Our state was well-represented this past weekend at the New England X-C Championships with our qualifying athletes and teams competing against some of the region’s best in Belfast, Maine. For this week’s HOKA Athletes of the Week, we’re selecting two that were among the top finishers on the Troy Howard Middle School XC Course. Congratulations to La Salle Academy’s Marshall Vernon and Chariho’s Erin vonHousen.
Vernon, a sophomore, wasn’t the first to cross the line from our small state. That distinction belonged to Cumberland’s Sam Henderson, who was seventh overall, and has earned this honor the last two week with his victories at the Class A Championships and the State Meet. We picked Vernon because on this day the Rams’ talented tenth-grader clocked his all-time best for the 5K distance with a sub 16-minute effort. La Salle’s top harrier was the second underclassmen and 16th overall with a time of 15:57.57, No. 2 among our state’s harriers.
As for vonHousen, the Chargers’ gifted senior was able to break 19 minutes for the third straight week, placing 23rd overall with a time of 18:36.79. Her performance earned her the distinction as the top Rhode Islander at the regional competition, just a week at taking runner-up honors at the states.
