Rhode Island has a long list of athletes who have successfully made the transition from the soccer field to track and cross country.
During the fall cross-country season, that list includes former standouts and individual state champions such as Westerly’s Andrew Springer (2008), St. Raphael Academy’s Devan Kipyego (2021, 2022) and Portsmouth’s Sean Gray, who captured last year’s title.
Could Brooks Mello be the next to join that illustrious group?
It could happen.
Coming off his best year on the track during his junior campaign last year, one that included a 4:14 mile and an 8:30 for 3,000 meters, Mello made his high school debut on the cross-country trails at Saturday’s Injury Fund XC Carnival.
The Eagles senior didn’t disappoint.
In the three varsity races, Mello turned in the third-fastest time of the day in cruising to a nearly 20-second victory in the Keith Johnston Race. He covered the five-kilometer layout at Deerfield Park in 16:10.28.
“It felt pretty good for me,” Mello said. “I was pushing myself pretty hard. I wanted to set kind of a benchmark going into the season. I just wanted to go out there and push pretty hard. I’m pretty happy with the way it went.”
Despite two of their varsity runners unable to race because of sickness – senior co-captains Austin McCarty and top returnee Colby Napolitano, a seventh-place finisher at last year’s states – Barrington easily captured the team crown with a 29-52 decision over North Kingstown. South Kingstown was third with 104 points.
While Mello is hoping to excel individually at the state level, he’s also excited about what his team can accomplish in early November.
Saturday’s race was an encouraging sign of what the Eagles are capable of.
Finishing second overall was junior Ryan Hurlock at 16:29.15. He was followed by the sophomore quartet of Jack Williamson (fifth, 16:56.93), Calvin Mentzer (11th, 17:17.89), Patrick Coen (12th, 17:17.89) and Brady Martin (13th, 17:42.47) as well as junior Finn Sullivan (14th, 17:48.44).
“I am really hoping to run some hard races, and do well,” Mello said. “But really, I think our team is looking really strong this year. We got a really good group of guys. I got super lucky this summer to have some guys that have trained really hard and pushed me a ton. I am really happy to have those guys. This year I’m hoping our team will do really well. I know we got our sights set on states. Obviously, we’ll be gunning for the win, but I think we’ll be really happy to be runners-up. I think there is definitely a good shot.”
Bishop Hendricken, the overwhelming favorite to win the school’s sixth straight team title, showed its strength in the meet-opening William Johnston III Race. Led by individual champion Shepherd Butler, the Hawks swept the top five places in a decisive 15-72 victory over Chariho Regional.
Butler, a junior, clocked the quickest time of the day, crossing the line in 16:00.21. Not far behind was sophomore teammate Luke Tremble in 16:05.37. The remaining scorers included senior Andrew Williams (third, 16:12.30), junior Oliver Redmond (fourth, 16:16.13) and sophomore Micah Dru (fifth, 16:41.80). Just 48 seconds separated the Hawks’ top six runners with sophomore Christian Nunez also cracking the top 10 by placing eighth in 16:48.05.
Two of Hendricken’s runners – senior Colby Flynn and recent transfer Jeremy Dru – did not compete at Saturday’s competition, further demonstrating the Hawks’ outstanding depth.
“We really just wanted to get a solid effort today and obviously get the win,” Butler said. “We worked on the team pack running. We don’t have everybody on the team here running with us. Obviously we don’t have Colby here, and a few guys. We wanted to work on staying together and trying to hit a good pace that’s going to be like a workout effort or a little bit harder but not all-out so we’re not wasting anything.”
In the final race of the day, La Salle Academy’s boys cruised to a 20-74 victory over Moses Brown School. Pilgrim was third with 100 points.
The Rams’ Matt Lewis and Will Souza finished nearly in unison, with Lewis edging his teammate for first place in 16:10.45. Souza crossed the line just 0.23 seconds later in 16:10.68.
Pilgrim freshman Kingston Bayha placed third in 16:41.80.
