Garber

WARWICK — Ever since Ari Garber took up running at Moses Brown, she has encountered one unfortunate roadblock after another, from shin splints to stress fractures to nagging hip pain.

All of those setbacks haven’t been able to dampen her spirits, though, and yesterday, the senior captain was rewarded for her perseverance.

Competing in her first race of the season, Garber recorded the fastest time by a Rhode Island girl in finishing third in the Championship Girls Race of the 25th annual Brown University Cross Country Invitational at Goddard Memorial State Park.

“It’s just amazing,” said Garber, who clocked a time of 18 minutes, 15.2 seconds. “I started running two years ago and since then I’ve had a couple times where it really looked like I might not be able to run for the foreseeable future, and it was really emotional. So now every time I can run, I don’t take it for granted at all. It feels like such a miracle.”

Garber handled herself well despite competing against some of the top runners in the Northeast. Hitting the tape in 17:13.9, Keely Maguire of Triton Regional High, of Harvard, Mass., clocked the third-fastest time in meet history en route to victory, while runner-up Emily Jones of The Bromfield School, of Byfield, Mass., ran the seventh-fastest performance all-time at 17:31.0.

“Two girls clearly pulled ahead,” said Garber, referring to Maguire and Jones. “The rest of the pack just stayed together, and I was sort of in the middle. It was pretty clear that’s how it was going to be for most of the race. I was expecting to be under 19 minutes, and I thought if I had a really good race, I’d be under 18:30. So I’m happy.”

East Greenwich also had plenty to be happy about, as the Avengers placed seventh in the Championship Girls race and third in the Championship Boys race.

Senior Susan O’Connell led the girls’ squad, finishing 29th in 19:57.5, with juniors Amanda Hallworth (40th in 20:22.7), Spencer Dean (45th in 20:43.3), Therese Kerin (55th in 21:28.9) and Kirstin Kaija (58th in 21:49.4) also contributing.

Nick Ross (15:44.8) and Mark Feigen (15:49.2) led the charge for the boys, placing 9th and 10th, respectively. Akash Chougule (22nd in 16:26.2), Mike Pezzullo (30th in 16:41.6) and Matt Colavita (40th in 17:06.4) rounded out the scoring.

“We had six (personal bests), two guys under 16 (minutes), two guys under 17 and two kids real close to being under 17,” East Greenwich coach Peter Dion said of the boys’ strong outing. “It was a small field, but it was a tough field. Brookline and Smithtown, [which finished first and second, respectively], are nasty; those guys are good. So I think by running with those guys, it made us run really, really well. I’m glad we came.”

Still more notable performances by Rhode Island runners at yesterday’s meet:

•Westerly junior Tim O’Loughlin was the third Rhode Island finisher in the Championship Boys race with a time of 16:04.5, while Woonsocket senior Corey Brunelle used a strong finishing kick to take 17th in 16:16.6.

•East Greenwich senior Brile Anderson won the Jayvee Girls 1 race in 20:51.1, helping the Avengers to fifth place.

•Steve Healey of Cumberland placed eighth in the Freshman Boys race with a time of 14:29.2.

•Top-20 finishes by Austin Schaefer (3rd in 17:55.9), Gabe Hayer (7th in 18:23.6), and Kurt Warren (19th in 18:54.4) powered East Greenwich to fourth place in the Jayvee Boys 1 event.

•Emily Doucette (14th in 19:23.8), Victoria Lima (28th in 20:17.4) and Michon Dinwoodie (33rd in 20:21.8) paced Westerly to eighth in the Varsity Girls 2 race.

•Moses Brown, which is competing in the R.I. Interscholastic League for the first time this season, finished 13th in the Varsity Boys 1 race with senior Derek Simpson leading the way (35th in 17:34.5). Smithfield senior Everett LaMountain was 27th in 17:27.4, guiding the Sentinels to 19th place.

cthorn@projo.com