By ERIC BENEVIDES

Sports writer

PAWTUCKET --- For the past seven years, the St. Raphael Academy boys’ and girls’ teams have made it a tradition of running in the CVS Downtown 5K’s High School Inspirational 3K (1.86-mile) race.
But this past weekend, SRA coach Al Vanasse decided to pull the plug on a trip to Providence for the fun-filled event and instead have an easy workout on Slater Park’s scenic three-mile course in preparation for his teams’ Metro Division “City Championship” clashes against Tolman High and Shea High.
It turns out Sunday’s easy day paid off greatly on Monday afternoon. SRA’s boys’ team made it a three-peat over their crosstown foes by posting a 24-31 victory over Tolman and 15-44 win over Shea, while the Saints’ girls’ team won their fourth straight city crown with 15-50 shutouts over their rivals.
The Tolman boys also defeated Shea by a 19-53 count, and the Raider girls also pitched a 15-50 shutout over the shorthanded Tigers.     
“We took the CVS race off (on Sunday) because I’d rather have them do the (Slater Park) course and see them do well today,” admitted Vanasse, whose teams on Friday also grabbed places in the top five at the Blackstone Valley Invitational at Burrillville Middle School.
“I have freshmen and sophomores and I’m not sure if they know the course. Obviously, they do, but just in case, we jogged the course, took it nice and slow, and did some stretching, and it worked out. They did a nice job today, and right now, they’re running great and they’re only going to get better.”
Barrington High, which participated in a five-team meet with the Pawtucket schools and Hope High and bused more than 70 runners to Slater, actually swept the boys’ and girls’ meets to remain unbeaten in the division.
The boys’ squad claimed the top three places and seven of the first nine to down the Saints, 18-44, and shut out the Tigers, Raiders, and Blue Wave, and the girls’ team dominated their meet by taking the first eight spots and 21 of the first 24 finishes.
But all the Pawtucket spectators on hand really cared about was whether or not the Saints (whose teams are both 3-2) could hold on to their reign as the city’s top teams.
In the boys’ race, the Saints took the top two spots when sophomore Bobby Parker placed fourth in a 16:17 time and senior Zachary Burkett was seventh in 16:30.05.
After Tolman seized the next two places behind senior Sylvester Nyeswa’s 10th place (17:22.7) and junior Ethan Bienstock’s 13th place (17:38.7), SRA sewed up the city title when Sam Reinhardt (17:57.22), Nicholas Fiorenzano (18:25), and Taylor Fagan (18:42.71) marched across the finish line.
After Fagan came Tolman’s Elliott Fleming (19:02.3), Shea’s Peter Santos (19:36.3) and Spencer Bryce (20:17.9), Tolman’s Ryan Deighan (20:20.5) and Wayne Whitaker (21:00), and SRA’s Byron Barricentos (21:14.87).
“I thought the boys’ meet would be a little closer,” added Vanasse, who only has eight runners on his boys’ team. “(Tolman’s) John Toth is a great coach and he makes his kids work hard.”
The girls’ meet saw the Saints’ top three runners finish within seven seconds of each other, as sophomore Catherine Piper ended up ninth in 21:02, senior Sarah Blais, who was last year’s winner, placed 10th in 21:07, and freshman Danielle Stonely finished 12th in 21:09.
The Eagles then had the next 12 finishers, but the Saints soon iced the meet when Luzelly Frias (24:11) and Alicia Sousa (24:16) finished.
Shea’s first finisher was sophomore Saskia Morgan (25:14.8), and Tolman was led by sophomore Heather Conboy (25:32.6) and junior Jessica Treanor (25:40.3).
Some other local finishers were Tolman’s Tara Stanzione (26:49.2), Shea’s Ana Hernandez (28:46.9), Tolman’s Kelly Serna (29:23.1), Shea’s Johana Rojas (29:31.6), and SRA’s Hannah Coderre (30:43).
“We only have six girls on our team and all of them had a PR,” Vanasse said with a smile. “And our last three girls to win this race (Laura Durvin in 2006 and ’07 and Blais) did so in the same time, 21:34, so it was really nice to see our top three girls break that (time).”