PAWTUCKET — It didn’t take long for a surprise on Tuesday morning at the 105th Rhode Island Junior Amateur. 

Nick Emery took an early lead, absorbed a charge from Quinn Dumas and made a routine par at the 18th hole. That was enough to eliminate the top seed in the boys field, as the Round of 16 started in dramatic fashion. 

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Emery’s victory on his home course, 1 up, set the tone for an intriguing few hours of play. The former All-State pick from St. Raphael won the first three holes on his home course and survived after Dumas pulled even in the match at the par-4 17th. 

“I know everywhere to put the ball — everywhere to go,” Emery said in an interview with the Rhode Island Golf Association. “To be able to put the ball where I need to on this course, especially because I know it really well, it just helps.” 

Emery lost his way off the tee on the back side but found a fairway when he needed it most, clearing the hill with his drive at the signature closing hole. He had a simple wedge in from 75 yards and left himself a short birdie putt. Dumas couldn’t manage a par that would have forced the match to extra holes. 

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“I was really nervous over the ball,” Emery said. “Just kind of backed it off, got back over it and put it to eight feet.” 

Emery will face Jesse Hellring, whose match with Joey Iaciofano also went the distance. It was a high-quality affair — Hellring shot 1-under 68 over 18 holes, and his 1-up win featured deciding birdies at the par-4 16th and par-4 17th. Hellring finished with par at the 18th to hold off Iaciofano, who carded an even-par 69. 

“Keep the ball in the fairway,” Emery said. “Don’t do anything dumb around the greens. That’s obviously it.” 

Three-time defending champion Max Jackson, reigning Interscholastic League champion Rocco Capalbo, Drew MacLeod and Ian Dunham — four players who finished a shot behind Dumas in Monday’s stroke-play qualifier — all advanced rather comfortably. Capalbo strolled to an 8 and 7 victory while Jackson closed out former La Salle Academy teammate Sam Perry, 4 and 3. Brayden Dickinson and Eli Hamelsky will meet in a quarterfinal featuring two double-digit seeds after upsetting Sam Fuentes and Charles Melvin, respectively. 

Girls quarterfinals on Wednesday will mark a return for medalist Olivia Williams, Adriana Eaton, Emma Lockhart, Lily Dessel and Claire McTaggart. All five received byes through to the Round of 16. Ava Andoscia used a par at the 18th to edge Brooke Barner, 1 up, in that field’s tightest match of the opening afternoon. Andoscia had the final answer in a meeting that saw just four holes halved. 

“I was so nervous,” Andoscia said. “But I actually switched up what I was going to do for my second shot on (18), and I think that’s where I won.” 

Boys first division and boys 14U division top seeds Connor Ahlborg and Mitch McTaggart will both play in Wednesday’s quarterfinals. Ahlborg held off Sam Iden in 19 holes, making a birdie while playing the par-4 first for the second time. McTaggart received a bye after tying Raj Mammen for medalist honors on Monday with a 9-over 78. 

Round of 16 results 

Boys championship 

Nick Emery def. Quinn Dumas, 1 up; Jesse Hellring def. Joey Iaciofano, 1 up; Drew MacLeod def. Andrew Lavoie, 2 and 1; Rocco Capalbo def. Michael Zeller, 8 and 7; Brayden Dickinson def. Sam Fuentes, 2 and 1; Eli Hamelsky def. Charles Melvin, 3 and 2; Max Jackson def. Sam Perry, 4 and 3; Ian Dunham def. Will Owens, 3 and 2. 

Girls championship 

Olivia Williams, bye; Elizabeth Kue def. Ella Rosa, 4 and 2; Adriana Eaton, bye; Emma Lockhart, bye; Lily Dessel, bye; Ava Andoscia def. Brooke Barner, 1 up; Claire McTaggart, bye; Julia Nault def. Maggie McDonald, 2 and 1. 

Boys first division 

Connor Ahlborg def. Sam Iden, 19 holes; Rich Cavanagh def. Mackinley Garcia, 4 and 3; Luke Cavanaugh def. Michael Letendre, 1 up; Noah Patel def. Nathan Carter, 5 and 4; Nick Adamonis def. Sawyer VonFlatern, 5 and 4; Conner Rabbitt def. Gregory Fitta, 1 up; Zachary Taraian def. Adam Gorman, 4 and 3; Julien Kocatas def. Alex Ji, default. 

Boys 14 and under 

Mitch McTaggart, bye; Nick Keefe def. Weylin Lynch, 7 and 6; Ray Rainville, bye; Aidan Connell def. Camden Fontaine, 8 and 7; Raj Mammen, bye; Logan Ferreira def. Huck Quinlan, 3 and 2; Kailer Louangxay, bye; Nico Capalbo def. Mikey Mendes, 7 and 6. 

bkoch@providencejournal.com

On X: @BillKoch25 

WARWICK – As tiny waves slosh onto the sandy spit at Conimicut Point, a loud siren interferes with nature’s soundtrack.

Emergency lights flash from a warning system mounted to the top of a pole. After the piercing siren, which has a klaxon-like rhythm, an authoritative voice commands the attention of anyone on the point.

“Attention!” it says. “Attention!”

“Dangerous tidal and current conditions are approaching! You are advised to leave the sandbar immediately!”

The warning system at Conimicut Point, which includes the same cautions in Spanish, is a new feature that arrived in time for the 2024 swimming season.

Time will tell if the gadgetry makes a major impact on safety over the long term by raising awareness of the point’s hazards, deterring risky behavior and substantially reducing or even eliminating drownings and other water-related fatalities.

So far, the swimming season at Conimicut has been safer this year, with no fatalities or serious injuries, according to Warwick’s police chief, Col. Brad Connor.

