GLOCESTER – Is there any stopping Bishop Hendricken from claiming a sixth consecutive boys state cross country crown?
Saturday’s proceedings at Ponaganset Regional would suggest otherwise. The Hawks rolled to victory at the Class and JV State Championships on Oct. 31, leaving rival La Salle in their wake while claiming the Class A title.
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Barrington bested East Greenwich, and Moses Brown took care of North Smithfield to earn team honors in Class B and Class C, respectively. No program approached the 19 points posted by Bishop Hendricken, a total that left the Rams chasing with 72. It’s been two decades since Cumberland (2004), North Kingstown (2006) and the Avengers (2007) found a way to disturb what has become the established order.
Perhaps this will be the year the Hawks sweep some individual glory as well. Colby Flynn and Shepherd Butler clocked the top two times under brilliant sunshine, and one of them could bring home the first solo gold for the program since Luke Henseler did the honors in 2019. Flynn was runner-up to Portsmouth star Sean Gray last year, and the Penn commit’s finish in 15 minutes, 30.55 seconds was a hair better than Butler and his 15:30.71.
“It’s kind of just who feels better the last 200 meters,” Flynn said. “It’s probably pretty intimidating seeing a sea of green out there when you’re on another team.
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“It feels real good being on that team where you look around and you see your boys with you. It gives you confidence it’s going to work out.”
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Flynn and Butler ran shoulder to shoulder from the time they emerged out of the woods, skirting the tennis courts and moving onto the football field as one. Flynn edged in front of Butler just before the line and was the first of five Bishop Hendricken runners in the top seven. Butler, Andrew Williams (fourth), Jeremy Dru (fifth) and Colton Orr (seventh) closed the team scoring, while Luke Tremble (ninth) and Oliver Redmond (10th) offered some insurance.
“Every single workout, every training run, we’re always pushing each other,” Flynn said. “We’re making sure we’re the best runners we can possibly be.”
Brooks Mello, Ryan Hurlock and Colby Napolitano went 1-2-3 in Class B to power the Eagles, with each cracking the 16-minute mark. Finnian Evans and Calvin Mentzer each closed in the top 10 as Barrington tallied 25 team points. Andrew Parisi (fourth), Jeremiah Moon (fifth) and Nathan Malafronte (seventh) needed just a bit more help for East Greenwich, who closed second with 41.
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Providence Country Day’s Leo Woodman blitzed the field in the day’s first race, breezing to the Class C boys title by more than 50 seconds. His time of 16:06.38 would have been good for a top-10 spot in any of the three boys fields, and he could be a dark horse name to watch at next weekend’s state meet on the same course. The Quakers put three in the top 10 and all five of their scorers in the top 16 to beat the Northmen, with Ben Glew (second), Braden Phyfe (seventh), Oscar Li (eighth), Ian Whiteley (13th) and Charlie Grand (16th) setting a winning pace.
Ponaganset, 3.1 miles
Class A
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Team standings
1, Bishop Hendricken, 19; 2, La Salle, 72; 3, North Kingstown, 97; 4, Cranston East, 151; 5, Classical, 157; 6, Coventry, 170; 7, Pilgrim, 196; 8, Cranston West, 198; 9, East Providence, 217; 10, Cumberland, 218; 11, Pawtucket, 360; 12, Mount Pleasant, 379.
Individual placements
1, Colby Flynn, BH, 15:30.55; 2, Shepherd Butler, BH, 15:30.71; 3, Will Souza, LS, 15:35.14; 4, Andrew Williams, BH, 15:48.20; 5, Jeremy Dru, BH, 15:51.16; 6, Matthew Lewis, LS, 15:51.73; 7, Colton Orr, BH, 15:51.21; 8, Kingston Bayha, Pil., 15:58.62; 9, Luke Tremble, BH, 16:05.55; 10, Oliver Redmond, BH, 16:21.85; 11, Cohen Brinker, CE, 16:29.96; 12, Alex Turcotte, NK, 16:33.16; 13, Henry Laperle, NK, 16:40.80; 14, Xavier Baker, NK, 16:49.08; 15, Ryder Sullivan, Cov., 16:51.71; 16, Levi Soch, CE, 16:53.69; 17, Aidan Gosselin, CW, 16:54.34; 18, Evan Bubier, Class., 16:54.59; 19, Noah Johnson, Class., 16:55.79; 20, Cameron Taylor, LS, 17:02.33; 21, Dylan Leibl-Cote, LS, 17:03.43.
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Class B
Team standings
1, Barrington, 25; 2, East Greenwich, 41; 3, Chariho, 74; 4, Portsmouth, 136; 5, South Kingstown, 156; 6, Smithfield, 173; 7, Lincoln, 187; 8, Mt. Hope, 211; 9, Ponaganset, 242; 10, Davies, 311.
Individual placements
1, Brooks Mello, Barr., 15:52.60; 2, Ryan Hurlock, Barr., 15:57.07; 3, Colby Napolitano, Barr., 15:58.24; 4, Andrew Parisi, EG, 16:12.07; 5, Jeremiah Moon, EG, 16:24.51; 6, Leo Haxton, Char., 16:37.17; 7, Nathan Malafronte, EG, 16:37.47; 8, Cameron Coggeshall, Char., 16:38.14; 9, Finnian Evans, Barr., 16:40.40; 10, Calvin Mentzer, Barr., 16:41.34; 11, Mason Smith, Smi., 16:57.27; 12, Quinn Connolly, EG, 16:58.29; 13, Tyler Levy, EG, 16:59.68; 14, Jack Williamson, Barr., 17:01.50; 15, John Lehmann, EG, 17:05.26; 16, Erik Dahl, SK, 17:09.25; 17, Luke Baxter, CE, 17:10.96; 18, Adam Kortz, EG, 17:12.70; 19, Brady Martin, Barr., 17:20.21; 20, Elijah Marland, Char., 17:20.93; 21, Logan Finelli, John., 17:23.05.
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Class C
1, Moses Brown, 42; 2, North Smithfield, 67; 3, St. Raphael, 85; 4. Providence Country Day, 106; 5, Burrillville, 122; 6, Prout, 141; 7, Scituate, 204; 8, Exeter-West Greenwich, 212; 9, Rogers, 227; 10, Juanita Sanchez, 227.
Individual placements
1, Leo Woodman, PCD, 16:06.38; 2, Ben Glew, MB, 16:58.58; 3, Drew Gaulin, Burr., 17:04.63; 4, Myles MacPhee, SR, 17:08.68; 5, Sean Mania, NS, 17:19.95; 6, Patrick Fowler, West., 17:24.33; 7, Braden Phyfe, MB, 17:45.04; 8, Oscar Li, MB, 17:47.64; 9, Grant Herchenroether, NS, 17:56.40; 10, Derek Mallon, NS, 17:57.00; 11, Sean Wood, P, 17:58.38; 12, Logan Ricco, NS, 18:00.09; 13, Ian Whiteley, MB, 18:05.66; 14, Ernesto Rocha, PCD, 18:13.16; 15, Lorenzo Caiani, Burr., 18:14.98; 16, Charlie Grand, MB, 18:16.37; 17, Tyler Tracey, SR, 18:18.42; 18, Owen Sassi, W, 18:22.48; 19, Daniel Sauerbrey, Scit., 18:23.14; 20, Ben Fallon, MB, 18:25.15; 21, Alessandro Boni, Narr., 18:31.88.
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This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Is Hendricken on track for a 6th straight RI cross country title?
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