Sophomore Sophia Piccone led the team and finished second overall in the meet. PHOTO CREDIT: gorhody.com
The University of Rhode Island’s Women’s Cross Country team took second this weekend at the Nassaney Invitational in Smithfield, R.I., competing with Bryant, Brown, Holy Cross, Merrimack, Stonehill, Sacred Heart, Assumption, and RIC over two days.
Rhody put on an impressive showing, as the team scored 67 points and were led by sophomore Sofia Piccone, who took second with a personal best of 18:28 in the 5k, topping her previous time of 18:55. Piccone now has the 8th best mark on the course for URI, and said it is because of her hard work in the offseason.
“I definitely feel like I focused on my training over the summer,” Piccone said. “Last year was a hard adjustment. This year coming in was much easier because I had my routine.”
Head Coach Laurie Feit-Melnick said she is a big supporter of a steady routine, as she tries to instill getting into a routine early in the season in order to be well-adjusted and ready for championship season.
Feit-Melnick’s views align with the success of Piccone’s personal best performance.
“Maintaining summer fitness is important,” Feit-Melnick said. “You have to go back to the basics of eating and sleeping and good things will happen.”
URI’s top seven all finished within the top 30 runners in the race. Juniors Corina Vidal and Molly Sabia took 13th and 16th with times of 19:24.4 and 19:30.6 respectively, with freshman Leyla Kavertnik right behind at 17th with a time of 19:33.8. Sophomores Madeline Till and Erin Hurley took 19th in 19:39.4 and 26th in 19:52.4. Seniors Hannah O’Connor and Daniella Napoli rounded out Rhody’s top seven with times of 20:00 and 20:03, coming in 27th place out of 104 runners.
Piccone and Feit-Melnick emphasized the youthful spirit and positivity this team has.
“We’ve gotten really close,” Piccone said. “Coming in for preseason, training early every morning together just makes racing so much easier because we’ve been through it together. We’re all really excited about learning and working with each other.”
Piccone shared an instance where, before the race on Saturday, music was playing and all of the runners were dancing around before the start. The positive attitude of the team is a result of Feit-Melnick getting the team to “buy in” to the process and to each other, pushing the concept of ‘pack-running’.
Feit-Melnick’s tenacity, according to Piccone, has encouraged the team to be well-rounded athletes and individuals.
“There’s no limit to how good a person can be.” Feit-Melnick said. “My goal is to reach the highest potential all the individuals can receive.”
Feit-Melnick also named two co-captains, upperclassmen Napoli and Becca Durham, who have been able to help guide this young team.
She said that a great deal of the positivity within this group is thanks to new assistant coach Danielle Doyle.
“Coach Doyle is helping this fall and this year. She’s a positive young former college athlete from Northeastern,” Feit-Melnick said. “She’s another set of eyes and voice for the team.”
With the team goal being a top 5 finish in the A10 Conference Championships in October, they are aiming for a tighter split between the first and seventh runners around 30 to 45 seconds.
Rhody looks to build off of their solid showing at the season opener at the Ted Owen Invite on Sunday, Sep. 24.