Time: 10:30 a.m.
Site: Ponaganset High
Teams: East Greenwich, Prout School, Scituate, North Smithfield, St. Raphael Academy, Moses Brown, Tiverton, Blackstone Valley Prep, Exeter/West Greenwich, Rogers, Juanita Sanchez, Narragansett, Providence Country Day, Westerly, Burrillville, Mount St. Charles
Athletes To Watch: Cole Francis, Narragansett; Ethan Fadden, Mount St. Charles; Luke Allen, East Greenwich; Eli Ziegler, Moses Brown, Brody Fahys, East Greenwich; JJ Rocha, St. Raphael Academy
Outlook: The overwhelming favorite in this race is Francis. The Mariner junior has been laser-focused this season. He was the top Ri finisher at the Great American XC Invitational on Oct. 7 where he was 30th in the Race of Champions with an all-time best of 15:34.20. He’s also gone sub-16 in three other invitational meets this fall, taking his race at the Injury Fund Carnival (15:58.20), placing ninth and first Rhode islander in the Championship race of the Ocean State Invitational (15:43.80) and winning a competitive battle with Portsmouth’s Sean Gray at the Avenger XC Invitational (15:45.54). As a tenth-grader, Francis was fourth in this race in 2022. He followed that performance by placing sixth at the State Meet with a best at Ponaganset of 16:06.50. Based on what he’s done so far this fall, we believe Francis is capable of a time in the mid 15-minute range, and possibly even faster this weekend. The question is will he go all-out or just run fast enough to win with the states the following Saturday? We should find that out by the first mile. The Mount’s Fadden appears to be the biggest threat to Francis and the only runner capable of pulling off an upset with a mammoth performance. The MSC junior looked strong in running 15:48.74 on a very fast 5K course at the Bob Glennon Twilight Invitational in Cape Cod on Oct. 13. He was also tenth at the Maine Festival of Champions last month where he was timed in 16:08.87. Other harriers capable of placing high this weekend are Ziegler, the Avengers’ Allen and Fahys and Rocha. Ziegler will have a bit of confidence on his side after an impressive victory over Gray at the Skee Carter Invitational last week where he ran a PR of 16:13.76.
In the team competition, East Greenwich appears to be the favorite with Allen and Fahys capable of sub-17s at Ponaganset and most of the remaining varsity having the potential to get in that low-to-mid 17-minute range. A few other teams we feel will be in the mix are Narragansett, Moses Brown and the Saints, the defending champions, who you can never count out.
