in the 1,000 and fourth in the 3,000. A past 3,000-meter outdoor track champion
• La Salle coach Kelly Martin said of Kane, “No matter what the day holds she is ready to give 100%. It is her unrelenting attitude that will make her a great runner.”

Ali Blanchard

• Graduated Moses Brown School
• Committed to play softball at Princeton University
• Gatorade Player of the Year (RHP/First basemen)
• (7-1 with four no hitters and 1.03 ERA, .533 BA and five HR in the regular season)
• “Ali impacts the game in every facet,” said Mike Tuorto, the head coach of North Providence High. “If you make a mistake against her, she is going to make it hurt by putting the ball over the fence. She affects everything that Moses Brown does.”

Randi Burr

• Graduated Westerly HS
• Committed to run cross country and track at UConn
• Four-time first-team all-state
• Won the 1,500 and 1,000 at the state meet and anchored the winning 4X800 team
• Dave Federico, Randi’s head coach for track at Westerly, said, “Randi is a great competitor, great teammate, great student and most importantly a great person. It’s going to be hard to replace a person of that quality.”

Janai Crooms

• Graduated St. Andrew’s School
• Committed to play basketball at Ohio State over Michigan State, Florida and Rutgers
• An ESPN top 100 recruit, she was highest rated women’s basketball player ever from Rhode Island. Also received All-New England honors
• Averaged 14 points and 16 rebounds senior year and is the all-time leading scorer.
• Athletic Director of St. Andrews, Michael Hart, said of both Crooms and fellow classmate Swider, “They are both outstanding athletes and I wish they could stay for another year.”

Gianna Rao

• Graduated Ponaganset HS
• Committed to run track at Penn State
• A four-time all-American thrower
• Won the hammer throw for the fourth straight year with a toss of 180’ 10”
• Established herself as one of the best in the country with her wining weight throw of 58-5.25

Cebastian Gentil

• Graduated East Greenwich HS
• Committed to run track at Iowa State
• Defended his indoor 600m title with a state meet and facility record of 1:21.64
• Earlier this year he ran a 1:19, which broke a five-year-old Rhode Island high school state record and was the number one high school time in the country this year
• "He works hard and I know Iowa State will be a great fit for him, being surrounded by a bunch of really tough athletes, great coaches, he'll do really well," East Greenwich track coach Nick Ross said.

Andrew Whitney

• Graduated North Kingstown HS
• Committed to Worcester Polytech Institute where he already would’ve had a team-best long jump were he on the team this year
• Indoor long-jump champion with 22’ 10.5” in the state meet
• Ran a leg in the state champion 4X200 team and ran on the winning 4X100 team in the Class A meet

Mackenzie Beyer

• Graduated Cranston West HS
• Committed to play softball at Coastal Carolina
• .503 career BA with 8 HR as a catcher
• Set school single-season record her sophomore year with .547 BA
• “Mackenzie Beyer is that unique student-athlete who can control the outcome of a game in so many ways.  Possessing explosive power, rocket arm, exceptional defensive skills combined with a keen understanding of the intricacies of playing competitive softball makes Mackenzie one of the truly remarkable student-athletes to ever compete in the RI Interscholastic league in any sport,” said Jeff Smith, the Cranston West head coach.

Jeffrey Pedersen

• Graduated East Greenwich HS
• Committed to run at URI
• First-team all-state and Gatorade Runner of the Year for cross country (16:00.93 in winning the state meet)
• Ran an 8.33.9 in the 3000 in the spring for track. Won the event by almost 25 seconds and crushed the Class C meet record of 8:50.4, which was set in 2007. It was also the best time in the state this year
• “Jeff was a great story in that he ran JV last year and through a lot of hard work became the state champion this year.” said Paul Tetreault, the North Kingstown head coach. “He flew somewhat under the radar.”

Jacob Harrison

• Graduated La Salle Academy
• Committed to wrestle at Sacred Heart
• At 170 pounds won his bout in overtime with a 3-1 decision

Sara Gendron

• Graduated North Smithfield HS
• Committed to swim at Bryant University
• State champion in 100 butterfly with a 56.94 second swim
• Second in the 200 IM
• Rod McGary, the Cumberland head coach, said, “That’s the most impressive thing about her, I’d say. She represents her school but doesn’t have any teammates. Sure, she knows a lot of the swimmers at these meets because they swim club, too, and they know all about her situation, but I still give her a ton of credit.”

