After falling short of its goal of winning a record six-straight state championships last fall, the North Kingstown girls cross country team was definitely refocused this season.

The Skippers added a seventh title to their string of Class A Championships, won their sixth state crown in seven years, then capped it off with their third runner-up finish in the last six years at yesterday’s New England Championships.

Contributing to the second-place finish behind Hanover (N.H.) High School were: Allie Stasiuk (19th overall in 19:18), Siobhan Breagy (36th in 19:39), Caitlin Crawford (42nd in 19:43), Mary Najarian (61st in 20:00) and Erin Brennan (67th in 20:08).

"The start, both for the boys and the girls, is difficult because everybody’s crunching in too quick, and my fourth, fifth and sixth runners had a tough time getting out there,’’ said North Kingstown coach Keven O’Neil, whose squad came into the weekend ranked sixth in the Northeast. ``So that hurt us a little bit, but that wouldn’t have made up (the difference between first and second place). Hanover (N.H.) ran really well. But the girls ran solid all year long. They’ve been pushing all year long and second place is still pretty incredible.

"And to have two Rhode Island teams in the top five, that was absolutely amazing,’’ he added. ``Rhode Island should be very proud of that, especially the way the top couple of La Salle girls (Jeanne Mack and Jean Christensen) ran. That was great.’’