So, what did Saturday’s Injury Fund Carnival reveal?
Mostly what we expected — with a little extra. In other words, it was business as usual under bright, sunny skies at Deerfield Park.
The usual suspects (our pre-race favorites) claimed most of the individual titles. Team-wise, it was much the same. Were there surprises? Of course. It’s high school cross country — did you expect any different?
(Cover photo by Sterling Vernon @rhodeandtrack)
Here’s a closer look at Saturday’s girls’ races.
***
Building on a breakthrough freshman season, Cecelia “CC” Ludwig of Cumberland cruised to victory in the Caswell Race, finishing in 19:01.99. From the start, the talented tenth-grader positioned herself near the front and took control around the midway point, pulling away from eventual second- and third-place finishers, Julia Dowling (19:17.96) of North Smithfield and teammate Charli McCue (19:26.10).
The Clipper standout, who finished third at last year’s states, admitted she wasn’t aiming for a personal best or record.
“It was a race to see what I have,” Ludwig said. “There weren’t really any big plans. I just wanted to go in there and see what I can do.”
With only four runners, the defending champion Clippers couldn’t field a full team to score. That crown went to Moses Brown, which edged out Lincoln, 35-37. Lola Baill led the Quakers with an 11th-place finish in 22:27.09.
***
Like several of the runners at Saturday’s meet, Lucy Stowe utilized a patient approach to win the Roy Race. While still maintaining front-runner status, the North Kingstown junior ran conservatively in the initial stages before picking it up the final half of the race. She crossed the line in 19:00.89. Barrington’s Evelyn Lefort was second at 19:05.55.
“Our plan (as a team) was just kind of work together for the first half and see where we were and try and pull and push everyone the second half,” Stowe said. “That’s what I started to do. I hit the mile and a half mark and I was like, ‘OKay, I feel good. I should start picking it up a little.’ I did take a wrong turn at one point. I started going on the far way of the field the second (loop) but was able to come back from it, so it was okay.”
Hampered by one of its runners not able to finish the race, the favored Skippers placed second behind team champion Barrington. The Eagles defeated NK, 76-81. Lefort and teammate Scarlett Wasinowicz (sixth, 20:17.79) placed among the top 10.
***
Alyssa Parenteau and her La Salle teammates made a statement in the Hindley Race. For the second straight year, Parenteau claimded the top prize. In a race where she dicatated most of the pace, the gifted junior clocked a triumphant 19:16.11. The Rams’ Sabrina Ghamrawi was second with a time of 19:25.51.
“We have an awesome team this year. I think it’s one of the best we’ve had in a really, really long time,” Parenteau said. “My coach wanted us all to go out the first two miles as a pack and just stay together and work together; just motivate anyone who might want to fall off to just stay up with us. We kind of just wanted to send a message here at Injury Fund that we have a really good team.”
La Salle certainly did send a message at this past weekend’s competition. After Ghamrawi, the Rams next five finishers broke 21 minutes – Stella Pelagio (third, 20:14.70), Carolina Terlato (fourth, 20:19.23), Satya Mohan (sixth, 20:26.56), Layne Stevens (eighth, 20:34.25) and Olivia Wahlberg (tenth, 20:42.42).
