Ellie Lawler took home the top prize at Saturday's Manchester Invitational.
The South Kingstown junior captured the individual title in the Small School race with a time of 18:45 for the five-kilometer course at Derryfield Park, N.H. Lawler, who was third at last year's meet, tied for the third fastest time of the day. Senior teammate Hannah Southwick was 27th overall with a time of 21:07.
In a very-competitive race, just 18 points separated the top three teams in the Large School boys' race. Bishop Hendricken wasn't able to defend its title, finishing third overall with 109. But the Hawks still put on an awesome display of pack running with a gap of only 24 seconds between their first and fifth scoring runners. All five also broke 17 minutes for the 3.1-mile layout. That quintet consisted of Jeff Venter (12th, 16:33), Jon Iamarone (22nd, 16:49), Jordan Dargin (23rd, 16:52), Max Waite (24th, 16:53) and Aidan Tierney (28th, 16:57).
Hendricken did match last year's performances in the freshmen and junior varsity events, earning the hardware in both races. The Hawks swept the top six placements in the JV race and had a mere 13 seconds separating those runners. Josh Cliff was the individual champion with a time of 17:15. The Hawks defeated second-place Pinkerton (NH), 15-69. In the Frosh race, Hendricken squeaked by Pinkerton, 95-98. Matt St. Jean was second overall with a time of 11:35 for the two-mile course.