Perfect weather, perfect meet.
There’s no better way to describe this past weekend’s Ocean State Invitational, the two-day regional meet at Goddard State Memorial Park that featured a total of 20 middle school and high school races.
The 17th annual event, which was sponsored by Marathon Sports and HOKA, was another well-organized meet by the father-daughter duo/co-race directors, Charlie and Siobhan Breagy. For the first time, chip timing was used, avoiding the overflow of traffic at the finish and making things run even smoother than in the past. The festive atmosphere with the music, PA announcer and the swarm of runners racing at Goddard from nearly start to finish of each day added to its success.
The six middle-school races on Friday once again provided a perfect kick-off for one of the east coast region’s premier events. The 14 high school races concluded things in a big way on Saturday. Overall, 171 teams from 10 states and more than 4,000 runners took part in this year’s event.
***
Ocean State Running was on site for both days. From 12-plus hours, we have more than 4,000 photos! On Saturday, Ron Knapp of our sister site, My Sports Results (mysportsresults.com), was there to help us out with more photos. Check out Ron’s photos by clicking HERE.
While Rhode Island was shut out from the victory stand individually, and managed only one team title during Saturday’s high school races – Kudos to the North Kingstown boys’ winning the Freshmen Freshmen Div. 1 race – there was still plenty of top performances by our local harriers.
Not surprisingly, the fastest 5K times of the day were produced in the Championship race. Narragansett’s Cole Francis was eighth overall in the boys’ race where he was timed in 16 minutes, 4.3 seconds. North Kingstown’s Abbie Tighe was eighth in the girls’ race at 19:03.20.
Here’s a rundown of some of the best from each race on Saturday.
***
BOYS
Freshmen Div. 1 – 4K
Individual: 6. Colton Orr, North Kingstown 13:59.20; 7. Xavier Baker, North Kingstown 14:02.5; 8. Camden Florio, North Kingstown, 14:06.9; 8. Camden Florio, North Kingstown 14:06.9; 10. Jagger Viens, North Kingstown 14:13.9.
Team: 1. North Kingstown 42, 2. Lexington 95 6. Barrington, 222; 7. Classical 242
Freshmen Div. 2 – 4K
Individual: 9. Finnian Harrington, Prout School 14:37.20; 11. Mason Smith, Smithfield 14:48.90; 12. Hunter Vallee, Smithfield 14:57.70.
Team: 1. Wayland, 60. 3. Smithfield, 86.
Championship – 5K
Individual: 8. Cole Francis, Narragansett 16:04.20
Team: 13. North Kingstown, 278
Varsity Div. 2 – 5K
Individual: 14. Joshua Maynard, Toll Gate 16:55.30; 20. Noah Vanhorn, St. Raphael Academy, 17:13.70; 21. John Maynard, Toll Gate 17:15.90
GIRLS
Freshmen Div. 1 – 4K
Individual: 2. Fiona Hughes, Classical 16:17.90; 5. Brooke Sloan, Cranston East 16:57.9; 8. Ella Koconis, Smithfield 17:41.50; 9. Isabella Dalton, Mount St. Charles 17:45.0
Team: 1. Hauppauge, 53; 2. Smithfield 56
Championship – 5K
Individual: 8. Abbie Tighe, North Kingstown 19:03.20; 15. Lucy Stowe, North Kingstown 19:2360; 29. Maura Whitney, North Kingstown, 20:07.30.
Team: 1. Billerica, 79; 5. North Kingstown, 139.
Freshmen 1 girls – 5K
Individual: 2. Fiona Hughes, 16:17.9 5. Brooke Sloan, CE 16:57.2; 9. Scarlett Wasinowicz, Barrington 17:11.5;
Varsity Div. 1 – 5K
Individual: 7. Evelyn Lefort, Barrington 19:59.2
Varsity Div. 2 – 5K
Individual: 3. Mackenzie Lickert, St. Raphael Academy 19:44.60; 17. Mea Ayotte, Toll Gate 21:07.40.