GAME TIME - Top harriers emerge during annual high school meet

This is one observer's disclaimer. Really, when you get down to the analytical scrutiny, nobody "runs like the wind."

The closest you might come to proving it, or lending some credence to it, is in evidence at track and cross-country races where high school teenage student-athletes sometime come close to the "paranormal" and seem to run like "you know what."

Alex Gallo is a North Providence High junior who runs over hill and dale for his school. Katie Meinertz is a Smithfield senior and All State pick who is winding down a season to die for. No way do they run "like the wind." But these gifted pair of distance runners have conquered it in a rather astonishing fashion whether it blows in a cross, head or tail direction. And, last Saturday both captured individual championships in the 2009 RIIL Class championship meets run over the rustic 3.5-mile "Covered Bridge" course at Ponaganset High. And, they made it look easy.

Minutes after Gallo captured the gold medal in the Class B boys race, an observer caught up to him in the runners' cool-down area. Except he didn't need it. No profuse perspiration, no dry-heaves, no flushed complexion, breathing as if he had just finished a leisurely stroll around the campus. A remarkable cardiovascular/pulmonary system for sure.

In the mold of most teen student-athletes who run, he's slim, wiry and intense, not shy to talk about his favorite extracurricular pastime but quite modest when probed about his accomplishments and goals.

He's been running cross-country for six years-plus, since the first year in middle school, and played soccer back then, too. But, the two same-season sports required him to make a choice when he reached high school and he opted for the running game.

He learned much about the sport from one of the best schoolboy coaches in the state, now-retired Harry Smith, and with current Cougar mentor Ian Hillman. His commitment to cross country is just about year round. He trains with several other high school competitors at camps and clinics in Cranston and runs a daily regimen of varying miles in order to keep in top form.

He's also a peak performer in the classroom and, though he has another year to set his educational goals, he does toss out the names of two or three top-flight colleges as future places to learn and run.

"Does it hurt?" Perhaps a silly question from an observer to whom it does, particularly on the final leg to the finish line and down the chute. Alex responded "no" but soon qualified himself when he harkened back in his mind to his high school races and his finishes. "It's hard," particularly to maintain the different speeds, the acceleration and deceleration points, clocking splits and picking a spot for the final kick to improve placement or a race time.

Gallo missed a lot of the 2008 season with the flu but is running like a well-oiled machine this fall and one of his immediate goals is to finish among the top five runners at the state championship meet scheduled for this Sunday at Ponaganset.

Last Saturday he zipped around the Glocester landscape in 17:14 to easily take first place in the boys' Class B run. His time was 12 seconds faster than the second-place finisher, his NPH teammate, Adam Coogan. Ponaganset's Cole Maguire ran third.

The Lincoln boys surprised everyone by winning the B team title by a slim three points better than South Kingstown. Alex has a little brother running for the middle school so the name could be etched on a few North Providence plaques down the road.

While Gallo had a profitable afternoon Smithfield's was doubly enjoyable as they swept the boys and girls team titles in the Class C races. And, Meinertz was in the forefront as she took the gold for first place, her second consecutive title, in a time of 20:45.46.

That was nearly 30 seconds ahead of number two, Renae Miozzi of Exeter/West Greenwich. The Sentinels' 65 team points buried second-place Burrillville, 65-112. A pair of freshmen crashed the party in the girls event as Lexi Mangili from Scituate got the bronze for her third-place finish, just ahead of teammate Victoria Ramos, and Diana Frenze, a Ponaganset ninth-grader, ran eighth.

Veteran coaches John Marchand and Bruce Ewart brought in another winner. The Sentinel ladies were undefeated in Northern division meets this season. Last Saturday Meinertz delivered her usual excellent performance and the green got big contributions from Rebecca Tellier who was still flu-ridden and was a late addition to "Team Green" and Kim Piccoli who ran an outstanding race.

The Sentinel lads under coaches Joe Bennett and Jeff Kurbec trumped a good second-place performance by East Greenwich as they beat the Avengers by 21 points, 44-65. Brian Musard was the first in green-and-gold at the finish line (5th), Matt Chadwick and Chris Bennett crossed 6th and 8th and Tom DeCristofaro, Ryan Pagliaro and Kyle Gerlach were bunched 12-13-14.

Finally a salute to Dan Appenfeller, the gold medalist in the boys' Class C run. The Smithfield resident and senior at Mount St. Charles Academy clocked a 17:02, ten seconds ahead of North Smithfield's Mike Martin.

Want to see some teens smile through the hurt? The state meet is Sunday afternoon at Ponaganset.