On Saturday, Oct. 6, the Rhode Island Men’s and Women’s cross country teams competed in the New England Championship at Franklin Park, Massachusetts.
Men’s cross country finished 14th and earned 406 points. Women’s Cross Country finished 15th, earning 353 points.
Joseph MaGuire was the top finisher for the Rams for the second time this season, placing 47th in 26:00. Connor Gralton and Nathan Coogan each had personal bests on the course. Gralton was very content with his performance, as he said, “I felt really good the entire time so I’m excited about the rest of the season.”
Although Gralton is happy, he knows he can get better, along with the team. “Just staying focused and putting in the work at practice is so important right now. The goal is being even stronger for the upcoming A10 championship.”
Matthew Vinacco, Rock Fortna, Tim Slack and Nick Celico also represented for the Rams, finishing in high placement at the invitational.
Senior Shelby Aarden led the Rams, placing 25th in 18:50. “It was awesome to Shelby open up the season,” Head Coach Laurie Feit-Melnick said. “Clearly that shows a very good sign of fitness. She had a stress fracture so she’s coming off an injury.” Aarden was the top runner last year for the Women’s team.
Katie McNulty finished 80th for Rhody but suffered an ankle injury when somebody accidentally slid into her. Feit-Melnick commented on her injury saying, “She was clearly off because of the ankle sprain.”
But despite her injury, Feit-Melnick went on to say, “(Katie) is doing great this week.”
Sabrina Charron was 83rd, Camille Bertholon placed 86th, Saige Garzia was 87th and Una Treanor finished 89th. Ashley Evans also competed for the Rams.
The Rams return to the course on Oct. 19 to compete in the Brown Invitational. Feit-Melnick finished by saying, “Brown is a good, flat, fast course which is a good race before conference because the conference course is the same way.”