Class B Championships – Girls
Day/Time: Saturday at 11:30 p.m.
Site: Ponaganset High
Teams: Chariho, West Warwick, Tolman, Lincoln, Ponaganset, Davies Voke, Mount Hope, Shea, Portsmouth, East Greenwich, Johnston, South Kingstown, Central Falls, Smithfield
Last Year’s Results: Thirteen was the lucky number for Barrington, which won its first team title in 13 years with a 56-65 win over second-place East Greenwich. Chariho’s Erin vonHousen clocked her first sub 19-minute 5K to win the individual title with a time of 18:55.56.
Runners To Watch: Alle Kaull, Portsmouth; Jessica Deal, Mount Hope; Ali Walsh, East Greenwich; Olive Willis, East Greenwich; Lindsay Han, East Greenwich; Emma Soffientino, South Kingstown
Outlook: The favorite for individual honors is Kaull, who has been unbeaten against her R.I. rivals both in-state and out-of-state. The talented senior, who was fourth last year, won her race in the season-opening Injury Fund Carnival where she was timed in 18:49.65 at Deerfield Park. She was 11th among 253 runners in the seeded race of the Maine Festival of Champions with an 18:53 effort. Her most recent performance was a victory at the East Bay Challenge at Glen Park where she beat the Huskies’ Deal by 30 seconds. The Mount Hope junior, a two-time, first-team, all-stater, appears to be Kuall’s biggest threat to win on Saturday. To do that it will be a tall challenge as the Patriot standout has been consistently strong all season.
Defending champion Barrington, which won its eighth team title last year, has moved up to Class A. East Greenwich, the victor in the previous four meets, appears to be the favorite. The Avengers top four (Walsh, Willis, Han, Emily Clarke) are all capable to running in the 20-minute range on Saturday. Mount Hope, Portsmouth and South Kingstown should all be battling for the next three positions.
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Class B Championships – Boys
Day/Time: Saturday at 11 a.m.
Site: Ponaganset High
Teams: West Warwick, Tolman, Barrington, North Providence, Lincoln, Chariho, Davies Voke, Ponaganset, Central Falls, Shea, Mount Hope, Johnston, Smithfield, Portsmouth, East Greenwich
Last Year’s Results: Barrington won its second straight team title with a 44-84 decision over second-place Portsmouth. Smithfield’s Jason Padula beat a young, upcoming star named Sean Gray of Portsmouth.
Runners To Watch: Sean Gray, Portsmouth; Myles Napolitano, Barrington; David Hayes, East Greenwich; Luke Allen, East Greenwich
Outlook: During a season full of highlights, can anyone beat Gray? There is a chance, but it’s not coming from this race. Even though there are some talented runners in the field, the Patriots’ junior is the overwhelming favorite to win his first class title. Gray has been unbeaten all season, one that’s included big victories at Wickham Park and the Maine XC Festival, the latter producing a course record of 14:55.56. There is word this season that Gray is eyeing the CR of 14:56.09 at Ponaganset by former La Salle standout DJ Principe. We don’t expect that attempt will come here, rather he’ll go for it next weekend in a head-to-head battle with La Salle’s Marshall Vernon. We do believe Gray will be in that 15:20-15:30 range, a time that should transfer to a comfortable win. Napolitano, who was fourth in this race last year and third at the State Meet, is a longshot to upset Gray. He ran a season best of 15:42.78 on a lightning quick 5K at the Bob Glennon Twilight Invitational in Cape Cod a few weeks ago. To have any chance at catching Gray, who has been on cruise control all season, Napolitano will need the type of race he had at the states last year where he ran a best of 15:49.89…plus a lot more. Hayes and Allen are among several Avengers that could solidify top placements on Saturday.
Teamwise, this could be one of the more exciting races of the weekend. On paper, East Greenwich and Barrington are separated by single digits at the the most. Portsmouth is a team that can’t be ignore, too. All three squads could be among our top six at the states next weekend.
