Most of our top athletes and teams are in the midst of a two-week layoff from competitive racing before participating in the Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) Northeast Regionals and Foot Locker Northeast Regionals on Nov. 29.
Nonetheless, this past weekend had a handful of our past and present high-schoolers out on the trails.
At the collegiate level, former Bishop Hendricken star Brian Doyle and ex-Smithfield ace Liam Hillery helped Providence College finish second at Friday's NCAA Division I Northeast Regionals at Van Cortlandt Park. Doyle finished fifth overall in 30 minutes, 33.12 seconds, just seven ticks behind the winning time of Iona's Jake Byrne. Hillary was 23rd overall with a time of 31:00.30. Also finishing strong was La Salle grad Zach Fraielli of Northeastern. He was 34th at 31:16.56.
At the NCAA Division III Atlantic Regionals in Rochester, N.Y., on Saturday, former East Greenwich standout Ben Fazio averaged 5:05 mile pace with his eighth-place time of 25:25.2 for the eight-kilometer course.
***
A few local HS harriers competed at the USATF New England Junior Olympic Championships in Amherst, New Hampshire on Sunday. Wearing the singlet of the Sentinel Striders, Matthew Vinacco (Scituate) captured the age 15-16 division with a time of 17:41. Finishing fourth for the Striders was Jake Murray (Hopedale, Ma.) in 17:41 and placing fifth was Oliver Hazard (North Smithfield) at 17:57. The Striders had three of their runners in the top five in the age 17-18 division with Adam Petti (West Bridgewater, Ma.), Addullah Kaba (Cumberland) and David Agudelo (Cumberland) occupying those positions.
In the girls' races, the Striders' Claire Hanlon (Bay View) took individual honors in the age 15-16 division with a time of 19:55. Stephanie Mattson (Smithfield) was first in the 17-18 category. The meet was held at Freestyle Farm.
Top finishers (individual, team) advance to the Region I Championships in Maine this Sunday.
NCAA Division I Northeast results