Jason Padula, Bishop Hendricken Win Freshman State Titles


Photos from Dylan Manning

Freshman Photos | JV Photos

With a lot of unknown with the 2020 cross country season athletes, parents and the RIIL were hopeful to get through a season of dual meets in hopes the RIIL Championship series could be run.

With the regular season going well, the RIIL proceeded with the three weeks of championship cross country action which started with the Freshman and JV State Championships yesterday at East Greenwich HS.  Of course, it was a year that New England had snowfall at the end of October, so athletes would run over a partially snow-covered course on a cold Halloween day 

Jason Padula (Smithfield) was able to outlast a group of talented Rhode Island freshman boys to win the 4000m event in 13:26, 21 seconds ahead of second-place m4000m (Barrington).

Heading into the event Padula ranked 2nd amongst Rhode Island Freshman boys in the standard distance, 5000m, with a season-best of 17:11.

Rhode Island Freshman Boys Rankings

Piedade and Bowen Healey (Narragansett) would fill out the top three spots running 13:47 and 13:58 respectively.  The top 10 was very diverse with each runner coming from a different school across the state!

Complete Results

FRESHMAN BOYS 4000 METER RUN FINALS
PLACEATHLETETEAMRESULTPOINTS
1Jason Padula9Smithfield High School13:26.661
2Brandon Piedade9Barrington High School13:47.552
3Bowen Healey9Narragansett High School13:58.690
4Will Olsen9Bishop Hendricken HS14:04.493
5Patrick McDonough9Cranston West HS14:13.714
6Eli Ziegler9Moses Brown School14:16.925
7Devin Richard9Burrillville High School14:22.270
8Ethan Fadden9Mount Saint Charles Academy14:23.050
9T.j. Blechman9South Kingstown High School14:25.030
10James Masterson9North Kingstown High School14:27.636


The boys freshman team battle came down to a close battle.  Ponaganset would be the first team with 5 runners through and would have their 6th runner in the finish shoot before every other school.  However, Bishop Hendricken were able to have their 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th runner finish ahead of Ponaganset's 1, 2, 3, 4 and were able to hold on for a 6 point title!


Bishop Hendricken Results

4000 METER RUN
13:47.55Brandon Piedade2ndComplete Results
16:06.00Ethan Baker34thComplete Results
16:14.35Elliot Lefort35thComplete Results
18:50.24Samuel Barber88thComplete Results
20:41.06Taejo Chung-Break106thComplete Results


The score between the two schools would end up at 71-77 with La Salle Academy finishing in 3rd place with 107 points.