Wickham Park’s treacherous 5K didn’t seem to affect several of our Rhode Island athletes that competed at Saturday’s New England X-C Championships.
Recent state champion Marshall Vernon of La Salle Academy came mere strides from becoming the state’s first individual winner since LSA alum DJ Principe won it all in 2016. Vernon took runner-up honors with a time of 15 minutes, 14 seconds, just a tick behind Newton (CT) senior and top-seed Dissa Soheib. Portsmouth’s Sean Gray, who finished second to Vernon at the states, earned the bronze in 15:24. Bishop Hendricken sophomore Colby Flynn also cracked the top 10 by taking eighth overall in 15:45.
Vernon clocked the third fastest time ever recorded at Wickham. Gray’s time ranks No. 6. The Ram junior nearly caught his rival coming down the stretch in an intense race from the beginning.
“The first two miles I didn’t feel too bad but that last mile really hurt, But it was really fun racing Dissa, Vernon said. “We were working together the first 4k but Dissa caught me off guard me by going a little early and he got a better turn and I was behind 15-20 meters. I felt him start to die, but someone yelled at him, ‘He’s catching you.’ Dissa looked behind and kicked again and that’s how the race went towards the end.”
Among other top finishers on the boys’ side was Narragansett’s Cole Francis (18th, 15:59), Barrington’s Myles Napolitano (26th, 16:09), Cumberland’s Sam Henderson (28th, 16:15), East Greenwich’s David Hayes (46th, 16:28) and North Kingstown’s Gavin Shipperley (48th, 16:38). The race had 256 finishers.
As expected, pre-race favorite Ridgefield (CT), the No. 2 ranked team in the northeast region, claimed the team title with just 63 points. Bishop Hendricken was third overall with 196 points. Behind Flynn was BJ Kerachsky (53rd, 16:33), freshman Shepherd Butler (73rd, 16:47), Emmitt Rattey (80th, 16:50) and freshman Oliver Redmond (81st, 16:50).
Just a week after their second straight state crown, the Cumberland girls were second best in the region. The Clippers collected 124 points to earn the runner-up spot. Taking the team title was Champlain Valley Union (VT) with 100 points. The two squads were the favored schools entering the meet with Cumberland holding the No. 2 position in the northeast and Champlain Union at No. 4.
Comprising the scoring for the Clippers were freshman Ceceila Ludwig (22nd, 18:51), Rose Tuomisto (49th, 19:32), Kiley DeFusco (50th, 19:34), Charli McCue (59th, 19:44) and Anna Bianchi (70th, 19:53).
Individually, Ludwig was the state’s top finisher. Also placing among the top 50 were North Kingstown’s Abbie Tighe (28th, 19:06), Portsmouth’s Allie Kaull (29th, 19:07), North Kingstown’s Lucy Stowe (34th, 19:15), St, Raphael’s Mackenzie LIckert (48th, 19:32), Tuomisto and DeFusco. The race drew 254 finishers.
