We are officially in the thick of the winter postseason and tournamernts. This is my favorite time of the high school sports calendar and it’s something I look forward to every year.

With a few sports wrapping up this past weekend and other tournaments getting underway this week, let me give you my thoughts to this point, which is Tuesday morning.

First off, I am very impressed with the Warwick co-op gymnastics team’s performance this past weekend.

After winning the regional championship last year, things got back to normal as the league held an actual statewide championship at Rhode Island College. Warwick was considered the favorite to take first place and lived up to the hype, breaking the program’s record (which was just set a couple weeks back) and would win the Division I championship.

What is most impressive about this group, to me, is how young it is. Sophomore Madison Long won the floor competition and placed inside the top-10 for all-around, while junior Riley Bromage finished fourth all-around. Sophomore Katie Ignagni placed 11th, and junior Kaleigh Catucci finished 14th. It’s unbelievable to see this team be so dominant while being led by sophomores and juniors.

Unfortunately for the rest of the state, Warwick won’t be going anywhere and should already be slated as the favorite to win for the next two seasons, at least.

It’s also quite refreshing to see public schools dominate. Many of you already know this about me, but I get tired of the whole private versus public school debate. There’s nothing we can do, it is what it is. But I will say, to see Pilgrim and Toll Gate come together and form such a strong program is exciting.

Speaking of a strong program, the Bishop Hendricken indoor track team placed second overall and saw Brandyn Durand take home another state championship.

Durand has the baseball season in the spring before graduating, but he has continued to pile on accolades to his resume. At this point, I think you can make a case that he is the best high school athlete in the history of Rhode Island.

Sure, he has some pretty stiff competition including Rocco Baldelli. Looking at Durand’s resume, though, it’s something extraordinary.

State championships in football, track and baseball, along with numerous All-State and division honors. You can make an argument that he is the state’s best in all three sports.

Everyone by now knows what kind of athlete he is, but I don’t think there is really any way that it can be overstated. Another big event, another championship. Unreal.

Another big time track performance was Cranston West’s Ailani Sutherland, who won a state title as a sophomore. Track athletes usually don’t begin peaking until their junior year, oftentimes it takes until they are seniors to break out. So, for Sutherland to get it done in year 2 is impressive. Lock her in as the favorite this time next year.

Toll Gate girls basketball team cruised to a lopsided win over visiting Burrillville in the quarterfinals on Monday evening to continue its strong season.

I said it earlier this year, but it felt like the Titans were just one piece away from being title contenders, and they got just that when Woonsocket import Bri Simono joined the group along with Adeline Areson and Sydnee Perreault.

Now, the Titans are the third seed in the playoffs, are headed to the semis, and have made it look easy for much of the way there.

I would not go as far to say that Toll Gate is flying under the radar considering it finished the regular season with only two league losses, but I don’t think the state realizes how good this team truly is with its three-headed monster.

The next stop is against No. 2 North Smithfield on the road on Thursday. The two teams had a competitive matchup this season with North Smithfield getting the win, but anything can happen in high school basketball, and Toll Gate is on a tear.

Speaking on being on a tear, the Cranston West girls just pulled off a wild upset of No. 3 Barrington on Monday night.

After a shaky start to the season, West has been one of the best tam’s in the state down the stretch. The Falcons won five of their final six games in the regular season then just got it done on the road in the quarters.

West is experienced and deep. The bracket will be a tough one to break through in, for sure, but there is no denying the momentum that the Falcons have build here in the past month. That is another team that may just surprise us when it is all said and done.

We had a few teams get knocked out, unfortunately.

The Cranston East girls fell to Juanita Sanchez on Monday after getting a win in the preliminary round. Although the Bolts had greater aspirations in mind, you have to tip your cap to the season they had.

With just one senior starter, it would have been easy to write them off, but they battled until the end to return to the playoffs.

The Johnston boys also fell to Wheeler, but they deserve credit reaching the postseason after losing their top player from last season in Thomas Zednik.

We’ll see how the next few rounds play out here in the coming days. There is nothing quite like the winter playoffs, and I am loving every second of it.