(Note: Part of a series on past state champions, this story first appeared in the state meet program for the 2016 R.I. Interscholastic League Cross Country Championships. )

November 8, 2016

BY CAROLYN THORNTON

RIIL Director of Multimedia Content    

    They laughed hard – and trained even harder – and 25 years later, Ponaganset’s 1991 State Championship  cross country team remains one of the most successful squads ever to compete for the Chieftains’ program.

    “It was an awesome team. It was a memorable team,” said Jill Derosier Hefner. “I don’t think I realized as a freshman what an honor it was because I hadn’t been exposed to varsity athletics yet. So it was a little bit surreal. But I think some of the best bonds I made were on the cross country team. There were a lot of strong athletes on the team, a lot of three-sport athletes. So it was a cool team to be a part of.”

Jill Derosier placed 31st at ‘91 state meet 

    The Class and State meets were still held at Bryant College (now Bryant University) in Smithfield, and the course was a challenging one, thanks in part to “the killer hill at the end,” as Hefner – and so many others – described it.

     But Ponaganset coaches Eunice Hindley and Jim Caron made sure the girls were prepared.   Hefner – now a West Warwick physical education teacher and mother of three - remembers piling into Hindley’s big Suburban with her teammates and driving around the state and sometimes up north to Maine and Vermont to train.

    No question, said Karyn Barlow Sarkis, a sophomore that year, the training was “extremely grueling.” Yet she always looked forward to going to practice every day.

     “We all just blended together,” she said. “Looking back on those years, it was never about yourself. I never felt like I was running as an individual. I felt like we were running as a team, and if we were going to be the best, we would have to do it collectively. And at every practice, we were constantly pushing each other, pushing each other to go faster and be stronger. There was a true sense of a team.”

     Sarkis, today a mother of two and associate principal at Ponaganset High School, also credits running for developing her mental toughness.

     “Our coaches always had high expectations for us,” she said. “Eunice and Jim knew what kind of practices we would need so that when it came time to perform, we could perform at our best. That’s where I learned my grit from. You just don’t give up. It’s why I put my kids in sports now. It was through athletics, especially running, that taught me how to have that drive.”

     The Chieftains had practiced the Bryant course many times before race day, studying every twist and turn.

    “You have to monitor a lot of situations,” Hindley told a reporter in 1991. “You have to make sure the girls are healthy and injury-free. I gear practices toward keeping focused. Physically, they are prepared, but they have to develop a mental toughness. And so far, things look great.”

“Everyone has to count”

     Beth Connealy Wandyes and Eden Hindley Spierdowis, - both also All-Staters in basketball and now members of the Ponaganset Athletic Hall of Fame – led the Chieftains that year. Wandyes, had missed her junior junior while recovering from knee surgery, but returned for her final season. She put the finishing touches on her high school running career by pacing Ponaganset first to an 8-0 dual-meet record and the Northern Division title, followed by the Class C crown and then the State Championship. The Class C individual champ in 20:27, she placed fourth at the State meet in 20:33.

     “We had won States my freshman year and our goal was to win it again,” said Wandyes, now Senior Associate Athletic Director and Senior Woman Administrator at Bryant University, where she also enjoyed a Hall of Fame basketball career. “We knew we could do it now with some underclassmen who had some high school racing experience under their belts.”

     Spierdowis - a sophomore and coach Eunice Hindley’s daughter –  contributed to Ponaganset’s 13-point margin of victory over Tolman with her seventh-place finish in 21:00.

    Rounding out the scoring for the Chieftains on that November day were sophomore Sarkis (11th in 21:11), senior Cheryl Tarlaian (22nd in 21:53) and Hefner (31st in 22:15).

    The 1991 team also included senior Robin Cipolla, who was a member of the 1988 championship team with Wandyes, as well as seniors Megan Amaral and Rachel Burlingame, juniors Lauren Keach and Kim Andrade and freshmen Christina Short and Lisa Armor.

    “Everyone has to count,” Eunice Hindley said then of her coaching philosophy. “Whether they are in the front, in the middle, or in the back, they are taking something positive away with them, and that’s what’s important.”