Photos from Dylan Manning
With a lot of unknown with the 2020 cross country season athletes, parents and the RIIL were hopeful to get through a season of dual meets in hopes the RIIL Championship series could be run.
With the regular season going well, the RIIL proceeded with the three weeks of championship cross country action which started with the Freshman and JV State Championships yesterday at East Greenwich HS. Of course, it was a year that New England had snowfall at the end of October, so athletes would run over a partially snow-covered course on a cold Halloween day
The girl's battle was a good one, with Rory Sullivan (North Kingstown) putting a lead on the field with Madeleine O'Neill (Narragansett) and Mia Bettez (La Salle) trying to chase her down.
Eventually, the pair would be able to get to the lead, but there wasn't much separation between the two over the 4000m race. As they approached the finish line, O'Neill was able to pull just ahead of Bettez to take the freshman girls' state title in 14:59.32 to 15:00.55!
Ava Peters (East Greenwich) would finish 3rd in 15:24 with Sullivan taking the fourth place spot in 15:40.
| FRESHMAN GIRLS 4000 METER RUN FINALS | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLACE | ATHLETE | TEAM | RESULT | POINTS | ||||
| 1 | Madeleine O'Neill | 9 | Narragansett High School | 14:59.32 | 0 | |||
| 2 | Mia Bettez | 9 | La Salle Academy | 15:00.55 | 1 | |||
| 3 | Ava Peters | 9 | East Greenwich High School | 15:24.13 | 2 | |||
| 4 | Rory Sullivan | 9 | North Kingstown High School | 15:40.85 | 3 | |||
| 5 | Katie Yalanis | 9 | Portsmouth High School | 15:50.25 | 0 | |||
| 6 | Mia Barrus | 9 | Lincoln School | 16:02.68 | 0 | |||
| 7 | Erin von Housen | 9 | Chariho Regional High School | 16:03.93 | 4 | |||
| 8 | Emmy Belvin | 9 | Mount Saint Charles Academy | 16:09.41 | 0 | |||
| 9 | Eva Mermin | 9 | Moses Brown School | 16:10.83 | 0 | |||
| 10 | Jessica Mastrandrea | 9 | The Prout School | 16:33.21 | 0 | |||
Lead by a 14th place finish from Grace Belt, Cumberland was able to show off their depth with a 34 second gap between Belt and fifth girl Anna Kalafut to score 54 points and edge La Salle Academy and East Greenwich who score 64 points and 94 points respectively.
La Salle and East Greenwich had 2 girls finish before Cumberland's first, however having a strong 3,4,5 proved to be the key to this years freshman class championship. Cumberland's 5th girl was 23rd overall, 17 spots ahead of La Salle's third.
Cumberland Girls Results
| GIRLS | ATHLETE | PLACE | RESULTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4000 METER RUN | ||||
| 16:53.68 | Grace Belt | 14th | Complete Results | |
| 17:03.93 | Summer Sartini | 17th | Complete Results | |
| 17:08.79 | Julia Laverty | 19th | Complete Results | |
| 17:09.88 | Gauri Rajesh | 20th | Complete Results | |
| 17:28.08 | Anna Kalafut | 23rd | Complete Results | |
| 17:56.17 | Leila Chowning | 35th | Complete Results | |
| 18:31.48 | Abigail Bishop | 47th | Complete Results | |
| 20:18.49 | Ashley Ames | 69th | Complete Results | |
| 20:32.21 | Emily Finder | 70th | Complete Results | |
| 22:01.07 | Kelsie Turner | 85th | Complete Results | |
| 22:33.16 | Olivia Sturtevant | 87th | Complete Results | |