Mt. Hope girls capture East Bay Invitational cross country title

Huskies place fourth on boys' side, both teams prep for class meets

By Mike Rego
Posted 10/20/24

The Mt. Hope High School girls' cross country team recently did something no other squad representing the program has done in 20 years as the Huskies captured the 2024 East Bay Challenge run …

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Mt. Hope girls capture East Bay Invitational cross country title

Huskies place fourth on boys' side, both teams prep for class meets

Posted

The Mt. Hope High School girls' cross country team recently did something no other squad representing the program has done in 20 years as the Huskies captured the 2024 East Bay Challenge run Thursday, Oct. 17, at The Glen Park in Portsmouth.

The Huskies placed their five scoring runners in the top 23 athletes to finish the 3.1-mile/5 kilometer race for a team total of 50 points. The Wheeler School was second with a score of 55, the host and favored Patriots were third with 61 followed by Prout with 71, Rogers with 128 and Ponaganset, which annually welcomes runners for the class and state championship meets to its Covered Bridge Trail, with 147.

"This was a huge win," said MHHS head coach Sue Rancourt, whose team became the first since 2004 to win an invitational of any sort. 

She continued about last week, "We beat the favorite (Portsmouth) and 10 out of 11 kids on the team had their best race all season."

While Portsmouth's Allie Kaull won the girls' portion of the race with a time of 19 minutes, 10.35 seconds, Mt. Hope's junior standout Jessica Deal paced the Huskies to the overall team triumph as the a two-time first-team All-Stater placed second in 19:44.54. Teammate Kara Pisasale was right behind for Mt. Hope, running third in 20:46.77.

Lucy O'Brien paced the rest of the Huskies with her eighth place run in. 21:09.48. Evelyn Towers was 14th in 22:19.94. Lillian DaSilveira rounded out the Mt. Hope scorers in 23rd with a 23:21.92.

"This sets us up really well for the class meet next Saturday with all the girls hitting their stride," Rancourt added, referring to Mt. Hope's meet, the Class B Championships, on October 26 at the aforementioned Covered Bridge Trail in North Scituate. The Huskies finished sixth a year ago. Barrington won both the girls' Class B and state titles last fall.

Boys' notes
The Mt. Hope boys' squad will join their female counterparts at Ponaganset this weekend after also participating in the East Bay Invite last week where the Huskies placed fourth with 93 points.

Host Portsmouth won the title with 20 points, led by race winner Sean Gray. The senior clocked a 15:58.83 to better his teammate Patrick Orbon at 16:47.41. The five scorers for the Patriots finished among the top seven runners overall.

As for the Huskies, Jackson Cicchinelli led the locals with his 10th-place time of 18:13.76. Tyler Scarborough was 16th in 18:53.51. Gavin Stegall was 18th in 18:57.48 with Jackson Lopes 23rd in 19:03.66 and Jacob Lopes 27th in 19:19.58.

"I’m very proud of the boys' performance," said MHHS boys' head coach Neale Ross. "The Glen is a tough course and we had several PRs. We intend to build on that success heading into class."

Bell rung
The night after their win, the MHHS girls joined in on what is the new tradition created at the school, ringing the "Victory Bell" Friday evening, Oct. 18, prior to the Huskies' football game.

The bell was only unveiled and dedicated later Thursday night, Oct. 17, in the memory of recently passed former MHHS girls' soccer standout Maddie Pacheco during that evening's soccer doubleheader at the Vendituoli Complex.

The girls' volleyball team also rang the bell Friday after its 3-1 win over visiting Tiverton and the football team made it three dings on the night following its thrilling, last-second 20-17 win over visiting Stafford, Conn.

 

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MIKE REGO

Mike Rego has worked at East Bay Newspapers since 2001, helping the company launch The Westport Shorelines. He soon after became a Sports Editor, spending the next 10-plus years in that role before taking over as editor of The East Providence Post in February of 2012. To contact Mike about The Post or to submit information, suggest story ideas or photo opportunities, etc. in East Providence, email mrego@eastbaymediagroup.com.