Recent La Salle grad and multiple all-stater DJ Principe was fourth at Sunday's race.
Former University of Hartford teammates and occasional training partners Jonas Hampton and John Busque grabbed the top two placements at the 16th annual Run4Kerri Road Race on Sunday. Kaela O'Neil of the BAA secured the women's title in the four-mile race, held under ideal conditions off Wakefield's Matunuck Beach Road.
As been customary the past few years, Connecticut's Will Sanders led after the first mile, earning the $50 incentive check. Trailing just a few meters behind, Hampton and Busque forged to the front by the second mile and ran side-by-side until Hampton was able to pull away with about a half-mile remaining en route to a winning time of 19 minutes, 9.8 seconds. Busque took runner-up honors at 19:14.0, while Sanders hung on for third in 19:51.4.
Recent La Salle graduate, DJ Principe, a multiple all-stater and champion for the Rams, was fourth with a time of 20:42.5. Placing fifth was North Kingstown's Eric Lonergan, who crossed the finish line with a 21:05.3 clocking.
In the women's race, O'Neil was nearly a minute ahead of runner-up Paige Ethier with a time of 23:18.6, good for 18th overall among the 434 finishers. Ethier, the onetime South Kingstown standout and a pharmaceutical student at URI, was timed in 24:16.6 (24th overall). Marissa McPhillips, a former Narragansett middle-distance star, was third in 24:37.6 (27th overall).
Ethier led after the first mile, but shortly after O'Neil was able to take control. She averaged a strong 5:49 per-mile pace on the moderately challenging layout.