All Rhody runners finish with records in win
PHOTO CREDIT: gorhody.com
After finishing second at the Nassaney Invitational two weeks ago, the University of Rhode Island Women’s Cross Country team earned an overall victory at the Ted Owen Invite over the weekend, defeating New Hampshire, Bryant, Merrimack and a plethora of other New England teams to take the crown.
It was sophomore Sophia Piccone who led the way for the Rams, finishing second with a career-best cross country 5-kilometer time of 18:04. This was also the third best mark by a Ram at Stanley Quarter Park where the invite was held. Piccone felt it was her focus throughout the race and throughout the offseason that led to the victory.
“I worked a lot over the offseason on just my attitude,” Piccone said. “Just trying to maintain focus the whole time in practice and in races, on the good and bad days.”
Piccone was followed by juniors Corina Vidal (18:41) and Molly Sabia (18:44) and sophomore Madeline Till (18:45) who finished in ninth, tenth and eleventh respectively.
Finally, sophomores Lindsay Turgeon (18:57) and Erin Hurley (19:15) and senior Hanna O’Connor (19:25) rounded out Rhody’s top seven in 16th, 20th and 26th. Head coach Laurie Feit-Melnick was really happy with Piccone’s effort but felt it was the team’s improvement as a whole that led to the victory.
“Obviously Sophia has been great this season,” Feit-Melnick said. “But in this sport, it is so important for runners one through five to be solid, and I think everyone on our team is improving.”
These scores were enough to give Rhody 47 points for the day and finish ahead of New Hampshire at 51 points and host team Central Connecticut State at 58 points. All the runners who participated in the race for the Rams finished with either a season-best or career-best time.
With the New England Championships around the corner, Feit-Melnick feels the team just has to continue on their path.
“We have a group of women who are bought in and focused on getting better,” Feit-Melnick said. “When you have that, you can just focus on training and improving our times each day to get ready for New Englands.”
As for Piccone and the rest of the team, they are feeling good and will be looking to carry that positive energy over into the championships.
“Morale is definitely high right now,” Piccone said. “We just need to keep focusing every day to prepare for the New England Championships.”
The New England Championships will be hosted in Boston this year on Oct. 8, giving the Rams two weeks to prepare beforehand. Feit-Melnick is ready for the challenge and feels the two-week break will help in their training.
“I’m really happy that we get the two weeks,” Feit-Melnick said. “We will be training hard, and we will be ready.”