It’s only a matter of time before we get our first real glimpse of some of the top teams and athletes this cross-country season. The Injury Fund Carnival on Aug. 31 will give us a good sampling of what to expect from our top returnees. By the midway point of the fall campaign, and with a few in-state and out-of-state competitions under their belts, the picture will become clearer.
The next few weeks, Ocean State Running will be preview how we expect things will transpire on the dirt trails. We’re going to break it down by classes (Class A, Class B and Class C). Here we feature Class A girls.
Class A Girls’ Cross-Country Preview
Teams: Cranston West, East Providence, Woonsocket, Cranston East, Mount Pleasant, North Kingstown, Cumberland, La Salle, Classical, Coventry, North Providence, Barrington, Pilgrim, Hope, Toll Gate
Top Returnees: Keaney Bayha, Pilgrim; Kiley DeFusco, Cumberland; Abbie Tighe, North Kingstown; Alyssa Parenteau, La Salle, Lucy Stowe, North Kingstown
Teams To Watch: Cumberland, North Kingstown, La Salle, Barrington
Outlook: The race for the individual title could very well be a preview of what to expect at the State Meet a week later. Bayha, DeFusco and Tighe are all runners that are capable a stealing the show at the Big Dance. After a strong cross-country season that included a win at the Class A meet, a third-place finish at the states and a 5K best of 18:03.40 at the Great American XC Festival, Bayha was consistently one of our state’s top runners during the track season in events ranging from 600m to the 3K. Her 3K best of 10:02.08 at the Classical Classic was the No. 2 time of the year behind Chariho’s Erin vonHousen’s PR of 10:00.65 from the Yale Track Classic. The gritty DeFusco is certainly a legit threat to get the two-for-1 deal with victories at the class and state meets. She was sixth at Class A’s last fall and led the Clippers to the state crown by placing fourth overall in the championship meet where she clocked a best of 18:35.41. Tighe, the freshmen state titlist in 2023, was fifth at the class meet and earned first-team, all-state honors at the State Meet by placing sixth overall with a time of 18:47.47, a time she would slightly improve on at the New England’s where she was timed in 18:47.04. She went 4:45 for 1,500m and 10:09 for the 3K during the track season. The Skipper standout has the ability to contend. Among a few others, you can’t ignore Parenteau or Stowe to be fighting for those top finishes.
In the team battle, Cumberland gets our pick to win the class and state meets. The Clippers lost just one runner from last year’s team that was second at Class A and a week later won the school’s first state crown since 1979. In addition to DeFusco, other top runners are Charli McCue, Rose Tuomisto, Anna Bianchi and Gabby Stoothoff. Don’t rule out North Kingstown too. The Skippers finished third at the states last fall with a squad that had three freshmen (Tighe, Stowe and Maura Whitney) and a sophomore (Abby Nicolopoulos) earning their top four placements. Cumberland and NK will both under new leadership this season with boys’ coach Kerrie Carpenter also taking over the coaching duties for Cumberland on he girls’ side and former North Kingstown coach Keven O’Neil returning to his alma-mater. La Salle, the Class A winner last year, can never be counted out under longtime coach Kelly Raso.
