The University of Rhode Island women’s track and field team finished a weekend of debuts and personal bests as it traveled to Mechanicsville, Virginia to compete in the Atlantic 10 Championship.
Highlighting URI’s success was fourth-year captain Sofia Piccone, who placed 25th and had her career-best 6,000-meter time, clocking in at 21:29.1.
“I’m really happy with it,” Piccone said. “Just like having built up this whole season, to have it pay off at such a big meet, is exciting.”
After recording the best A-10 cross country championship finish of her career, Piccone will run in her final year of eligibility in 2025.
“I would like to keep improving, keep the upward trajectory and stay healthy, I think is the biggest thing,” Piccone said. “Just to be able to have the opportunity to run next season, honestly, is going to be huge.”
Laurie Feit-Melnick, URI’s women’s track and field coach, emphasized how important Piccone has been for the program and the obstacles she’s had to overcome on the journey.
“Last year she had to sit out the cross country season due to injury so she’s made a huge turnaround and improvement,” Feit-Melnick said. “She is an outstanding student athlete, role model and team captain. [She is a] wonderful person to have on our program.”
The personal bests didn’t stop here. Fourth-years Erin Hurley and Sophia DiMuccio each set new records in the 6k, with Hurley finishing at 22:07.8 and DiMuccio at 22:41.3.
The 6k was also a new challenge for many on the team. Third-year Lily Saul, third-year Lindsey Arends, first-year Alison Pankwich, second-year Hailey LaRosa and third-year Zoe Catrabone all made their 6k debut at the A-10 championships.
With contributions from every runner, Rhody was able to improve their standings from last year by four places, moving from 12th in 2023 to eighth this time around. With every athlete besides DiMuccio returning next year, Feit-Melnick was impressed with how well her young squad performed in such a large spotlight.
“I’m so pleased,” Feit-Melnick said. “We had a great performance this past weekend. We improved our team performance drastically from being 12th last year to [eighth]. This is a young group, I was very pleased with how they did a great job and worked well as a team.”
With the cross country season coming to a close, it’s important that the focus and determination doesn’t slow down anytime soon. According to Feit-Melnick, the most crucial time of the year is still ahead of them.
“The key is how you train in the summer,” Feit-Melnick said. “Key to how you’re going to perform in the fall. So I feel like some of our women have stepped up their summer training. Obviously, some are young, and this is their first A-10 championship. So it’s learning, you know, as well as just getting stronger.”
The Rams will wrap up their 2024 season on Nov. 15 as they travel to the NCAA Northeast Regional meet in Hopkinton, New Hampshire.