More than 1,700 runners competed in the varsity and junior varsity races at the Wickham Park Invitational on Saturday and North Kingstown sophomore Sam Toolin was the best out all of them on a difficult five-kilometer course.
Toolin captured the featured Championship race with a winning time of 15:52.0. The Skipper standout was nestled among a lead pack of three runners just around the 3K mark. He took the lead for good with about 500 meters left. Finishing second was one of Connecticut's top harriers, Drew Thompson of Fairfield Prep, who crossed the line at 15:55. North Kingstown placed third as a team with 112 points. East Greenwich, behind an 11th place finish from Jackson Cronin (17:00.0), was seventh with 202 points.
In the girls' Championship race, North Kingstown was fourth with 133 points. The Skippers' Lily Nunnery took 12th overall with a time of 20:18.
Bay View Academy went home with the top prize in the Girls' Seeded race, defeating the host state's Derby by a score of 106-172. The Bengals' Claire Hanlon was fourth overall at 19:57. Smithfield teammates Sydney Bagus (19:49) and Una Trainor (19:50) were second and third, respectively.
Smithfield was third as a team in the Boys' Unseeded race with 243 points. The Sentinels' John Pagliaro was eighth with a 17:22 clocking. Smithfield's junior high squad, Gallagher, was just six-points shy of winner Tolland in the boys' Middle School race.
East Greenwich's Ravi Samvanshi and Kurt Dambek were 1-2 in the Junior Varsity 1 race. North Kingstown's John Fuller won the Junior Varsity 3 race.
North Kingstown took home the trophy in the Junior Varsity 2 girls' race with a 44-75 victory over runner-up Pomperaug. St. Raphael's Haley Howarth was second overall with a time of 22:10.
Smithfield's Blake Calaro won the Freshmen Boys race with a time of 15:00 for 4K. Bryn Shunney of East Greenwich was second in the girls' race at 18:03.