Women’s cross country concludes season with return to NCAA regional championship
The University of Rhode Island women’s cross country team traveled to the Hopkinton State Fairgrounds in Hopkinton, New Hampshire to compete in the NCAA Regional Championships on Friday where they placed 23rd out of 29 teams.
This was the first time sending runners to the event since 2022, when they finished 29th out of 37 teams.
“This was a team that I thought would gain valuable experience by running in this championship,” URI Head Coach Laurie Felt-Melnick said. “I think it was a great opportunity to be in this situation because many of them had never run in a NCAA Regional meet before.”
The leading runner for the Rams was third-year Lily Saul, who finished in 114th place with a time of 21:58.60. Saul said that this was her first season running cross country for URI. She never ran cross country in high school either as she played soccer throughout high school during the fall season.
“It’s been a really good experience because the team has been pushing me at practice and I think it’s going to make me improve a lot,” Saul said.
The Rams weren’t the only team representing the Ocean State, as Providence College, Bryant University and Brown University all competed in the event. The Rams were the lowest-placing team out of all of the Rhode Island colleges. Bryant placed one spot ahead of the Rams at 22nd and Brown finished in 12th place. Providence, with three runners finishing in the top five and four in the top 10, won the meet with a total of 51 points.
Fourth-year Sophia Piccone was the next Ram to cross the finish line with a time of 22:03.97 minutes, just five seconds after Saul. Felt-Melnick said that Piccone was her number one runner all year and that she would be returning to the team next year competing under her final year of eligibility as a graduate student.
Third-year Lindsey Arends and fourth-year Erin Hurley crossed the finish line within two seconds of each other with times of 22:20.84 minutes and 22:22.52 minutes, respectively. Fifth-year Sophia DiMuccio finished with a time of 22:32.84 minutes in the last cross country meet of her career. First-year Alison Pankowicz (22:39.56 minutes) and second-year Hailey LaRosa (23:13.34 minutes) both made their cross country debuts this season.
With this being the last meet of the season for the cross country team, Felt-Melnick and the rest of the Rams will now turn their attention towards indoor track and field with their first pair of meets coming up in two weeks.
“During [indoor] track [and field] we’ll be working more on speed work, which I’m excited for,” Saul said. “I think I’m excited to get back on the actual track and go to the [Boston University] meets and the meets in Boston.”
The indoor track and field season will start with the URI Pentathlon on Dec. 6 and the Rhode Island Invite on Dec. 7. Both meets will be held inside of Mackal Field House.
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