La Salle RI teams sweep New Englands

Hannah DeBalsi wins 3rd straight individual title in Vermont

By Mary Albl for DyeStat

THETFORD -- Even on a day that had the potential for an upset with blustery and slightly snowy conditions and a treacherous 3.1 mile course to conquer, the La Salle boys and girls cross country teams proved just how tough and dominant they truly are. 

On Saturday afternoon at Thetford Academy (Vt.), it was the Rams for the second straight year, hoisting not one but two first place trophies at the end of the day, as both programs brought home New England Championships. 

“I’m ecstatic, to do this back-to-back two years in a row, it’s just absolutely amazing and it’s a feeling that never gets old,” girls head coach Kelly Martin said. “And when you’re here, you’re just grateful for the opportunity.” 

The Rams made sure to capitalize on every chance Saturday. Led by junior standout DJ Principe’s first-place finish in 15 minutes, 48.4 seconds, the La Salle boys scored 76 points to win the program’s third straight crown.  Only Alec Ostberg has run faster on the tough course at Thetford than Principe.

“I was kind of planning on sitting back the first 1K and seeing what the other guys wanted to do,” Principe said. “But once I got in the woods, I took a quick look back and I was just kind of waiting for someone else to come up on me and it never really happened, so I said, ‘You know what? I’m just going to start going.’” 

La Salle, No. 14 in the latest DyeStat national team rankings, placed five runners in the top 10 as Jack Salisbury captured fifth and Matt Bouthillette finished eighth. 

Pinkerton of New Hampshire was second as a team (96) and Staples of Connecticut was third (200).

Principe, who led start to finish, wasn’t challenged on the steep and difficult 5K course. 

“Yeah it was awesome,” Principe said of finishing first. “That was kind of my goal. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t afraid to really go after it this year.”

As Principe easily cruised to the victory, the battle for second was a sprint to the finish. 

With a sliver of a lead heading down the final 100 meters for Brien McMahon’s (Conn.) Eric van der Els, it was fellow conference and state rival Gabe Altopp of Ridgefield who made a photo-finish comeback. 

Altopp, who is headed to Brown, caught up with van der Els to slightly edge him by .1 second to place runner-up (16:09.3), while van der Els was third (16:09.4). 

“It shows we are both great kickers and we can beat each other on any given day,” van der Els said. 

Principe said the Rams will now get ready for a berth in Nike Nationals, as they head to the Northeast Regional meet on Nov. 28 at Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls, N.Y. 

“I don’t want to say it’s a statement win but I think more personally it’s a confidence builder,” Principe said. “I really want to work off this.”

The La Salle girls were equally impressive, scoring 60 points and placed four in the top 20 as senior Eliza Rego finished in fourth. 

Coe-Brown of New Hampershire was runner-up (86) and Tolland of Connecticut finished third (110).  

“It was to just go out hard and try and control the race the best that we could and go out there anrun as fast as we could and do it for each other,” Martin said. “We knew we had a target on our back, and we’re trying to fight people off, we knew it was going to be a tough day, we knew it was going to be battle.”

In the individual race, Staples’ (Conn.) Hannah DeBalsi collected her third straight New England title, finishing in 18:20.9. 

Hannah DeBalsi's Senior Year (via Stellar)

DeBalsi became the second runner from the state of Connecticut to win three straight divisional, State Open and New England crowns. The last runner to accomplish that was Liz Mueller of Waterford (1989-1992).

DeBalsi, who is undefeated this season and top 10 nationally ranked, was finally forced to push herself in conditions she called “my favorite weather to race in.” Sophomore Ellie Lawler of South Kingston (Rhode Island) hung with DeBalsi for the first mile.

“She’s a great runner, I mean it was crazy,” Lawler said. “The first mile I was kind of with her and I was like, ‘I can’t run with her, she’s like No. 4 in the country, this is crazy.’ She went ahead of me within the first mile but she was in sight the whole time so that was kind of surprising to me, I wasn’t expecting that. But I was happy with the outcome.” 

Just like the boys race, Katherine DeLoreto of Tolland and Rego made it an exciting last few meters to the finish. DeLoreto, a junior, came from behind with an all-out sprint to pass Rego and capture third place (19:01.3), while Rego finished fourth (19:01.7).

 “I don’t really know what I was thinking, I was just thinking, ‘I’m so cold might as well try and go for it,” an excited DeLoreto said. “I wanted to get top 25, maybe top 10 this race. I took this as a really fun and relaxed race.”

La Salle, ranked No. 21, will also head up to Wappingers Falls in two weeks for regionals.“It gives us a lot of confidence,” Martin said of winning New Englands. “We’re just going to stay focused and just work hard; it’s going to be a big next two weeks.”