PROVIDENCE JOURNAL | providencejournal.com | Saturday, June 25, 2016 | 1 2 | Saturday, June 25, 2016 | PROVIDENCE JOURNAL | providencejournal.com PROVIDENCE JOURNAL | providencejournal.com | Saturday, June 25, 2016 | 3 4 | Saturday, June 25, 2016 | PROVIDENCE JOURNAL | providencejournal.com PROVIDENCE JOURNAL | providencejournal.com | Saturday, June 25, 2016 | 5 6 | Saturday, June 25, 2016 | Saturday, | | Saturday, June 25, 2016 | Saturday, | JOURNAL | providencejournal.com PROVIDENCE All-State Awards June 15, 2016 P Gronk headlines All-State event Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, center, takes part in a panel discussion with Providence Journal sportswriters Jim Donaldson, left, and Mark Daniels at the RI Convention Center on June 15. PROVIDENCE JOURNAL PHOTO / SANDOR BODO By Paul Edward Parker Journal Staff Writer “Tonight’s event is a tribute to the joy and trials of high school athletics,” Hasson said. “You have run, hit, jumped, dove, thrown, tossed, spiked, served, PROVIDENCE — New England Patriots star tight end Rob Gronkowski shared the pinned, teed off, lifted and pitched your way into the record books, the pages of secret formula for success in sports with more than 400 high school student our hometown newspaper and into our hearts.” athletes on June 15. “Athletes, just being invited here represents countless hours of hard work and “You always got to put in work and dedication to be top of the line,” Gronkowski sacrifi ce for you — and for those who love you — and for that we congratulate told a sold-out audience of 1,600 at the Providence Journal All-State High School you on a job well done,” Hasson said. “The stories that come from the fi elds, the Sports Award banquet. “It’s just all about details and putting in that work.” courts help shape our community, and high school sports is something our read- ers know and love.” But Gronkowski, who’s almost as famous for his off-fi eld antics as he is for his mammoth spikes of the football after scoring touchdowns, said letting go now Governor Raimondo, who arrived with her daughter, a Gronk fan, also greeted and then is healthy. the athletes and their family and friends. “You got to get away from your work life some of the time,” he said. “You got to “We are proud of you guys,” said Raimondo, who related her own experi- have a balanced life. It keeps your mind fresh, your body fresh.” ences playing rugby for Oxford University. “You learn how to get back up when you’re pushed down. You learn grit and determination. You learn to trust your Janet Hasson, regional vice president and publisher of The Providence Journal, teammates.” welcomed the audience to the banquet, which honored more than 600 student athletes, from 55 schools across the state, who played in 29 sports, from volleyball The inaugural banquet was hosted by The Journal. Title sponsors included Blue and ice hockey to cheerleading and track to baseball and basketball. More than Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island and National Grid, and there were several 400 of those athletes were in the crowd at the Rhode Island Convention Center. table sponsors as well. 7 Nick Andreozzi Football Player of the Year Nick Andreozzi, East Greenwich This senior quarterback led East Greenwich to the Division III state title and an undefeated record against Division III competition as he threw for 2,882 yards and 39 touchdowns. PROVIDENCE JOURNAL | providencejournal.com JOURNAL | providencejournal.com PROVIDENCE | June 25, 2016 | Saturday, Nick Andreozzi, left, with Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski at The Journal All-State Awards. PROVIDENCE JOURNAL PHOTO / BOB BREIDENBACH 8 | Saturday, June 25, 2016 | Saturday, | JOURNAL | providencejournal.com PROVIDENCE Julianne Ross Girls Soccer Player of the Year Julianne Ross, Cumberland A two-time All-Stater and an All- American selection this season, this junior striker netted 22 goals and led the Clippers to their fi rst state fi nals appearance since 2004. Julianne Ross, left, with Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski at The Journal All-State Awards. PROVIDENCE JOURNAL PHOTO / BOB BREIDENBACH 9 Stavros Zarokostas Boys Soccer Player of the Year Stavros Zarokostas, La Salle An All-New England and All-American selection, this senior striker scored 29 goals and led the Rams to a state championship and top-10 national fi nish in the NSCAA rankings. PROVIDENCE JOURNAL | providencejournal.com JOURNAL | providencejournal.com PROVIDENCE | June 25, 2016 | Saturday, Stavros Zarokostas, left, with Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski at The Journal All-State Awards. PROVIDENCE JOURNAL PHOTO / BOB BREIDENBACH 10 | Saturday, June 25, 2016 | Saturday, | JOURNAL | providencejournal.com PROVIDENCE Peri Sheinin Girls Tennis Player of the Year Peri Sheinin, East Greenwich Sheinin, a junior, became only the third