In just a few more weeks, our athletes and teams will be competing in their respective class and state championships. As evident by this past weekend, things are starting to heat up with the two meets just around the corner.
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We already wrote about what occurred at Saturday’s Manhattan College Invitational where one of our leading contenders for the boys’ state crown, La Salle Academy’s Marshall Vernon, produced the second fastest time ever by a Rhode Islander with his huge victory in the Letter D race. Vernon was timed in 12 minutes, 24.7 seconds for the 2.5-mile distance, an effort that would have placed him second overall in the featured Eastern States Championship race.
This was Vernon’s second big performance of the fall campaign, coming just a few weeks after winning his race at the Bowdoin XC Classic in New York. It has become evidently clear that the race for the individual crown at the states on Nov. 2 will come down to Vernon and Portsmouth’s Sean Gray. The Patriots’ junior also has had two significant victories over the last few weeks with impressive triumphs at the Wickham Park Invitational and the Maine X-C Festival of Champions, the latter producing a course record and sub-15 of 14:55.56.
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North Kingstown was one of several of our teams that competed at the Bob Glennon Twilight Invitational. Held on a lightning-fast five-kilometer course at the Cape Cod Fairgrounds, the Lady Skippers were a strong third overall in the Large School race on Sunday with 130 points. Finishing ahead of NK was team winner Weymouth (121 points) and Needham (124 points), who rank No. 4 and No. 6, respectively in MA for Division 1. This race bodes well for the Skippers, who are one of our state’s best. Sophomore Abbie Tighe had her biggest race of the season, placing sixth overall with a time of 18:09.24. Fellow classmate Lucy Stowe also broke 19 minutes, taking 15th in 18:48.59. NK had two more in the low-to-mid 19-minute range with junior Abby Nicolopoulos (21st, 19:00.32) and sophomore Maura Whitney (26th, 19:16.58) clocking PRs on the quick 5K. Talk about a confidence-booster for the young Skippers.
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Barrington was a solid fourth overall in the Large School boys’ race at Twilight. As a team, the Eagles averaged 16:33 by their five scoring runners with senior Myles Napolitano (sixth, 15:42.78) and Connor Curran (16th, 16:05.65) leading the way. North Kingstown’s Gavin Shipperley (16:05.61) was also among the top 20. Look for this trio to be in the mix for top finishes in their class championships and the State Meet.
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We can’t ignore what the girls from La Salle did over the weekend, too. Like the boys’ squad, the Lady Rams were at historic Van Cortlandt Park for the Manhattan Invite and had just a 30-second gap between their No. 1 and No. 5 runners. Demonstrating just how effective pack mentality can be in regional competitions like Sunday’s meet, La Salle was second just nine points behind East Aurora (NY) in the Letter B race.
