The Portsmouth girls cross country team
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PORTSMOUTH — The lady Patriots’ cross-country team made school history on the 3.1-mile course at Ponaganset High School Sunday.
By edging out four-time defending champs La Salle by a point, the team not only captured the program’s first state championship since the R.I. Interscholastic League added girls’ cross-country as a high school sport back in 1972, it was also the first team title for Portsmouth High in any running event for either boys or girls.
“They’ve worked really hard since July,” said head coach Jeff Rose. “I knew we would be contending this year, but you can never go in expecting to win the state championship. There were so many things that had to go in our favor.”
And they did, with all runners improving their times over last year. Olive Allen, for example, first started running as a sophomore last year and placed 67th in the state meet. This year, she came in ninth.
“That’s huge,” said Mr. Rose.
Likewise, junior Nikki Merrill was a top-20 runner last year but was the overall runner-up this year, he said.
The lower part of the roster also made big jumps in their personal times, he said, which was necessary for Portsmouth to have any chance at a title.
“At the beginning of the season I knew that our one, two, three and four runners would be really good, but the gap between our four and our five runner was three minutes,” he said. “Our fifth, sixth and seventh runners, Bella Hook, Becky Lawson and Sabrina Leary, knew they weren’t the top runners on the team, but the three of them improved dramatically throughout the season and helped us win. Obviously I’m proud of how our top four runners performed, but to see those three girls work together so hard to help the team was really great.”
The future is bright for the girls’ team, as it’s losing only two seniors next year: Becky Lawson and Maura Driscoll.
“It’s feasible we could have three of the top five girls next year. We had a great day, but we’re going to continue to have a good team going into next year.”
Girls’ results
The girls’ team ran a total time of 1:36:45.71, with an average time of 19:21.15 over the 3.1-mile course.
Junior Nikki Merrill led the Patriots, taking second place with a time of 18:00.1. Elizabeth Sullivan, who led early on, fell back to sixth place with a time of 18:32.
The other finishers for Portsmouth were: junior Olive Allen, ninth with a time of 19:04; senior Maura Driscoll, 24th in 20:01; freshman Sabrina Leary, 57th in 21:09; junor Bella Hook, 59th with a time of 21:12; and senior Becky Lawson, 74th in 21:37.
Boys finish 18th
The Portsmouth boys’ team came in 18th place out of 19 qualifying teams, scoring 412 points.
Sophomore Ben Chase led the Patriots, finishing in 36th place overall with a time of 17:07.
Other finishers for the Patriots were senior Noah Grammit, who came in 81st place in 18:06; senior Ezra Leary, 90th place in 18:11; junior Vincent Gardner, 98th place in 18:17; senior Ethan Shea, 107th in 18:34; freshman Dan Sullivan, 112th place in 18:46; and sophomore Josh Lawson, 127th place in 20:15.
The Barrington girls placed third as a team. Caroline Livingston placed 8th with a time of 18:58.70. Katie Zitzmann placed 14th with a time of 19:19.80.
Mt. Hope placed 14th in their first try at state competition. Meg O'Brien placed 28th with a time of 20:20.69 and Hope Tyska placed 31st with a time of 20:26.92.
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