RITCA Invitational (girls): Rego, Ebert double winners at Saturday's meet

(North Kingstown senior and defending state champion Maria Bolibruch captured the 55-meter hurdles at Saturday's meet)

In a breakthrough freshman year, Eliza Rego left little doubt about her prodigious talent by placing high among the elites at the indoor and outdoor state meets.

Fast forward to this winter and the La Salle Academy sophomore will be looking for much the same, and perhaps a little more. This year the Rams, who tied Classical High for the state crown last February, will be without one of their star distance runners, junior Sheridan Wilbur.

“(Assistant coach Kelly) Martin is trying to put me in as many events as she can because we are not sure what I will have to do at the states,” Rego said. “Without Sheridan, it’s going to be tough.”

The La Salle standout, a runner-up in the 1,000-meter run and a third-place finisher in the 1,500 at the 2013 indoor state meet, competed in both those events at Saturday’s RITCA Invitational. Judging by the results, it’s apparent she’s focused for prosperity once again.

Rego dominated her rivals from the start in the 1,500, winning easily in 4 minutes, 46.08 seconds, currently the No. 2 time in the country. Later in the afternoon, she was back on the track in the 1,000, a race she copped with a solid, early-season time of 3:03.50 (US#12).

For the metric mile, Rego passed the 800 mark at slightly under 2:30. She was more than 12-second ahead of second-place finisher, North Kingstown freshman Katarina Ho, who was timed in 4:58.67.

“This is the first 1,500 I have done since last spring so we were aiming for like 4:50, around there, a nice steady pace,” said the Ram runner, who was third in the 1,500 at the outdoor states. “That’s what I tried to do. I felt really good.”

In the non-scoring meet, held at the Providence Career and Technical Academy field house, La Salle also received a triumph from sophomore Cianna Lynch in the 3,000. Lynch ran up front with senior teammate Caroline Falvey for much of the 15-lap race before shifting into another gear during the final 400 meters to win with a time of 10:51.23. Falvey was second at 10:56.35.

“It was very helpful to be paced by my teammate,” Lynch said. “She kind of led me through the whole race. Usually if I run by myself or there is a gap in front of me I could easily give up. Having her there helped me the entire race.”

Lynch was just a few seconds from her best in the event.

“My main goal (today) was to get closest to my PR from last year, which was 10:48,” she said. “Today it was 10:51, so I was pretty happy with that.”

La Salle had one other victory for the afternoon. The quartet of Veronica Hardy, Hayley Puglia, Madison Lombardo and Alicia De Castro combined for a first-place time of 4:18.90.

Exeter/West Greenwich senior Tori Ebert was a double-winner in the meet. The defending state champion in the shot put captured her specialty with an indoor best of 39 feet, 6.75 inches. She also took the 20-pound weight throw with another best of 49-8.25.

Returning titlist Maria Bolibruch of North Kingstown copped the 55 hurdles with a season-best effort of 8.61. Classical senior Alicia Holloway placed second at 8.70. Holloway didn’t go home empty handed. She took the 300 with a time of 43.04.

Cranston West junior Annabelle Hauck , a 16-year-old exchange student from Germany, had a busy day. She place first in the long jump with a distance of 17-7.75, finished third in the 55 dash at 7.7 and was on the winning 200 relay of Eleni and Nicole Grammas and Oceana Williams, which combined for a time of 1:49.85.

Hauck, who came to United States in August and will be returning to her country at the end of the school year, is enjoying her experience in R.I., especially with her teammates.

“It’s really different but I really enjoy it,” she said. “At home, every meet is like an invitational. It’s a nice experience. The group feeling and everything, I really like it. My teammates are really nice.”

Hauck counts the long jump as her favorite event. She’s hoping to improve on her personal best of 18-2.

“My goal is to get back there again,” she said.

Pilgrim junior Melanie Brunelle won the high jump with a height of 5-0. Carly Timpson, a junior from Narragansett, placed second, also at 5-0.

Barrington senior Mary Kate Coogan won a tight race in the 600 with a time of 1:40.83. Junior Nichole Barger of Cumberland was a few meters behind in second at 1:41.80. Barger was also on the Clippers’ victorious 4x800 squad of Meaghan Scullin,  Amy Laverty and Hannah Taveres that was timed in 10:03.68.

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