Maine, Vermont, New Jersey and neighboring Massachusetts will be the destinations of choice for several Rhode Island schools competing out of state on Saturday.
With the class and state championship meets just about a month away, these competitions should provide a good indication of how some of Rhode Island’s top teams and athletes are shaping up.
Barrington and Ponaganset are heading to Vermont for the Woods Trail Run at Thetford Academy. This race is unique in the fact that it bases its heats on an individual’s seed time. The good news for Barrington is both their boys’ and girls’ squads have five or more of their scorers in the top-seeded races, which are scheduled as the last two of the day.
In the final girls’ competition, slated for 3 p.m., sophomore Carly Gill is ranked fifth in the field based on her winning time of 18:46.1 from last month’s Injury Fund XC Carnival. Senior Evelyn Lefort, who was second in that race with a season best of 19:04.8, is the ninth fastest among the entries. Also competing in the heat are the underclassmen trio of freshman Sarah Clegg (20:04), sophomore Charlotte Ford (21:04) and freshman Elizabeth Van Hull (21:05).
Barrington will have six of its runners in the top-seeded boys’ race, beginning at 3:25 p.m. Senior Brooks Mello, last month’s winner at the Highland Park Invitational, is ranked third in the field with his time of 16:00.4 from the Massachusetts meet. Junior teammate Ryan Hurlock is at No. 11 with a seed time of 16:19.04.
Six runners for Barrington are in the top-seeded section with Mello, Hurlock, senior Colby Napolitano (16:35.21), sophomore Jack Williamson (16:55.9),sophomore Calvin Mentzer (16:57.90) and sophomore Brady Martin (17:18.2).
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A week after their big victory at the Bowdoin XC Classic, Bishop Hendricken will face its biggest challenge of the season at the Shore Coaches Invitational at Holmdel Park in New Jersey. The Hawks will not only be running on one of the most toughest 5K courses in the country, they’ll be contending against NJ powerhouse Christian Brothers Academy on its home course in the featured ‘A’ Race. CBA is currently ranked No. 2 in the northeast region and has consistently been a nationally-ranked squad. Last year, the Hawks finished third to CBA in this race with a score of 120 points to the Colts’ 40 points. La Salle College of NY was second with 72 points.
Expect the competition to be a lot closer between the Hawks and CBA. At last week’s Bowdoin meet, CBA won its race with just 25 points. In the merged scoring, CBA held a 12-point edge over the Hawks. Count on single digits being the difference between these two elite squads, with CBA holding just a slight edge—one that could certainly be reversed in a meet where the fifth runner will prove crucial.
Last year’s race had a strong RI presence, with former Portsmouth standout and current Virginia freshman Sean Gray winning the ‘A’ race with the third-fastest time of the day, clocking 15:34.0 on the treacherous 5K. La Salle grad and current Stanford freshman Marshall Vernon was second in 15:38, followed by Hendricken’s Colby Flynn in fourth (15:48). Flynn captured his second straight Bowdoin title last weekend and has the potential to challenge the leaders on Saturday.
Hendricken and Christian Brothers Academy will match up at 10:25 a.m. Another win for the Hawks would bode well for them with the Nike Cross Regionals on their radar. In addition to a top-two placement at one of the eight regional meets throughout the country, two at-large bids for the Nike Cross Nationals will also be awarded to a third-place team at one of the regional meets if it also shows strength in other top regional and/or national competitions this season.
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East Greenwich and Burrillville will be heading to the Maine Festival of Champions at Troy Howard Middle School in Belfast, Maine, the site of this year’s New England Championships.
Based on a virtual meet conducted prior to this weekend’s competition, East Greenwich is ranked fifth among the boys and 11th among the girls. The virtual meet used current-season or personal-best times achieved this year.
Both East Greenwich and Burrillville are competing in the seeded sections, with the boys slated to start at 1:50 p.m. and the girls at 2:30 p.m.
EG senior Kayla Siedliski (11th, 19:25) and junior teammate Alison Walsh (22nd, 19:35.0) are listed among the top 25 of the 225 runners entered. On the boys’ side, EG senior Andrew Parisi (17th, 16:30.0) and junior teammates Quinn Connolly (20th, 16:35.0) and Jeremiah Moon (21st, 16:35.0) are among the top 25 based on seed times.
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Just a short distance away, Classical, Pilgrim and St. Raphael Academy will be in Wrentham on Saturday night for the annual Bay State Invitational. For the first time, this meet will be a nighttime event, starting at 5 p.m.
The three RI squads will be among 90 schools from Massachusetts on the grounds of the Wrentham Developmental Center facility.
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