By PAUL J. SPETRINI
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NORTH SCITUATE—The smile on Diane Leith’s face said it all.
Mere moments after the Chariho girls cross country team finished sixth overall in last Saturday’s Class A Meet, a finish that earned them a spot, as a team, into this weekend’s state meet, Leith and her girls gathered at the Charger tent smiling, hugging and celebrating their accomplishment.
They might not have won a championship, but it was close enough. The Chargers are going to states. Their season-long mission? Accomplished.
Chariho freshman Elizabeth Hansen turned in a huge performance in her first big varsity meet, clocking in at just over 22 minutes to finish 22nd overall as the Chargers racked up 196 team points to finish behind just LaSalle, Cranston West, North Kingstown, Coventry and Cumberland in Class A.
The sixth-place showing was Chariho’s best since 2001 and assured them a spot in their third state meet in four years.
Not bad for a little program with just 15 total athletes on it.
“They did awesome,” Leith said. “They did so well. It was really good, almost everyone had really great races.”
Chariho was led by Hansen, who just missed out on taking home All-Class honors, but nonetheless came up huge.
“Liz really had an awesome race as a freshman,” Leith said. “She came in 22nd, which is one place away from all-class, she was obviously disappointed but since her time was so good, she was still happy and so it was really good.”

For more, pick up the 11/5 edition of the Chariho Times