Okay, you saw what happened this past weekend at the Class Championships, right?
Now forget all that.
Well…sort of.
Following the theme of the current World Series, it’s a whole new ballgame now.
Go ahead, do the math. Compile all the results together from the three class meets and come out with your predictions on what will happen this Saturday when our athletes and teams converge one more time at Ponaganset for the RILL State X-C Championships. From that, you might get a vague picture at what will happen this weekend. A completely accurate one? Not a chance. No one will. Not even you’re “so-called experts” here at Ocean State Running. As we always do, here’s our best shot at predicting what we think will occur this weekend on what looks to be perfect conditions for racing.
Once again, you’re welcome in advance for any billboard material we have provided for your respective schools. It’s certainly not intentional. It just happens to go with the territory.
Here we feature the top girls’ teams.
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Will history repeat itself this weekend?
At last year’s Class A Championships, favored Cumberland fell short of attaining the team crown with La Salle Academy pulling off a nine-point win over the Clippers. The following week, Cumberland came back and captured the school’s first state title since 1981. This past Saturday, La Salle did it again at the class meet only this time the Blue and White was third behind the Rams by an eight-point margin.
Could it be deju vu on Ponaganset’s covered-bridge trail? Will the Clippers come back again to make it two straight at the State Meet?
Maybe, maybe not.
And let’s not forget about North Kingstown.
Those are the three schools we should be focusing on this Saturday for that all-important team title.
Looks can be deceiving and they certainly were with the Clippers in their bronze-medal performance at the class meet. While the Rams put forth their best effort of the season, they did it against a Cumberland squad that was minus its top two runners, senior Kiley DeFusco and freshmen Cecilia Ludwig. The word is that DeFusco was not feeling well and Ludwig was being rested for this weekend’s meet after competing (and winning) the Freshmen State Championships five days prior to Class A’s. Put them both at the starting line on Saturday and we have a lethal Clipper squad that could have six runners under 20 minutes with senior Rose Tuomisto, junior Charli McCue, sophomore Anna Bianchi and sophomore Gabby Stoothoff among that club. All four were under the mark this past Saturday.
But as we’ve learned so many times this time of the season, it doesn’t matter the year, you can never count out La Salle. One thing you have to remember about the Rams at the class meet is that they, too, were without a key runner, sophomore Alyssa Parenteau, a third-place finisher at the class meet in 2023 and their No. 1 harrier this fall. Parenteau has been out for most of the season with a stress reaction and is a “game-day decision,” for this Saturday, according to head coach Kelly Raso. If healthy, that could change things in a big way for the Rams in their quest for a team title, especially if the Rams perform the way they did at the class meet. La Salle’s top five averaged 19:41 for the 5K distance and were separated by just 45 seconds! That quintet included senior Maeve Casey (sixth, 19:23.01), junior Olivia Wahlberg (eighth, 19:35.01), senior Jayden Donnelly (ninth, 19:35.69), freshman Stella Pelagio (13th, 19:45.17) and sophomore Sabrina Ghamrawi (16th, 20:08.54).
Now we have North Kingstown. The Skippers were second at the Class A meet this past weekend with four of their runners in the top 11 – sophomore Abbie Tighe (second, 18:51.28), sophomore Lucy Stowe (third, 19:12.87), junior Abby Nicolopoulus (tenth, 19:37.62) and sophomore Maura Whitney (11th, 19:39.07). That, right there, is a fearsome foursome. But as we all know, five runners compile a team score and that’s what made the difference in the runner-up Skippers falling short this past Saturday, just five points behind the Rams. Does NK have a fifth runner that can run, at the very least, in the 20-minute range on Saturday. If everyone does their job up front, that’s what they’ll need to come close to the Rams and Clippers if, in a perfect world, all parties are healthy and ready to roll this weekend. It will certainly be interesting to see how this one plays out with these three talented squads answering the starter’s gun.
East Greenwich and Moses Brown, our respective Class B and Class C winners, and Barrington, fourth in Class A, are teams we expect will be vying for those remaining top-six positions that guarantee a spot at the New England’s on Nov. 9.
