It’s mid-October, and the class and state meets are just a few weeks away.
By now, teams and athletes would typically have an invitational or two under their belts as they prepare for the championship season — and, in some cases, beyond.
Unfortunately, Mother Nature hasn’t been cooperating, forcing several meets across the state and region to be postponed or canceled.
That’s been the case for runners like Molly Richardson. The Coventry High sophomore was scheduled to compete at last month’s Ocean State Invitational and Day 2 of the Bob Glennon Twilight Invitational this past weekend. Both times, Richardson never had a chance to step to the starting line, with Ocean State canceling the entire meet and Twilight calling off its varsity competition just before it was set to begin due to a steady downpour.
While the sun never emerged from behind the clouds, the rain stayed away Saturday at the xxxx annual Catholic Memorial Invitational in Boston. Making the most of the opportunity, Richardson turned in her best performance of the season on the 5K course at Franklin Park.
In the first of two varsity races, Richardson finished sixth overall in the ‘A’ race with a personal-record time of 18:33.0. Across both races, her time ranked 11th overall among all competitors.
Richardson kept the lead pack within sight throughout the race while maintaining a relatively even pace. She passed the 3K mark in 11:13.2.
“I tried to get out as fast as I could because I wanted to stay with that front pack,” she said. “My entire goal was keep my eye on that front pack and see what I could do.”
Richardson was competing in her sixth race of the season. She opened with a third-place finish at the season-opening Injury Fund Carnival and went unbeaten at 4-0 in Suburban Division competition. The Knotty Oakers finished fourth overall in the division with a 6-3 record.
“This was actually my first invitational of the year, so it was great,” she said. “My training has been really good. It’s just been a really great season.”
Richardson was the lone Knotty Oaker at the meet, which also featured Barrington and Cranston West.
As a team, Barrington finished fourth in the ‘A’ race, just three points behind Cambridge Rindge & Latin (MA). The Eagles’ Evelyn Lefort finished 10th in the race and 22nd overall with an all-time best of 18:49.2. She was followed by freshman teammate Sarah Clegg, who placed 13th in the race and 32nd overall in 19:12.5.
Competing in the boys’ seeded Red Race, Barrington turned in a strong performance, finishing fifth overall with 120 points. The Eagles tied eventual fourth-place finisher Concord-Carlisle but were edged into fifth on the sixth-runner tiebreaker.
Leading the way for the Eagles were junior Ryan Hurlock (15:45.3) and senior Brooks Mello (15:46.0), who finished sixth and seventh, respectively. Senior Colby Napolitano placed 17th in 16:00.7. All three recorded personal records for the Eagles, who had a 55.4-second gap between their scoring runners.
“I think it was a really good effort,” Hurlock said. “We think the course is pretty similar to Ponaganset [site of the class and state championships]. It was good practice. I think we paced it pretty well.”
“Originally, we weren’t going to run this meet, but kind of threw it in after Twilight got cancelled,” Mello said. “I’m really glad we came out and got a similar feel of running a quick time against a good field.”