Julia Pezzuco

• Graduated Wheeler School
• Committed to play tennis at Western Carolina
• Runner-up in singles state tournament in 2015, singles champ in 2016, and reached the round of 16 and made second-team all-state in boys tennis in 2018
• “Honestly,” said Wheeler girl’s tennis team coach Joe Testa, “she's the best player I've ever coached over the past twenty years. She is off to Eastern Carolina University in the fall on a full scholarship.”

Patrick Welch

• Graduated Classical HS
• Committed to play golf at Oklahoma, the 2017 NCAA champions, over Wake Forest, Oregon, California and Ohio State
• Four-time Rhode Island Junior Amateur champion
• Runner up in the 2016 Junior PGA Championship
• Named 2015 U.S. Challenge Cup player of the year
• Oklahoma head coach Ryan Hybl on Welch: “Patrick is a phenomenal athlete and has done very well on the big stage. He is going to be a great team guy and we love what Patrick brings to our team. He has very good hands, is a solid putter and keeps them all in play.”

Nick DiMuccio

• Graduated La Salle Academy
• Committed to play lacrosse at Quinnipiac
• Led La Salle to four state championships as a goaltender and an undefeated season in 2018
• Senior year made 115 saves and earned first-team all-state
• Only gave up 41 goals in 2017, 40 goals less than the next best team (highlighted by a shutout in the state championship)

David Duke

• Graduated Cushing Academy (MA) but was previously at Classical HS
• Committed to play basketball at Providence College (Villanova, Florida, Kansas and Indiana were among the 18 other schools Duke received an offer from)
• Number 48 in ESPN’s top 100 recruits
• At Classical, Duke led the Purple to the 2016 Division I state championship, averaging 20 points in the playoffs.
• At Cushing, Duke helped lead the team to the New England Class AA championship
• Providence Head Coach Ed Cooley said this to Duke when Duke chose PC: “you made my year, man.”

Will Such

• Graduated from Cranston West HS
• Committed to play football at Brown
• Gatorade player of the year
• 1,476 rushing yards, 15 TD, and 112 tackles
• “Will Such almost single-handedly beat us. He has everything you could want in a high school player: size, speed and strength. You could tell he was the heartbeat behind that team,” said Woonsocket coach Charlie Bibeault.
• “Will Such is an exceptional Athlete as well as a student.  He rushed for over 1500 yards 18 TD's, all while maintaining a 3.7 GPA and is headed for Brown,” said Steven Stoehr, Such’s coach at Moses Brown.

Abby Remick

• Graduated Ponaganset HS
• Committed to play volleyball at Stonehill College
• Second straight first-team all-state
• More than 260 kills and 40 aces

Colin Sutyla

• Graduated Bishop Hendricken HS
• Committed to play golf at Iona
• Won the individual tournament this year by shooting even par 142 over two days, winning by six strokes
• “There is one reason why Colin is successful,” said Hendricken head coach Rick Angeli. “He works harder than everybody else.  His work ethic, desire, commitment to being better and positivity are at a level that I have not seen. Not only is he a great golfer and hard worker but Colin is a great person, great teammate and great friend.”

Zachary Fogel

• Graduated Cumberland HS
• Committed to play baseball at Brown University
• First-team all-state who’s fastball tops out at 85 mph
• “It’s truly something special for him. We’ve talked throughout the whole process about how baseball is going to be there, but it’s going to go away at some point, but a Brown degree will be there forever,” said Cumberland head coach, Andy Tuetken.

Grace Connolly

• Graduated La Salle Academy
• Committed to run track at Columbia
• Earned fourth first-team All-State as she won the 3,000-meter
• Helped lead the team to its fourth straight indoor title

Matt Stanley

• Graduated from Chariho HS
• Committed to swim at St. Bonaventure
• Stanley is a two-time USA Swimming Scholastic all-American
• Four-time state champion in 100 breaststroke; broke his own state record this year with a time of 55.76
• Won the 200 IM with a time of 1:52.11

Jake Benavides 

• Graduated from Chariho High School 
• Committed to swim at Fairfield University