State Meet: Gutsy win for Lady Rams

Rhode Island State Championships
Stephen Mazzone

(All photos by Jerry Silberman of risportsphoto.com)

The definition of a true team champion is one that not only responds at the main event but also responds under adverse circumstances, when things don’t quite work out as planned.

It’s fair to say, the girls from La Salle Academy fall into that category.

In a race where every placement was crucial in the outcome, the Rams overcame the loss of their top runner to capture the team title at Sunday’s RIIL State Championship with a slim 36-39 win over Barrington High.

The Eagles’ Emma McMillan earned her second straight individual title by blazing to a course-record time of 17 minutes, 42.87 seconds. The gifted sophomore broke the mark of 17:47.08, set just eight days ago by La Salle’s Eliza Rego at the Class A Championship.

The favored Rego was right with McMillan until the final 1,000 meters of the race when the sophomore collapsed on the course and was unable to finish. Without their No. 1 runner in the race, La Salle still managed to hold off the two-time defending titlist Eagles with a strong team performance that included a second-place finish from sophomore Karina Tavares (18:01.03) and a fifth-place effort from junior Sheridan Wilbur (18:49.50). Wilbur almost didn’t make it to the starting line because of a sore hip, the same one that kept her away from the trails all season until last Saturday’s Class A meet.

“Up until two minutes before the race I wasn’t even sure I was going to run,” she said. “This week my hip has been bothering me. I was just running solely for my team. I just have no regrets.”

La Salle coach Kelly Martin, who watched her team capture the Class A Championship on Oct. 26, couldn’t help but marvel at the Rams’ latest achievement, considering the circumstances. Occupying the remaining three scoring positions were senior Rachel Renzi (10th, 19:18.24), sophomore Audrey O’Neil (11th, 19:20.38) and sophomore Elise Papazian (12th, 19:21.15).

“It’s very tough seeing your number one (girl) go down, but this team is unbelievable,” she said. “This has been probably one of the best team performances I have seen in a while from them. They saw that their teammate went down and they all came through. They ran as hard as they possible could. They are a tough team. They are motivated. And they didn’t let obstacles get in their way.  The biggest thing is they wanted to run for each other.”

Martin believes the unfortunate circumstances of Rego were mostly due to the fast-early pace. The sophomore led the pack through a first mile of 5:24.

“I think the first 1,000 (meters) and the first mile, it was set at an extremely fast pace and I think physical exhaustion set in for Eliza,” she said. “She gave everything that she possibly had for her team and unfortunately the last 1,000 meters she just couldn’t hold on. Her muscles just shut down on her.”

McMillan didn’t realize until after she finished what happened to Rego.

“I was confused. I didn’t really see her go down so I didn’t know what happened,” she said. “It was a very close race until that point. She was really working hard and I was working hard. It was really tight.”

While Rego may have been considered the favorite before the gun was fired, McMillan was certainly a runner that could also get the job done on Ponaganset’s covered-bridge trail. She has consistently been running times in the low 18-minute range this season, including last week’s second-place effort to Rego at the class meet where she ran 18:04.

“(She) was outstanding,” Barrington coach Ann Marie Marino said. “She took it out and just went for it. Eliza has been her battle all season long.  Emma went for it. She ran that first mile and she wasn’t letting down, wasn’t backing down. She’s a special kid. You always give Emma a green light. You don’t hold Emma back no matter what. She doesn’t respond to that. She just goes for it.”

McMillan, who improved on her best by 13 seconds to win her first state title last fall, shaved 22 seconds from her PB, set at the class meet.

“My goal was to break 18 (minutes) but I was mainly focused on sticking with Eliza,” she said. “I was really surprised at my time.”

Tavares was able to hold off a fast-charging Berkson the final 200 meters of the race for her runner-up position, an improvement of three placements from last year’s meet.

“It went well,” she said. “I definitely felt good. It was really cold. I couldn’t really feel my hands but I kept trying to move them so I could keep warm. I thought I did pretty well.”

In her inaugural season of cross country, Classical senior Maddy Berkson added another first-team all-state performance to her impressive resume by placing third with a career best of 18:04.11.

“After the class meet last week, my strategy was to stay as close to Emma as possible, but it kind of changed as the race went on because there was something wrong with Eliza and she dropped out and Emma was just really far ahead,” said the Classical standout, who was third at the Class A race with a time of 18:16. “In the middle of the race I just kind of changed my strategy and kind of concentrated on the pack that I was in, which was Abby Livingston, Karina Tavares and Sheridan Wilbur. Karina and I were kind of switching leads in the woods. She was ahead of me like 20 or 30 meters out of the woods. I did my best to catch her at the end, but she has a pretty good kick. She out-kicked me the last 100 meters.”

Livingston finished fourth for Barrington at 18:31.85. East Greenwich junior Margaret McCaffrey was sixth with a time of 19:03.20. Rounding out the top 10 was Barrington senior Mary Kate Coogan in seventh at 19:03.73, Cumberland sophomore Amy Laverty in eighth with a 19:05.15 clocking and Barrington senior Megan Verner-Crist in ninth with a time of 19:11.18.

Marino was proud of her team’s effort on a cold afternoon at The Reservation. On this particular day, La Salle was just a little bit better.

“We’re ecstatic,” she said. “It’s a high and a low. You’re very excited because we had a great day. We couldn’t pull just that much to try and get the win. It’s tough. It’s a tough call. You’re happy and you’re not so happy at the same time.”

 

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