Unfortunately, there are lots of other ways for people to put themselves at risk in the water in Rhode Island, from backyard pools to high cliffs along Narragansett Bay, to Atlantic Ocean rip currents.

The state has not avoided tragedy this summer.

Double fatality in Omega Pond believed to be accidental

The deaths of two kayakers on Omega Pond in East Providence drew widespread attention as the news broke on July 5.

The bodies of Joseph Fritz, 52, of East Providence, and Gregory Boerman, 37, of Allston, Massachusetts, were found submerged in the pond. Their kayaks were floating nearby.

Neither Fritz nor Boerman wore a life jacket.

Investigators believe both men drowned accidentally, East Providence police Capt. Michael Rapoza said last week.

However, the medical examiner won’t have an official report on the deaths until they receive a toxicology report.

The toxicology could clarify if alcohol was a factor in the deaths.

Nine people drowned in 2023, RI Health Department says

Tom Griffiths is an aquatic safety expert.

Griffiths, who studies drownings, developed a widely employed strategy that lifeguards can use to surveil swimmers.

Griffith believes signs can help deter some people from taking risks they shouldn’t take, but he also says signs and even blinking lights can fail.

“Signage can work, but I think it has to be creative,” he said.

He said he likes the combination of lights, signs and announcements put in place at Conimicut.

Anniversary of the Conimicut Point double fatality

June 20 was the anniversary of the 2021 double-fatality at Conimicut Point that took the lives of 10-year-old Yoskarly Martinez and a 35-year-old Central Falls man who died trying to save her.

Large warning signs with bright red lettering were posted in the sand near the device.

To the west, the back of the point, but not the submerged sandbar, was inhabited by people who were fishing.

It was a visible difference from previous years, when almost always some anglers would wade into the shallows along the point, to the east, and toward the strong currents in between the lighthouse and the dry sand at the point.

On this occasion, this year, the shallows were people-free.

Then, at high tide, a couple wearing bathing suits sauntered out onto the point. They waded in to their shins, to their waists.

Then for a while, they played together, neck deep, in dangerous waters off the point.

Water-related deaths in Rhode Island since the first day of spring include:

July 23 : North Providence police investigated the death of a 4-year-old boy in a pool. Investigators were told the boy was pulled from the pool after “an undetermined amount of time” underwater.

July 21: The body of 65-year-old Leonidas Gonzalez, of Marlborough, Massachusetts, was recovered from the Sakonnet River. Gonzalez was on the surface along a treacherous shoreline near Indian Avenue, according to Portsmouth’s deputy police chief, Maj. Michael J. Morse. Gonzalez, a retired jeweler and grandfather, frequently fished in the area, and witnesses told police he had fished for several hours on Monday, Morse said.

July 18: A 71-year-old died from injuries, including facial injuries, that he apparently suffered when a wave crashed over him as he waded along the beachfront near the Weekapaug Inn, police say.

July 5: Two men were found dead near their kayaks in Omega Pond, in East Providence. Family members say that Joseph Fritz, 52, of East Providence, and Gregory Boerman, 37, of Allston, Massachusetts, had failed to return from a kayaking excursion on July 4.

June 23: Dexter Gutierrez Matias, 20, of East Providence, was seen in an area known as the “12 O’Clock High” on the north end of Brenton Point shoreline in Newport. Matias had been enjoying the day at the beach with friends who were helping him improve his swimming skills so he could bring his son to the beach and teach him to swim, a GoFundMe page says. “His friends tried to help save him, but they were unable to,” the page says. Searchers, including a Coast Guard air crew in a helicopter, couldn’t find him. On July 3, a man’s body was recovered in the same part of the shoreline where Matias had gone missing.

June 20: Souleymane Diagne, 29, of Senegal, is pronounced dead after Smithfield firefighters try to revive him. Diagne had been unresponsive when he was pulled from a pool at The Last Resort.

May 16: The body of a man believed to be in his early 50s is found along the Woonasquatucket River near Aleppo Street, according to Providence police.

May 14: A kayaker sees a man’s body in the Pawtuxet River near a bridge at the end of Mill Street in Cranston.

April 7: A surveillance camera along the shore of the Pawcatuck River near the public boat ramp in downtown Westerly records video of 40-year-old Matthew Brouillette, unsteady on his feet, falling into the river. Searchers are unable to find him that night. The following day a K9 team detects Brouillette’s body underwater. His body is about 30 feet from where he had fallen in and about 8 feet from shore.

WESTERLY, R.I. — A swarm of dragonflies stunned and surprised beachgoers over the weekend in Rhode Island.

Thousands of the dragonflies, relatively large and often beautifully colored insects, descended on Misquamicut beach Saturday. Video of the dragonflies shows beachgoers running for cover and hiding under blankets. People could be heard screaming.

It’s unclear what prompted the cloud of insects to visit the beach for several minutes and then largely disappear.

“One minute everything was calm. The next minute I saw the most dragonflies I’ve ever seen in my life,” Nicole Taylor told WFSB-TV. “It lasted for like 3 minutes, and then they were gone. It was a very strange experience.”

Christina Vangel, who works at Alfie’s Beach Store, said workers had to shoo the dragonflies out. “As the day went on there were tons of them everywhere. We had to close the doors,” she said.

Chris Fiore, whose family owns Alfie’s, across the street from the beach, marveled at the unique onslaught of dragonflies. “It was fascinating. There were big clouds of them,” he said.

Dragonflies feed mostly on insects like mosquitos and midges, relying on a swiveling head and huge eyes to catch their prey. Some species breed in July and August including the common green darner dragonfly found in Rhode Island. They don’t normally sting or bite humans.