Rams finish 6th thanks to Piccone’s 11th place finish
Sophia Piccone earned an All-New England selection with her 12th place finish PHOTO CREDIT: gorhody.com
Over the weekend, the University of Rhode Island Women’s Cross Country team took sixth place in the New England Championships, their highest finish at the event since 2005, thanks to 148 team points from six different runners.
The Rams finished behind regional rivals Brown (142 points), Stonehill (118 points), Northeastern (116 points), Central Connecticut State (115 points) and the champions, Quinnipiac (26 points) en route to their best performance in 17 seasons.
Rhody’s top finisher, once again, was sophomore star Sofia Piccone, who finished 12th overall with a time of 18:42.5. That time was a 40-second improvement from her performance at last year’s New England Championships, and it earned Piccone her first career All-New England selection.
Piccone was proud of her accomplishment but ultimately happy to race over the weekend as she manages cross-training for the fall and winter seasons.
“Franklin Park is a tough course,” she said. “I was just happy to race. It was an honor to get the award.”
Senior Hannah O’Connor was the second Ram to cross the finish line, taking 33rd with a time of 19:05.5. Immediately after her were second-years Erin Hurley (19:07.4) and Madeline Till (19:11.9), who finished 34th and 37th respectively. O’Connor and Hurley’s time was their best both at the event and for the season.
Second-year Lindsay Turgeon (19:16.1) finished with her personal best time at Franklin Park. Coach Feit-Melnick was pleased with the improvement in her team’s 1-5 split that went down 21 seconds from their last meet.
“We are doing a great job of running as a pack,” Feit-Melnick said. “It’s a really good group that just keeps getting better.”
Third-year Corina Vidal (19:41.7) finished 63rd to round out Rhody’s top six. Additionally, Daniella Napoli (19:23.0) finished 4th in the non-championship race, shattering her Franklin Park best time by forty seconds to round out a spectacular weekend for the Rams.
Piccone was thrilled with the performances of her teammates and being able to finally get to see her team reap the benefits of their hard work this season.
“It’s great to see the hard work pay off,” Piccone said. “We have all been working so hard all season, I am just really happy for everyone.”
Feit-Melnick feels the rise in success this season is mainly due to a hard-working and focused group, even despite them being such a young team.
“They just are very focused, and they trust the plan,” Feit-Melnick said. “And they are very young, so it is exciting to think what they can accomplish in the future.”
For now, Feit-Melnick and her squad will stay focused on the task at hand, a tune-up race at the Rothenberg-Brown Invite before the Atlantic 10 Championship meet on Oct. 29. Though the expectations will be higher than ever after the New England Championships, Piccone just hopes for more improvement from her and her teammates in the next few weeks.
“I just hope we can continue to run as a pack and improve every week,” Piccone said. “We just need to keep working, and hopefully good things will come.”
For Feit-Melnick, the key to success in the final stretch of the season will mainly be focused on health.
“I just hope we can stay healthy,” Feit-Melnick. “They have put the work in. That’s all you can ask for at this point.”
Rhody travels to Attleboro, Mass. for the Rothenberg-Brown Invite on Oct. 21 in their final opportunity to prepare for the Atlantic 10 Championships. The races will begin at 2 p.m.