Ellie Lawler, junior, South Kingstown
Lawler goes into the State Meet as the defending state champion and certainly competed this season like a runner that is focused on a repeat performance. The South Kingstown standout captured last week's Class B title with a time of 18:17. It was a race she admitted wasn't an all-out effort. That will change this weekend where she will be the catalyst behind her team's chances of placing high this weekend. She might not break her course record of 17:29 that she set at last year's State Meet, but we're thinking at least 17:40s on Sunday. Lawler has been undefeated against R.I. competition in cross country since the beginning of her sophomore year. We don't expect that to change this weekend.