It’s championship season this time of year. For Rory Sullivan, that means only one thing.
It’s time to shine.
Once again, the Saint Raphael Academy senior was at her best at Ponaganset – site of Saturday’s RIIL Class Championships and next weekend’s State Meet.
An expected duel between Narragansett’s Madeline O’Neill turned into a runaway victory for Sullivan in the Class C race. On an unseasonably hot day for racing where the temperature reached 80 degrees, the Saints’ standout was the hottest of them all on the Chieftains’ five-kilometer trail, posting the fastest time in the three class meets with a triumphant and near meet record of 18 minutes, 30.47 seconds.
Sullivan made a course that she admits is “definitely difficult,” look easy. She opened up with a fast split of 5:37 at the mile mark and was never seriously challenged the remainder of the way, cruising to a minute-plus victory over O’Neill, who secured the runner-up spot in 19:32.36. Mount St. Charles’ Emmy Belvin was third at 19:44.67.
Sullivan took advantage of the flat terrain during the first third of the race to set the tone.
“I heard around the half mile that we were on six-minute pace and I was like, “This is too slow. I need to pick it up,'” she said. “It’s good to go out fast.This first mile is fast. I knew it was going to be fast. but that was pretty fast.”
Sullivan’s effort was a mere two seconds shy of the meet record of 18:28.30, set last year by Moses Brown grad and current Harvard freshman Sophia Gorriaran. She second overall in the 2022 race with a season best of 18:58.20.
Next Saturday at the states, Sullivan will be looking to join an elite club. A top seven finish will secure her fourth straight first-team, all-state selection.She goes into the meet as one of the favorites to take individual gold.
“I just want to do the best I can on that given day,” she said. “It just kind of depends. I’d love to run faster than I did today. I felt like I definitely let up towards the end. I just want to push myself and run a great time, and just have fun.”
Averaging a time of 21:13 by its varsity runners, Moses Brown captured the team title with a close 65-69 decision over the Saints. Senior Jay Champlin was the Quakers’ top finisher, placing fourth with a time of 19:45.36. Senior Rachel Williams (11th, 21:07.23) and junior Sophia Clyne (12th, 21:13.86) were the next two across the line for MB.
The individual favorites in the other two races didn’t disappoint either with Pilgrim’s Keaney Bayha cruising to the Class A title with a time of 18:43.85 and Chariho’s Erin vonHousen coming out on top in the Class B race where she was timed in 18:55.6. In the team competitions, there were a few surprises. La Salle Academy put itself in the conversation as one of the contenders at Saturday’s State Meet by edging pre-race favorite and 2022 champion Cumberland, 48-52 in Class A. North Kingstown was third with 65 points.
Freshmen Alyssa Parenteau led the way for the Rams by placing an impressive third overall with a time of 19:27.26. She was just ahead of Toll Gate’s Alison Pankowicz, who was fourth in 19:29.88. North Kingstown ninth-grader Abbie Tighe, the winner of this past Monday’s Freshmen State Championship, was fifth in 19:36.49.
Senior Mia Bettez (seventh, 19:46.81), junior Maeve Casey (ninth, 20:12.82), junior Jayden Donnelly (11th, 20:29.01) and sophomore Olivia Wahlberg (19th, 21:54.52) completed the scoring for the first-place Rams.
“I know NK and Cumberland have very good squads,” said La Salle coach Kelly Raso. We knew today was going to be a battle. It’s about them going out and running their best race. We know next week going into the state meet it’s going to be another battle. We got more teams coming into the mix. I know North Kingstown always comes up with their game players the day of the state meet and I know Cumberland will bring their ‘A’ squad. East Greenwich has a legit squad. There’s going to be a lot of shuffling around next week.”
Speaking of EG, the Avengers’ bid for their fifth straight Class B title came up short with Barrington shocking their rival with a 56-65 win, The Eagles’ fifth runner came in before East Greenwich’s fourth to solidify the crown.
Bayha continues a hot streak over the last month with her Class A victory and fourth straight sub-19 effort of the season for the 5K distance.
“I felt good. I felt ready,” she said. “We’ve been training all the way thorugh. Hills were something we’ve been focusing on. I felt good.”
Bayha was third in this race last year with a then best at Ponaganset of 19:43.50. She finished behind La Salle grad Caroline Cummings and Cumberland’s Kiley DeFusco, who was sixth (19:43.01 on Saturday.
Bayha indicated a few things have helped her get to the level she’s at right now. Among some of her top accomplishment lately was an 18:03.4 best for 5K at the Great American XC Festival on Oct. 7 and a second-place finish in her race at the Manhattan College Invitational two weeks ago where she broke 15 minutes for 2.5 miles with a time of 14:57.10.
“I figured out a lot of my health issues I’ve been having the last couple of years., like I had no iron, no ferritin last year. I really figured that out and I have been really focusing on not overtraining….Just trying to stay stronger and staying uninjured has been really, really important.”
Finishing second overall in the race was Classical’s Grace Doyle. The talented senior was timed in 19:08.50. Doyle took the patient approach. She was far back in about 20th a half mile into the race and move to fourth by the mile.
“This is definitely a big PR on this course,” said Doyle, whose previous best at Ponaganset was 20:15 from last year’s class meet where she was seventh overall. ‘I was hoping for top five so second is really good. I was just really happy with the time overall.”
The Chargers’ vonHousen finished about 175m ahead of Mount Hope’s Jessica Deal, who clocked 19:37.97 for second. Taking third overall was South Kingstown’s Sofia Caito at 20:33.54. She was followed by Portsmouth’s Allie Kaull (fourth, 20:43.29) and Barrington freshman Evelyn Lefort (fifth, 20:51.22).
As she often does, von Housen took charge from the beginning. She passed through the first mile in 5:54 with Deal just a few strides behind her.
The Charger standout gradually built on her lead over Deal as she entered the thick of the woods after the first mile. By the time she exited that portion of the course with less than a mile remaining, her gap of the Crusader sophomore increased significantly.
vonHousen was satisfied with her victory. She admitted that the heat, which was at its peak in the final few races of the day, was a factor in her time.
“The heat definitely got to me, and my team,” she said. ” I am just not used to this during this time of year.”
The Charger all-state, who won the 3K state title during the outdoor track season this past June, is among the favorites with Bayha and Sullivan that could strike it rich at this weekend’s states.
She knows she has to go in focused from the start to have a chance at being the first at the finish.
“I just think it’s running the race,” vonHousen said. “I think it’s just reacting to what people are doing and how I feel and just kind of race the race. It think it will all depend on who has the best day. I think there are a lot of people that could take the win.”
