Cumberland's Dan Collard competes at the Maine Festival of Champions
Make that two in a row for Rhode Island girls.
After coming up empty-handed the previous 13 years of the Maine Festival of Champions, the Ocean State now has back-to-back team titles. A year after La Salle Academy took the top prize, Cumberland High came home with the hardware. With four of their scoring runners under 20 minutes, the Clippers defeated the host state's Greely, 131-161.
Freshman Adah Anderson was the first across the line for the Blue and White, placing 14th overall with a personal best time of 19 minutes, 40.43 seconds. She was followed by Ana O'Callaghan (17th, 19:48.72), Julia Dempsey (22nd, 19:55.17) and Grace Henson (23rd, 19:55.85). More than 650 participated in the race.
In the boys' event, Cumberland's Ryan Mardo was the top local finisher, placing 17th overall with a time of 16:38.46. Burrillville's Jeff Pichie was right behind in 18th at 16:39.15. The Clippers' Dan Collard was also under 17 minutes for the 5K course with a 16:58.23 clocking, good for 30th overall.
Classical's Conor Murphy beat nearly 200 runners to win the Freshmen race with a time of 17:03.4.