Being the favorite to win a state title can sometimes be a curse. The added pressure of getting it all done on the most important day of the season can take its toll.
That was not the case for the La Salle Academy girls on Sunday afternoon. Not even close.
In one of the most dominating performances in state meet history, the Lady Rams scored a record-tying 28 points. That total was 46 points better than second-place North Kingstown, easily securing the Rams with their third straight title and seventh since 2007.
Individually,it was a dominating victory from South Kingstown sophomore Ellie Lawler. The gifted tenth-grader followed up her Class A win from eight days earlier with a course-record time of 17 minutes, 29.28 seconds. Lawler was more than 200 meters ahead of La Salle senior Eliza Rego, who crossed the line at 18:14.34 for second overall.
For the Rams, Rego led a team that had four runners in the top six and all seven of its varsity among the first 16 finishers.
"We wanted to get our top seven girls as close as we possible could," said La Salle girls' coach Kelly Martin. "We knew we had a target on our back. Anytime you are the defending state champions people are out there to get you. We knew it wasn't going to be easy. We knew there is a lot of great teams in the state. We just had to go out there and focus. Just run the best that we possible could run; come together and do for the team. I think the girls did a great job of executing the game plan. They knew the mile splits they were suppose to hit and they were dead on with them. I was really pleased with them today."
Westerly sophomore Randi Burr placed third overall at 18:32.11. La Salle took the next three placements with sophomore Grace Connolly (fourth, 18:33.04), senior Karina Tavares (fifth, 18:43.41) and sophomore Emily Kane (sixth, 18:43.88). Marissa McPhillips of Narragansett was seventh at 18:50.81.
Rego once again finished as a runner-up to Lawler. She also placed second to the Rebel star at the Class A meet last week.
"I knew coming in that Ellie is a great runner and she would be going out fast," Rego said. "My plan was to stick with her and kind of do what I did last week, and try and finish it. She kind of lost me about one and a half (miles). I was just trying to stay with it and finish for the team. I am pretty happy because this is my best finish."
For the fourth straight year, Tavares earned a first-time all-state spot, a rarity for any high school athlete.
"She is probably running about 90 percent right now," Martin said. "She came out there and she held with the girls and did the best that she could possible do. Four years in a row, first-team all state. That's a pretty big deal."
Lawler's effort eclipsed the course record of 17:42.87 by three-time winner Emma McMillan of Barrington in 2013.
She admitted the nerves were intensified when she arrived at Ponaganset on Sunday morning.
"When I got this (race bib) with number one, my hand started shaking putting it on," she said."I was super nervous where I stood. It's kind of the idea that there is nowhere to go, but down...I was really happy that I was able to maintain my place."
Lawler didn't take long to take her customary front-running position on Ponaganset's moderately-challenging 5k layout. She held about a two-second lead on Rego after hitting her first mile close to 5:30. She was about 11:04 after two.
"The first mile I went out and tried to stay relaxed with the group of girls," she said. "My coach went through the strategy with me, the second mile kind of let loose, go as fast as I could and get as much of a lead as I could, and then the third mile just take it home."
Cumberland, behind a ninth-place finish from Amy Laverty, was third overall with 131 points. Rounding out the top six, who all earned a trip to the New England Championships this Saturday, was East Greenwich (fourth, 180 points), Smithfield (fifth, 180 points) and Bay View Academy (sixth, 184 points).