PORTSMOUTH — The Portsmouth High School girls’ cross-country tied East Greenwich last Thursday at the annual East Bay Challenge at The Glen in Portsmouth. The Avengers and the Patriots both tallied 39 points on the girls’ side.

Portsmouth took the top two individual places in the girls’ race, as freshman Elizabeth Sullivan clocked a winning 20:13, and teammate Sofia White finished second, at 20:39. The Avengers’ Rachel Berman was first over the line for her team, taking third place in 20:53.

Some other finishers for Portsmouth were Haley Scardina, who took 10th place with a time of 22:14; 11, Rebekah Lawson, who came in 11th in 22:34; and Maryellen Powell, who took 15th place in 23:09.

On the boys’ side, Portsmouth took sixth place as a team.

“I was pleased with our performances,” said coach Shaun Horgan. “Brandon Cawley (26th place with a time of 18:21) had just come off a week of rest due to a foot injury and ran a personal best for our home course. Our sophomore group of Ezra Leary (29th, 18:28), Noah Gramitt (31st, 18:34) and Ethan Shea (33rd, 18:47) all had personal bests of over a minute from the start of the season. Those three guys are a young talented group. I'm excited to see them progress over the next two years. I was also happy to see Mike Chisolm (38th, 19:15), Isaac Fox (47th, 20:25) and Vincent Gardner (41st, 19:46) have good races.”

Freshmen states

The PHS freshmen girls’ team took sixth place in the Freshman State team titles over a 2.55-mile course on Monday at Goddard Park in Warwick. Liz Sullivan came in fourth place with a time of 16:03.

On the boys’ side, Vincent Gardner placed 39th with a time of 14:56, Braden Anderson was 145th with a time of 17:32, and Nick Yalanis was 171st with a time of 18:57.

“Vincent has been our top freshman all year,” said Mr. Horgan. “He's has earned a spot in our top seven that will run this Saturday at the Class B Championships at Ponagansett High School.”

That would be at the “Covered Bridge’’ course at Ponaganset. The girls will start 11 a.m., the boys at 11:30 a.m.