Of all the teams we’ve previewed the past few weeks, North Kingstown makes the biggest jump. We have the Skippers in the No. 2 spot after finishing seventh at the State Meet last year.
Why the leap?
NK loses just one runner from 2024 and returns a squad built to maximize pack running. Leading the way is senior Gavin Shipperly, who earned first-team all-state honors last fall with a seventh-place finish at Ponaganset in 16:05.47. Shipperly carried that momentum onto the track, where he clocked PRs of 9:01.98 for 3,000m and 4:17.83 for 1,500m. Expect him to be a steady front-runner again this fall.
Behind him, the Skippers can bunch up quickly. Seniors Colson Place (17:06.85), Benjamin Butera (17:21.48), and Benjamin Thome (17:58.57), along with sophomores Colton Orr (17:14.78) and Xavier Baker (17:58.66), all broke 18 minutes at last year’s championship meet. NK’s depth doesn’t stop there, either. In the JV state meet, sophomores Jagger Viens, Thomas Lawrence, and Henry Mather all dipped under 18, giving the Skippers plenty of competition for varsity spots and one of the deepest rosters in the state.
