It’s always difficult to make predictions prior to the start of the season. This is due to plenty of unknowns that can become factors, such as ill-timed injuries, promising underclassmen coming through the ranks and/or breakthrough efforts experienced by some of the veterans. This occurs more often than not with the top-tier teams. With all this being said, we’re putting La Salle Academy at the No. 3 spot for now. But that prognosis could certainly change as the season progresses. The word is the Rams inherited a huge freshmen class of a dozen runners with the potential for more to come. They’ve also gained a strong new addition from their track team.
From last year, the Rams lost three to graduation from a squad that placed third overall, just a single point behind runner-up East Greenwich. They have a solid core coming back as well as a few more to fill the gaps. But to move to No. 2 status, or even No. 1, La Salle will need to step it up a notch, particularly in the back end of its lineup.
The Rams top returnee is, of course, last year’s state champion Marshall Vernon. The recent Stanford signee was sidelined throughout the outdoor season with a calf strain injury. According to Vernon, that injury is “nonexistent” now and he is ready to defend his crown this fall against the likes of top contenders, Sean Gray (Portsmouth) and Colby Flynn (Bishop Hendricken). Junior teammates Will Souza and Noah dos Reis will also be back this season. Souza was 18th at the states last year with a best of 16:32.15, while dos Reis was 45th at 17:24.18. He ran a PR of 17:14.03 at the Class A meet a week earlier. We’re expecting big things from cross-country newcomer Eamon O’Brien. This will be O’Brien’s first season on the trails. He’s coming off a splendid outdoor campaign where he captured the 800m title and ran a best of 1:54.39 at the BSR Elite Scholastic Mile. The LSA senior also registered bests of 50.21 for the 400m and 4:25.33 for the mile. At the very least, we believe O’Brien is capable of running under 16 minutes — good enough to put him among the top 7 in the state and give La Salle a major boost.
Other top runners include senior Bruce Sao Bento, sophomore Matthew Lewis and senior Daniel Lewis, who all ran in the low 18-minute range for 5K.
