A pair of meets held nearly 100 miles apart produced our respective male and female recipients of the inaugural HOKA Athletes of the Week of 2024-25. Congratulations to Narragansett’s Cole Francis and Cumberland’s Cecelia Ludwig for this week’s honor.
Francis captured top honors in the varsity race at the Highland Park Invitational in Attleboro this past Saturday. The Mariners’ senior came less than a second short of his season best, set a few weeks earlier at the Injury Fund Carnival with a triumphant 16:04.54 for the five-kilometer layout. Francis was a comfortable 20 seconds ahead of second-place finisher, Luke Allen of East Greenwich. Ludwig was the top local finisher at the prestigious Manchester Invitational in New Hampshire. The Clippers’ gifted ninth-grader was timed in 20:09.60 for the challenging 5K at Derryfield Park, good for 23rd overall among the 222 finishers. Her effort led Cumberland to a solid fourth-place showing in the team standings.
