Rhode Island has certainly had its share of star freshmen that have made an impact on the national level.
In the last few years, runners such as Michael Potter (Hendricken), DJ Principe (La Salle Academy) and Sam Toolin (North Kingstown) all ran sub 16 minutes for the 5K distance during their initial year of cross country.
The latest gifted ninth-grader from the Ocean State is La Salle's Max DiMuccio.
The Rams' super frosh posted the nation's fifth fastest time for five kilometers at last week's Great American X-C Festival in North Carolina with a 15:53 effort. On Saturday, DiMuccio was the best among all freshmen at the prestigious Manhattan HS Invitational in New York. winning the Frosh 'D' race with a course record of 5:46.5 for 2,000 meters at Van Cortlandt Park. Finishing second was teammate Jack Wilbur at 6:03.6.