Twenty-seven schools are expected to make their way to Burrillville Middle School (BMS) on Thursday for the annual Skee Carter Invitational. This is the last big meet before next weekend’s class championships so several schools will not have their ‘A’ teams on the line. But the late October meet, which will be celebrating its 17th year, always seems to produce its share of quality performances on the somewhat challenging five-kilometer layout at BMS.
At last year’s meet, Barrington’s Brandon Piedade captured individual honors with a winning time of 15 minutes, 43.55 seconds. He was just three ticks ahead of Burrillville’s Garrett Dailey, who secured second at 15:46.61. Narragansett’s Cole Francis was third at 15:49.16. Dailey has since graduated, but Barrington and Narragansett are both entered this weekend. The question is will we see Piedade and Francis on the line? Both are coming off strong performances last week. Francis was a winner at last Thursday’s Avenger XC Invitational where the Mariner junior clocked a solid time of 15:45:54. Piedade raced to a PR of 15:42.2 to finish 13th in the Large School race at the annual Bob Glennon Twilight Invitational at the Cape Cod Fairgrounds. In that race, the Eagles’ Myles Napolitano also broke 16 minutes with a time of 15:44.6, good for 15th overall.
In 2022, the Saint Raphael Academy tandem of Rory Sullivan and Chananley Boyce took the top two positions. Sullivan claimed the individual prize at 18:24.62, while Boyce was timed in 18:34.20 for second. Finishing third was Narragansett’s Maddie O’Neil at 18:55.78. The Saints will not be competing this weekend, but there is potential that O’Neil will answer the gun with the Mariners listed as a team entry. O’Neil is a week removed from her victory at the Avenger Invite where she crossed the line in 18:42.13. If the Mariner standout returns to the Skee Carter Invite, she could face some stiff competition from Mount Hope all-stater Jessica Deal, who was third at the Avenger meet. The Huskies are listed as an entriy for Thursday’s meet.
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SCHEDULE
4 p.m. – Varsity Boys
4:30 p.m. – Varsity Girls
5 p.m. – Mixed JV
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