WAPPINGERS FALLS,, N.Y. – A second straight team title at the State Meet, a runner-up finish at the New England Championships and now a third-place showing against the region’s best.
Cumberland High girls’ cross-country coach Kerrie Carpenter was beaming with pride shortly after her squad’s bronze-medal performance at Saturday’s Nike Cross Regionals Northeast. The Clippers compiled 176 points, just 10 behind runner-up Champlain Valley (VT). Pre-race favorite Union Catholic (NJ) earned the team hardware with a low 69 points.
Yes, the bonus for the elite teams that qualified for the regional competition, held on a challenging five-kilometer layout at Bowdoin Park, is to try and earn one of two qualifying spots for the Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) on Dec. 7, something the Clippers were very close to achieving. But there was no disappointment on the face of Carpenter, whose talented squad finished ahead of 25 other teams that were given an invite to the Championship race.
“Goal number one was just to get into this race. The (Championship) race, to my knowledge, Cumberland has never had an appearance at. To us, that was win number one,” she said. “Win number two, yes I definitely thought we could do special things and try and break into the top five. I am hearing that we were third, just 10 points from second, so a big win. I am so proud of these girls. They came out and they fought. It’s always so hard to take things to the next level this late in the season. It’s a huge celebration for us, absolutely.”
Freshmen Cecelia Ludwig once again came through with a monster performance on a course that is considered one of the toughest in the region. She finished 13th overall with a time of 19:08.5. Senior Rose Tuomisto (36th, 19:43.5) and junior Charli McCue (45th, 19:55.4) also broke 20 minutes.
“(Cecelia) is a fierce competitor. She’s a fighter. She has more gears than many kids that I have ever seen,” Carpenter said. “Every time you turn around, there’s another gear, another gear. Big things come in little packages for her. She carried that true for our team.”
Cumberland was in the battle for the No. 2 spot earlier in the race, holding the position at the midway point by 23 over Champlain Valley. The Vermont squad, who captured the New England title over the Clippers two weeks earlier, was able to come on strong in the late stages of the race to solidify its spot at NXN on Dec. 7 in Portland, Oregon.
“Our goal was to put ourself in position that we could compete,” Carpenter said. “The first half mile, because we know you can bottle neck over there by the playground, you got to put yourself in the position to be able to compete. They did that part 1. Part 2 was be strong on the hills. That’s what our race calendar did all year and they looked great there as well. Obviously, the finishing touch is in the end. You need that.”‘
Recent state champion Keaney Bayha of Pilgrim was the second Rhode Islander to cross the line, placing 27th overall in 19:30.8. Portsmouth’s Allie Kaull was 59th among the 229 finishers with a time of 20:07.0.
La Salle was 12th against 28 teams with 390 points. Senior Jayden Donnelly was the top finisher for the Rams, placing 75th with a time of 20:16.5.
