Lady Rams 'seize the moment' at New England meet

New England XC Championship
Stephen Mazzone

Alea iacta est was penned by ancient historian Suentonis. It was a Latin phrase that was supposedly used by Julius Caesar before he crossed the River Rubicon with his legion of soldiers in events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and rise of the Roman Empire. After a night of doubt and worry on whether he should carry out the takeover, Caesar supposedly woke up in the morning and used those words, which means the die has cast, to gain the courage for his risky endeavor.

Prior to the girls’ race of Saturday’s New England Championship, La Salle Academy assistant coach Vin McGinn felt the time was right to give a little history lesson to his team. A week earlier, the Rams captured the state title with a convincing 56-point win over second-place Barrington. But even though it was a dominant performance, it was an effort that McGinn and head coach Kelly Martin felt would not be enough to earn a New England title over the quality of competition that gathered at Connecticut’s Wickham Park.

“Last week I felt that we had some mental cobwebs and we were thinking about too many things so I just wanted to give them one word that summarized all the work that they have done throughout the entire course of the season,” McGinn recalled. “I told them the story of Caesar at the Rubicon…I said the one word I want them to think about the entire race when there’s any moment of doubt that creeps in their heads, any hill they have come upon, was iakta (pronounced yakta). You’ve done it, iakta. They get to a hill, they go iakta. They are beginning to get tired, they go iakta. Their legs aren’t working, they go iakta.”   

Just like Caesar did back in 49 B.C., La Salle seized the moment at the New England’s by winning its first title at the regional meet with an 80-93 decision over defending titlist Coe Brown of New Hampshire. The victory by the Lady Rams capped off a special afternoon for La Salle, which also captured their second straight boys’ crown.

“Today I would say we had an amazing day,” Martin stated. “They really bounced back from last week.  They were extremely tough. They took charge in the race early on, held their positions. They ran for each other today. It was an amazing effort and I am extremely proud of them

Individually, the race was won by nationally-ranked Connecticut runner, Hannah DeBalsi of Staples. The junior was never seriously challenged on the hilly, five-kilometer course and finished with a winning time of 17 minutes, 58 seconds. The first Rhode Islander to cross the line was three-time state champion Emma McMillan of Barrington, who finished fourth with a time of 18:30.

In its victory, the gap between La Salle’s first five runners was just 1:10 on Saturday with junior teammates Eliza Rego (18:35) and Karina Tavares (18:39) leading the charge by finishing fifth and sixth, respectively.  Senior Sheridan Wilbur (12th, 19:10), junior Audrey O’Neil (33rd, 19:26) and junior Cianna Lynch (47nd, 19:45) also contributed in the scoring.

“We won the state title last week and it’s always an accomplishment to win a title, but I know Eliza and Sheridan were a little disappointed with their performances. It’s about being mentally tough. Maybe we didn’t do our best last week, but now this is a week to showcase (our) talent,” Martin said. “That’s exactly what they did. They said, ‘Okay, we are not going to let last week affect us and do the best that we can do this week to show that this is the type of team we are. We’re here and we’re ready to go!’”

The Eagles’ McMillan followed up last week’s victory at the states with a strong effort at the New England meet.  The talented junior, a sixth-place finisher at last year’s NE meet, didn’t quite get out as fast as she intended.

“It was a really rough start. I was just trying to move up as much as I could,” she said. “I got trapped (at the beginning). I think I expended myself too much energy to get up front, initially. I didn’t really plan it out so well, but it worked out okay. It was a good race, very competitive, very back-and-forth with everyone else.”

The Ocean State finished with a strong presence at the regional competition with a trio of underclassmen placing in the top 20. South Kingstown freshman Ellie Lawler was tenth overall in 18:47. Grace Connolly of Barrington, another ninth-grader, was 11th at 18:52. Placing 16th among the 255 finishers was North Kingstown junior Bethany Nunnery with a 19:08 clocking.

Girls Highlights

Boys Highlights