For Rhode Islanders, Saturday’s Ocean State Invitational was all about the underclassmen.
While there were a few solid performances from our more experienced runners, the youngest of the bunch stole the spotlight at this weekend’s meet, held at Goddard State Park.
The East Greenwich boys, a team that is currently ranked fifth in our New Balance Power Rankings, appears to have a good supporting cast for its varsity. In the Junior Varsity 2 race, the Avengers’ Sean Wood, a freshman, captured individual honors with a time of 17 minutes, 56.1 seconds. Wood led an EG squad that won the team title with just 25 points. The Avengers had all five of its scoring runners among the top 11 with sophomore Adam Kortz (third, 18:23.5), sophomore Kyle Ottiano (fourth, 18:43.7), junior Zacharie Carron (sixth, 18:51.1) and junior Jack Santilli (11th, 19:15.2) filling the spots. North Kingstown junior Grayson Edge was fourth (18:11.9) in the JV 1 race.
The two freshmen girls’ races drew nearly 200 entries. Chariho’s Meriden Alge won the Div. 1 race with a time of 15:47.7 for the 2.4-mile race. Finishing close behind Alge from the Ocean State were the Cranston West duo of Molly Slinko-Gosetti (fifth, 16:23.0) and Leah Yanovich (sixth, 16:31.3). Alge’s time was the No. 2 fastest all day. Emelia Langevin of Woodstock Academy (CT) was the fastest among ninth-graders with a triumphant 15:39.1 in the Div. 2 race. Block Island’s Keira Closter was third (16:25) in that race.
In the freshmen boys’ race, RI athletes went 3-5-6-9 in the Div. 1 race with the quartet of Barrington’s Jack Williams (third, 14:00.3), North Kingstown’s Henry Laperte (fifth, 14:12.5) and Colby Henderson (sixth, 14:21.1) and Barrington’s Calvin Mentzer (ninth, 14:29). North Kingstown (fourth, 136 points) and Barrington (fifth, 148 points) also placed high in the standings. In the D2 race, St. Raphael’s Myles Macphee (sixth, 14:39.5) and Abdullah Kouring (tenth) were among the top finishers.
Coventry’s standout freshman Molly Richardson skipped the Frosh competition and raced against the elite in the featured Championship girls’ race. She was 15th overall with a solid 19:10 clocking.
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North Kingstown junior Lucy Stowe posted the fastest time of the day among Rhode Island girls. Stowe was 14th in the Championship race where she was timed in 19:09. Saint Raphael’s MacKenzie Lickert was 27th at 19:45.1. In the Varsity races, Exeter/Westr Greenwich’s Lily Chabot was seventh at 20:30 in Div. 1, while Barrington’s Evelyn Lefort came just short of cracking 20 minutes, placing fifth in Div. 2 in 20:01.8.
Saint Raphael’s Arthur Ferris led the way for boys, placing 20th in the Championship race with a time of 16:35.7. Right on his heels were Barrington’s Colby Napolitano (21st, 16:36.5) and North Kingstown’s Gavin Shipperly (22nd, 16:37.5). In the Varsity 1 race, Cranston East’s Cohen Brinker was tenth with a time of 17:01.0.
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In the junior high competition a day earlier on Friday, the future looks bright there, too.
Cole Middle School in East Greenwich showed its depth by winning the sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade boys’ races as well as the eighth-grade girls. All the race covered two kilomters. The individal champions in all the races were Cole’s Luke Walsh (sixth-grade boys, 7:40.7), Moses Brown’s Priya Addai (sixth-grade girls, 8:12.5), Alan Shawn Feinstein’s Xayvien Rudd (seventh-grade boys, 6:59.8), Hope Highland’s Evelyn Yanovich (seventh-grade girls, 7:52.7), Cole’s Tyler Levy (eighth-grade boys, 6:48.0) and North Cumberland’s Caylee Kurbec (eighth-grade girls, 7:29.3).
