The inaugural MileSplit RI Twilight X-C Relays accomplished its goal Friday night by providing a more relaxed and fun event to start the season. More than 350 athletes and 15 schools participated in the nighttime races at Tucker Field.
“I like how it was a fun race and didn’t really matter,” said Cumberland sophomore Meaghan Scullin. “It was a meet to just to have fun.”
Scullin ran the second leg of the Clippers’ winning 3x2 mile squad that captured the Large School race. The team, which registered a combined time of 40 minutes, 21.17 seconds for the six miles, also consisted of senior leadoff Ashley Bricault and sophomore anchor Amy Laverty.
Bricault ran a steady first leg at 14:08. In third place at the time, Scullin moved to first by the time she handed off to Laverty for the final leg. Scullin was timed in 13:19, while Laverty clocked 12:52.
Scullin was confident once her all-state teammate got the baton, a victory was highly possible.
“I don’t like to assume it, but yeah I kind of thought it,” she said. “I hoped it.”
Laverty, who was seventh at last year’s state meet, ran consistently for the two-mile distance.
“I felt great pretty much throughout the whole thing,” she said. “After the first mile I got a little tired so I slowed my pace, but in the end I felt fine.
“I have never run something like this in the dark,” she added. “I actually enjoyed it a lot. It’s much more fun in the day. It’s not as hot.”
In the girls’ Small School race, the East Greenwich trio of junior Emily Browne, junior Theda Pederson and junior 
Margaret McCaffery combined for the fastest time of the night at 39:15.21. Toll Gate finished second at 40:29.79.
The Avengers solidified their position at the front from the start. McCaffery, a sixth-place finisher at the 2012 states, ran the anchor.
“This was really a fun race so I don’t think there was any real pressure put on us,” she said. “We kind of came out here and had fun.”
The East Greenwich threesome of senior Garret Scanlon, junior Tom Sommer and senior Graham Chapski took the Small School boys’ race, combining for a time of 31:40.24, the quickest of the day. Running the leadoff, Scanlon had one of the best legs of the meet by dipping under 10:15. Mount St. Charles snared runner-up honors at 32:59.06.
Cumberland won the Large School race with a time of 32:27.82. The Clippers also took the next two slots.
In the novice 3x1 mile races, Bishop Hendricken won the boys’ race by less than a second of East Greenwich with the team of Jeff Venter, Michael Shaw and Anthony Lanni combining for a time of 16:35.92. EG was timed in 16:36.72. East Greenwich (20:22.45) edged Cranston West (20:27.99) for the girls’ titlle.
For complete results, click here.
For more photos, click here.
