Winning Outdoor Title Is Just As Nice As Winning Indoor Title For La Salle Girls
La Salle Academy (RI) repeated the magic it created in March by winning its second straight 4xMile relay this year.
The Rams, the indoor national titlist, captured the outdoor crown with a solid clocking of 20 minutes, 14.01 seconds, a time that ranks No. 14 all time. Tolland (CT) secured second at 20:17.87.
“I am extremely happy with how the girls performed,” said La Salle distance coach Kelly Martin. “We knew coming in that we had a good shot to win the relay again. We knew it was going to be tough. There’s a lot of good teams out there. It was all about going in and staying focused and controlling what you can control; just going out and hitting splits that they already hit. They executed to perfection.”
Junior Karina Tavares and freshman Emily Kane put the Rams in good position with solid legs. But the Rhode Island squad still had to make up a good 10-second deficit created by Tolland at the midway point.
The Rams brought themselves into contention, and were neck-and-neck with the Connecticut school after the third exchange, thanks to a 4:57 leg from junior Eliza Rego. Wilbur was able to bring it home with a strong five-minute anchor.
Corning (NY) was a victor in the boys’ 4xMile Relay with the squad of junior Peter Kane, senior Jared Moore, sophomore Kevin Moshier and junior Brian Bates combining for a time of 17:32.88. The quartet was comfortably ahead of runner-up Peabody (MA), which finished at 17:41.
Consistency was the name of the game for Corning as all four legs ran mile times in the 4:21 to 4:24 range.
Bates was coming off a sixth-place finish in the 2K steeplechase a day earlier. He ran 4:24.52 for his anchor.
“I was worried about breaking 4:30,” he admitted. “I just had to go out and run smooth and not run something stupid like 57 (seconds) for my first lap; just run smooth and run smart.”
- Results: Girls 4xMile - Boys 4xMile
- Photos: Girls 4xMile - Boys 4xMile