By Chris Villani

Sports Writer

Blackstone Valley Tech’s girls’ track and field team was strong last spring, but this season the Beavers achieved new heights by finishing the regular season undefeated and winning both the Colonial Athletic League and state vocational meets.

“We had a lot of young athletes who joined the team, and we encouraged them the whole time to try different events and they all really stepped up,” said head coach Chelsea Swan. “That allowed us to put a lot of runners out there who were capable of being competitive.”

BVT’s depth and talent shown through at the state voke. Nearly every Beaver who took part in the meet ended up scoring points. Several athletes stood out throughout the season.

Haley Bilodeau was among Valley Tech’s top point scorers, notching wins in the high hurdles and the javelin. Swan asked her to try the low hurdles, figuring she could excel in the event given her knowledge of hurdling and the stamina she shows on the soccer field.

“The first time she ran the event she was two seconds off the school record,” Swan said. Just a sophomore, Bilodeau has since broken the record and qualified for the state divisional meet in the event.

Emma Guadagnoli, a senior, set the school record in the 400-meter run. She has also added the 800-meter event and the 200-meter dash to her repertoire.

“She has done exceptionally well in all of those events,” her coach said.

Junior Chloe Vescio was the team manager in 2022 but wanted to compete this spring and Swan is happy she did. The distance runner qualified for divisional states in the two-mile and took her time down to 12:31.

Swan also had high praise for her relay teams, all of which have been consistent point scorers. She is particularly happy about the 4x800 team composed of Vescio, Guadagnoli, and juniors Maia Tyra and Laney Beahn. She entered the quartet in the state vocational meet with a seed time of 11 minutes which she thought was “a bit of a stretch.”

“They went out and they crushed it,” Swan said, noting they topped their seed time by a second and qualified for states. “They didn’t expect to win, but they did.”

It is yet another victory in a spring replete with them for the program.

“I am really proud of all of them,” Swan said. “They have done such a good job.”