player in R.I. Interscholastic League history to win three consecu- tive girls individual state titles as she highlighted a 20-0 season record with a victory in the state singles title match. East Greenwich’s Peri Sheinin wins the girls tennis singles championship last October. PROVIDENCE JOUR- NAL PHOTO / SANDOR BODO 11 Jason Scanlon Boys Tennis Player of the Year Jason Scanlon, Barrington Scanlon was the state singles cham- pion this season and posted an undefeated regular-season record playing at the No. 1 singles spot for Barrington. A four-time All-State selection, the senior played in the title match of the state singles tour- nament three times during his high JOURNAL | providencejournal.com PROVIDENCE | June 25, 2016 | Saturday, school career. Jason Scanlon, left, with Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski at The Journal All-State Awards. PROVIDENCE JOURNAL PHOTO / BOB BREIDENBACH 12 | Saturday, June 25, 2016 | Saturday, | JOURNAL | providencejournal.com PROVIDENCE Tylor Fenwick Courage Award Providence Journal Courage Award — Tylor Fenwick By John Gillooly Journal Sports Writer It was a simple statement of fact — one of the few simple things in Tylor Fenwick’s life. “Wrestling is one of the things that kept me strong in my life. Otherwise, I didn’t have much to look forward to,” the Central High junior said. It was a Tuesday afternoon — three days after he became the only Rhode Islander to win an individual title at the 52nd annual New England Interscho- lastic Wrestling Championships when he captured the 220-pound title at the PCTA athletic facility. This was no ordinary win. It was a triumph of the human spirit by a young man who easily could have given up on himself long before he became a New England champion. Fenwick was 7 when a DCYF social worker came to his Woonsocket elemen- tary school and told him they were taking him because his mother and father had been declared unfi t parents. It wasn’t his fi rst encounter with DCYF. So began a journey that has taken him from group homes and foster homes in Woonsocket, Coventry and Warren to now being a teenager living by himself, Tylor Fenwick, left, poses with Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski at the Providence under state supervision, in Providence. Fenwick is the youngest of four chil- Journal’s All-State Awards on June 15. Fenwick won the Courage Award. PROVIDENCE dren. He and his brother, who is a year older, were considerably younger than JOURNAL PHOTO / BOB BREIDENBACH their older siblings. So after spending time in Woonsocket, they were placed in a Coventry foster home. At the middle school, Fenwick became involved with wrestling. Mount Pleasant High and Rhode Island College wrestling star. He is married, the father of two young children, a teacher — and a former DCYF kid. “My brother had started wrestling. I was just sitting there doing nothing, so I fi gured I would give it a try. You need to be doing something. If you just sit “I understood him. I understood what he was going through,” German said. around, you probably are going to get in trouble,” he said. “He started feeling like he wasn’t part of team. He would say, ‘Why am I both- ering to practice and go to meets if I’m not going to wrestle or help the team?’ After his parents divorced, he was sent to a group home in Warren in the fall I started to hear the excuses why he couldn’t make practice.” of his freshman year in high school. That winter, he wrestled for Mt. Hope and placed fourth at the state meet in the 220-pound class, despite never weigh- Eventually Fenwick heeded German’s message and returned to a full regi- ing more than 210 pounds. Being part of the Mt. Hope team gave him a sense men of training a few weeks before the state tournament, where he captured of belonging. another 220-pound state title. Despite being the No. 9 seed from Division II because of his lack of regular-season matches, he won fi ve tourney matches. "That’s what I like. I like being around other people who are part of a family,” Soon after, he recorded three pins en route to the New England title. said Fenwick. Now he understands that the sport he loves is presenting opportunities he He eventually landed in Providence and was placed at Central, which doesn’t never had envisioned. have a wrestling team. But he could wrestle in Interscholastic League com- petition, as an independent wrestler representing Central, while practicing “People would be talking college, but I didn’t know if I wanted to go or not,” and competing with the Hope team. The Hope coach is Ed German, a former Fenwicksaid. “Now I know I want to go to college.” 13 Jenna Bridges Girls Volleyball Player of the Year Jenna Bridges, Exeter/West Greenwich Bridges, a senior, led Exeter/West Greenwich to the best Division I regular season record as she posted 501 kills, a kill percentage of .508 and a hit percentage of .378.