Striders make presence known at NE Junior Olympic meet

It was a banner day for the Sentinel Striders at Sunday’s USATF-NE Junior Olympic Cross-Country Championships at Deerfield Park. The Smithfield-based youth running club had 101 of its athletes qualify for this weekend’s Region I meet in New York.

Seventh-grader Sam Toolin, of Wickford Middle School, defeated Striders’ teammate Max DiMuccio by 11 seconds in the 11-12 boys’ 3K event, running a fast time of 10:11. The Striders had three other victors in the boys’ competition with Matt Vinacco taking the age 13-14 category with time of 13:39 for the 4K distance, Adam Petti winning the 15-16 division with a 17:07 clocking for 5K and Mike Dampier running 17:06 to break the tape in the 17-18 race.