For Lewis and Souza, the plan was simply to run together for most of the race and pick up the final half.
“We knew there wasn’t going to be a ton of competition so we let people take it for as long as they wanted to and then after about a mile we started working off each other try to run a fast time,” Souza said.
Girls’ Races
Barrington’s Carly Gill, competing in her first cross-country season, turned in the fastest time of the day among the girls. The Eagles sophomore was the only runner to dip under 19 minutes, winning the Caswell Race in 18:46.12. Teammate Evelyn Lefort was second in 19:04.85.
Gill and Lefort ran alongside each other for most of the race before Gill made her move with about 1,000 meters remaining.
The sophomore is coming off an outstanding freshman campaign that included times of 2:19 for 800 meters and 4:48 for 1,500 meters. Despite those credentials, Gill was surprised by her sub-19-minute debut.
“I didn’t think I could run this fast,” she said. “My goal going into it was trying to enjoy the experience because it’s a new sport for me. I’m excited to see what I can do in my upcoming meets.”
Fueled by a 1-2 finish by senior teammates Lucy Stowe and Abbie Tighe, North Kingstown won the Roger Roy Race. The Skippers had all seven among the top finishers en route to a 25-92 rout of runner-up Lincoln. Toll Gate was third with 96 points.
Stowe was timed in a winning 19:23.76. Tighe, who was the early-race leader, finished at 19:31.96. Coventry sophomore Molly Richardson was third with a time of 19:35.47.
“Honestly, my coach told us to just kind of keep it conservative and start out moderately hard, and that’s what I did,” Stowe said. “I then just decided to go as I felt and run my race.”
Completing the scoring for the Skippers were senior Maura Whitney (fifth, 20:19.41), sophomore Mackenzie Baker (eighth, 21:31.76) and junior Anna Mansfield (ninth, 21:39.64). Junior Riley Morrison was tenth (21:40.16) and sophomore Avrie Tighe was 11th (21:40.67).
La Salle’s Alyssa Parenteau was the only reigning champion to come out on top at the Injury Fund. Parenteau captured her second straight title with a time of 19:17.34 in the Hindley Race. She finished comfortably ahead of Chariho’s Meridan Alge, who was second at 19:53.0.
As a team, La Salle won handily with a 19-83 victory over Portsmouth. Ponaganset was third with 97 points.
The race was bittersweet for Parenteau, a Smithfield resident, who has competed at Deerfield Park since she was a youth.
“It was really special for me in this race,” she said. “I have been running at Deerfield since I was seven. I did all the Junior Olympic meets and in middle school, all of our home meets here,” she said. “Coming back to run this course for the last time is really special for me. It’s been my home course for like 11 years.
“Today, I just wanted to go in and kind of do a full-circle moment and maybe end up with a win or something. It wasn’t really about time. It was about doing a hard effort and kind of wrapping up my time on this course.”
Freshmen Races
South Kingstown freshman Emma Morrissey turned in a course-record performance in the Bob Leddy Freshmen Race. Morrissey became the first ninth-grader to break 15 minutes at Deerfield Park, clocking 14:58.63 for the 4K course. Her effort eclipsed the mark of 15:04.1, set by Tighe in 2023.
Last year’s middle school state titlist Caylee Kurbec of Cumberland was second overall in 15:38.08. East Greenwich’s Julia Fuimarello placed third in 15:50.74.
East Greenwich took the team hardware, defeating runner-up La Salle, 42-50. Barrington was third with 53 points.
East Greenwich’s Tyler Levy was the first to cross the line in the Ray Dwyer Freshmen Race, clocking 15:01.39 on a course that was lengthened to approximately 2.75 miles because of an error in the course setup.
Smithfield’s Colin Smith was second in 15:08.33, followed by Barrington’s Finn Evans in 15:10.67.
East Greenwich completed a sweep of the freshmen races, defeating Barrington, 76-86. Hendricken was third with 94 points.
