Nearly 100 runners from eight different schools participated in the RI MileSplit Cumberland Distance Classic on Saturday afternoon at Tucker Field.
The boys' 800-meter race proved to be the most exciting with Moses Brown sophomore Cris Argys eking out a narrow win with a time of 2 minutes, 1.6 seconds. Argys held off a tight challenge from Cumberland teammates Will Mardo (2:02.9) and Sam Samera (2:03.9), who placed second and third, respectively.
The trio hit the opening 400m at 62 seconds.
"It started off really slow," said Argys, a second-place finisher in last year's race and a sub two-minute 800m runner as a ninth-grader. "I think we were just feeling the race out, no one really knew who was going to go out fast. In the group there was a lot of tripping and just jostling for a spot. Coming around for the second lap we looked at the clock and it was pretty slow.We knew we had some catching up to do. The last 200 was really tense and fun. It was a good race."
In the freshmen mile, East Greenwich had a pair of its runners break five minutes with Dante Prosseda edging teammate Colin Cianciolo with a time of 4:56.3. Cianciolo crossed the line at 4:57.2. North Providence Nathan Coogan claimed the sophomore mile crown with a time of 4:43.9. East Greenwich's Hank Perrata was the runner-up at 4:48.2.
Barrington's Mars Bishop, the indoor 600 champion, coasted to victory in the varsity mile. He took control midway into the race and finished at 4:36.7.
"I was feeling good," he said. "I wanted to get under 4:30. I didn't quite get that. The wind on the back straightaway kind of slowed me down and I was pretty much by myself the last couple of laps. I was happy with my time."
The Eagles also had a victory from Will Connolly in the 5,000m. Connolly won by nearly 200m with his time of 17:08.9. Cumberland's Ben Drezek was first in the 2K steeplechase with a 6:43.5 clocking and the Clippers' Matt Fownes ran a solo 10:05.3 effort in the 3K.
Freshman Grace Connolly of Barrington demonstrated her durability by running a leg on the school's first-place 4x800m relay (10:20.1) and its runner-up DMR squad (14:34.2) and also beating the field in the 2K steeplechase (7:52.8).
"It was tiring and it's hot out and I made sure I stayed hydrated and actually ran okay times for all of them," she said. "It was a really fun day. Today was awesome."
Connolly, a fifth-place finisher at the cross-country state meet this past fall, is coming off an indoor season that didn't quite go as planned due to sore tendons in her knees.
"There's no pain anymore," she said. "It doesn't hurt me when I'm racing."
Haley Rivera of Pilgrim won the frosh mile with a time of 6:25.4. Smithfield's Sydney Bagus was first in the sophomore event at 5:41.2 and Cumberland's Nichole Barger took the varsity race at 5:24.1.
In the 800m, it was the Clippers' versatile junior Meaghan Scullin that was the first across the line. The junior ran a controlled race and finished comfortably ahead of the field with a time of 2:26.1.
"I haven't run the 800 in a long time," said Scullin, a two-time indoor long jump champion and one of the state's top runners in the short sprints. "It was good to get back to it because I always like the 800, but it was kind of hard with no one there."
In the other races, Moses Brown's Megan Horn posted a time of 21:04.6 in the 5K and Cumberland was a winner in the DMR with a time of 14:14.2.