NE Meet: It's Broom-Time for La Salle!!!

New England XC Championship
Stephen Mazzone

(Photo by DAVID PRINCIPE)

After sweeping the team titles at last week's State Meet, what does La Salle Academy do for an encore?

How about repeating the feat at the New England Championships?

The Rams pulled out the broom once again on Saturday, making school history by sweeping both the boys' and girls' races at the regional competition, held at Wickham Park. Led by a sxith-place finish from D.J. Principe, the boys had all five of their scoring runners among the first 32 placements to cruise past second-place Danbury, 67-144. Bishop Hendricken, last week's state runner-up, placed fifth with 191 points. The race was won by Connecticut's Alex Ostberg of Darien, who was timed in 15 minutes, 7 seconds for the challenging five-kilometer course. William Hall junior Ari Klou was second at 15:39. Principe, the state's individual champion, crossed the line in 15:56. Junior teammate Matt Bouthillette was 17th overall in 16:15.

With their top five seperated by a little more than a minute, the La Salle girls slipped by defending NE titlists Coe Brown of New Hampshire, 80-93. Barrington's Emma McMillan, who copped her third state title last week, was the first Rhode Islander, placing fourth overall in 18:30. She was followed across the line by La Salle juniors Eliza Rego (18:35) and Karina Tavares (18:39), who were fifth and sixth, respectively. South Kingstown freshman Ellie Lawler was tenth at 18:47. She was just ahead of another ninth-grader, Barrington's Grace Connolly, who finished 11th overall in 18:52. Staples' junior Hannah DeBalsi, a runner-up at Foot Locker Nationals last year, won the individual title with a solid 17:58 clocking.

Girls Highlights

Boys Highlights