Rhode Islanders Shine at Manchester Invitational

This past weekend teams from the the state of Rhode Island took their talents on the road and competed at the historic Manchester Invitational in Manchester New Hampshiere.  The Derryfield Park course features one of the tougher hills of any course in the New England region and has been the site of some great battles.  Maine's Ben True (Olympic Trials 5000m and 10,000m, USATF Road Racing 2012 Champion) still holds the course record.  This wekeend saw 37 Milesplit National Elite marks set on the course.  Rhode Islanders accounted for 7 of those elite times.  The meet also includes a freshmen race which is always a tighly contested battle for team score.

BOYS ELITE

The boys championship race featured two Rhode Island teams who are bound to clash at the Rhode Island state meet.  Bishop Hendricken (#20 Nationally) and East Greenwich toed the line against a very talented Lowell MA team.  9 teams in total were included in the elite race.  At the first mile East Greenwich controlled the race, but it was the Bishop Hendricken Hawks who were able to secure the victory, taking control of the race at the top of the hill and never looking back.  With a mile to go Bishop Hendricken posititoned themselves to win the race with the lowest team score in race history.  The Hawks score of 35 was good enough to best 2nd place Lowell who finished with 73.  East Greenwich finished 8th with a score of 177.

The Hawks were led by senior captain Connor Doyle who finished in a time of 16:14 and was 3rd overall in the race.  Doyle was followed by teammates Tyler Henseler (16:17, 5th,) Colin Tierney (16:26, 7th), Michael Potter (16:27, 8th) and Alex Doherty who shut the door on any competition (16:32, 12)

East Greenwich was led by Ben Fazio who ran 16:28, good enough for 9th place in the meet.

Boys large School

The only Rhode Islander to really make noise in the Boys races as an individual was Jake Kilcoyne who finished 1st in the Boys Large School division race.  Jake ran 16:12 and won a thrilling race over B.J. Smith of Concord NH.  Missing was Jake's teammate Bryce Kelly who is resting a sore knee.  It will be interesting to see if either of the Chariho Chargers will be available this weekend for the Great American Cross Country Festival.

Boys Small School

The Boys Small School division was highlighted by several outstanding performances by Rhode Island schools.  Barrington took third in the boys team score led by senior Tom Barry who finished 11th overall in 16:48.  The top Rhode Islander in the race was Victor Ricci of The Prout School.  Victor ran 16:35 and led Prout to an 8th place finish out of 35 teams.  Prout and Barrington both showed they could be potential New England Qualifiers out of the Rhode Island state meet.  South Kingstown was also in the race with a 18th place team finish.  South Kingstown was led by Senior Jake Manning (17:14).

Boys JV

The closest race of the day was won by only two points by the Bishop Hendricken JV team which consisted of three sophomores who placed in the top 10.  The Hawks were led by Grant Gauthier who ran 17:19 in a battle which saw him finish second.  Junior Pat Gower and sophomores Jack Rossi, Tom Grizetti, and Jared Boulanger rounded out the scoring effort by the hawks. 

Boys Freshmen

Bishop Hendricken completed the sweep by winning every single race they were entered into.  The Hawks defeated Pinkerton Academy, a traditional powerhouse at this meet, by a score of 100-115.  The Hawks were led by great efforts from Avery "The Engine" Ingegniere and Dominic Parlato who finished 3rd and 8th respectively.  Prout also raced a team finishing 20th out of 26 teams entered.

Girls Small School

Rhode Island was well represented in the girls small school division by South Kingstown who finished in first with an overal score of 74 points in a race that featured 30 teams.  SK placed 3 into the top ten and were led by senior Kendal Feaster's 6th place effort (20:09).  She found support from Britney Laraway (9th, 20:13) and Kelly Reiss (11th, 20:18).  

Girls Large School

The two fastest Rhode Island female times of the day were logged in the Girls large school division. Chariho's Elizabeth Hansen, a senior, ran 19:36 and was closely followed by East Greenwich Margarett Mcaffre.  Mcaffre ran 19:47, a PR for the sophomore.

For photos from the meet - https://nh.milesplit.com/photos/albums/14898

Below are the performances entered for the meet that met the national silver standard.