SRA’s Mongeau off to strong start
Junior cruises to easy victory in Saints’ split
PAWTUCKET – If your desire is to become the very best, the mission of St. Raphael junior Rachael Mongeau, there’s a path one must follow.
In Mongeau’s case, it means finding herself in a different sort of company during cross-country practices. Most days, she’ll test her mettle by heading out for runs with the SRA boys. In her eyes, it’s a method of training in order to become an even more accomplished long-distance runner.
Mind you, Mongeau snuck in as the seventh fastest finisher at last year’s state meet, a performance that merited the final spot on first-team all-state. If Tuesday’s wire-to-wire showing against Metropolitan Division rivals Mount Hope and Portsmouth is any indication, the idea of mentioning Mongeau as truly one of the state’s most gifted female runners is a conversation that’s definitely worth having.
With a steady running motion that’s simple and compact, Mongeau crossed the finish-line at Slater Park in what was believed to be course-setting fashion.
Her time of 17 minutes, two seconds was more than two minutes, two seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, Portsmouth’s Sabrina Leary.
“Today, I was a little bit nervous. I didn’t know how I was going to do because I knew I didn’t have anyone to run with,” said Mongeau, referencing the relative ease that was required in order to maneuver her way around the 2.85-mile course. “Since it’s my home course, I just went out for it. At the starting line, I took a deep breath and relaxed. I didn’t worry about anything that was going on around me. It was about focusing on what was in front of me.”
Mongeau’s performance on Tuesday left SRA head coach Chris Magill beaming with pride. He knows that Mongeau is trending upward and that it’s his job to make sure she continues to remain on an accelerated path.
“To do what she did more or less on her own is amazing. Hopefully she keeps the train rolling,” said Magill. “We’re hoping she can move up this year but she has to keep on improving. She’s laser focused and on a mission. Hopefully we can time it right and she’s peaking at (November’s) state meet.”
From a team standpoint, the Saints garnered a split of Tuesday’s dual meet, defeating Mount Hope (25-30) but losing to Portsmouth (22-37). St. Raphael received top-10 finishes from Tyla Forbes (sixth, 20:50) and Alexi Angell (10th, 22:13).
“Going 1-1 on the day is remarkable considering where we were a season ago,” Magill noted. “Rachel’s performance was great, but it was our depth that got it done for us.”
Added Mongeau, “I mainly run with the boys, but I’m close friends with all the girls. We may not practice together, but we’ll do things like go get breakfast. They did a great job.”
The SRA boys’ 1-2 punch of senior Nasavell Medeiros and junior Darius Kipyego proved to be head-and-shoulders better than the rest of Tuesday’s field. In fact, the only question that was up for debate was whether they would run together or race together.
Staying stride for stride with one another, Medeiros and Kipyego crossed the finish-line at the same exact time: 15 minutes, 23 seconds. Since you have to declare a winner, the on-site race official awarded top honors to Medeiros.
“We didn’t want to push each other. We wanted to make sure that we felt good and that the pace was good,” said Kipyego. “We slowed down just a bit to see if Pedro (Mayol) could take that third spot, but myself and Nas, we’re going to continue to train hard and keep it going.”
Mayol ended up placing fourth with a time of 15:50. The Saints also received strong performances from Colby Luz (fifth, 16:30) and Devan Kipyego (seventh, 16:40) en route to sweeping Tuesday’s meet against the Huskies (15-42) and Patriots (19-37).
“Hopefully we can surprise some people at the state meet,” said Magill when asked about his team’s depth. “Our top three runners are very strong and our four and five runners are much improved from where we were a year ago.”