Few will dispute that this weekend’s Bob Glennon Twilight Invitational is the most popular meet of the season in Massachusetts. Few will also dispute that the two-day extravaganza produces some of the fastest times of the season by our runners and is essentially PR City for a good portion of them that make their way to the Cape Cod Fairgrounds.
Here’s a few other things to know about the 2024 version of the Twilight Invite.
***
We have two returning champions – Westford Academy’s Jack Graffeo and Whitinsville Christian’s Emily Flagg. At last year’s meet, Graffeo toured the lightning-fast 5K layout in a course record of 14 minutes, 57.7 seconds. That effort would prove to be the fastest of season by our MA runners. It would also spearhead a phenomenal junior campaign for the WA standout on both the trails and the track. Graffeo would later finish second to teammate Paul Bergeron at the MIAA Div. 1B Championships and third at the Meet of Champions the following week. He would also earn a trip to the Foot Locker Nationals in San Diego by placing eighth at the regionals, held at Franklin Park. Among some of the highlights of his track seasons were two 8:52 efforts for outdoor two mile at the Meet of Champions and New Balance Nationals, both of which earned him runner-up finishes at the respective meets. He also clocked a best of 4:09.80 for the mile and 14:41.55 for the indoor 5K, which he did at Boston University’s Bruce Lehane Scarlet & White Invitational. This will be Graffeo’s first race of the season. He was scheduled to compete in the Championship race at last month’s Ocean State Invitational, but never made it to the starting line. We do expect to see him on Sunday where he’ll defend his title in the Large School race.
The Crusaders’ Flagg couldn’t have asked for a better freshmen campaign on the up-and-down terrain. Just a few weeks after winning the Varsity Div. 2 race at the Ocean State Invitational, the gifted underclassman was a winner in the the Small School race at Twilight where she ran a then-best of 18:13.5. She would follow that victory by take individual honors at the Dual Valley Conference Championships. She also placed third in the Small School Junior/Senior race at the Frank Mooney Invitational, won the Div. 2C crown and finished third at the MOC. This season, she’s a perfect 3-for-3 in big meets, striking it rich at the Vineyard X-C Invitational, Amherst Invitational and the Ocean State Invitational.
***
The meet will be well represented by some of the top teams in the state, according to the MSTCA Coaches Poll. Seven of the top 10 boys’ squads from Div. 1 are schedule to compete with Brookline (No. 4), Cambridge Rindge & Latin (No. 5), Reading Memorial (No. 6), Natick (No. 7), Wellesley (No. 9), and Westford Academy (No. 10) as well as Sharon (Chase Pack). In Div. 2, there’s Melrose (No. 2) and Longmeadow (No. 3). The lone squad in Div. 3 is Lenox (No. 6). On the girls’ side, Div. 1 will have eight schools at Twilight with Oliver Ames (No. 1), Weymouth (No. 2), Wellesley (No. 3), Cambridge Rindge & Latin (No. 4), Westford Academy (No. 5), Needham (No. 6), and Newton North (No. 7) as well as Wachusett Regional (Chase Pack). Div. 2 has Whitinsville Christian (No. 3) and Div. 3 there are Lenox (No. 3) and Dennis Yarmouth (No. 7).
***
So we’ve talked about the teams. How about the individuals? Guess what? We’ll have some of our best at the Fairgrounds, too. Take a look at the rankings on athletic.net, we have eight boys this fall that have gone faster than 16 minutes that are heading to the Cape. Tamrat Gavenas, who competes for Andover Phillips Academy, comes in with the fastest time among the bunch. The gifted senior, who last year placed third at the Foot Locker Nationals, ran a season best of 15:24.8 on Sept. 21 to win the Manchester Invitational on a very tough 5K. The other sub-16 guys are Melrose’s Caleb Barnes (15:29.1), Falmouth’s Silas Gartner (15:30.7), Cambridge Rindge & Latin’s Daniel Bronstein (15:42.1) and Gael Medina (15:42.4), North Andover’s Emmett La Rosa (15:45.9), Lincoln-Sudbury’s Ethan Sholk (15:54.9), Belmont’s Jared Rife (15:56.0), Natick’s John Bianchi (15:58.0) and Reading’s Chris Barbato (15:59.0).
For the girls, it’s even more impressive. So far this season, four have gone under 18 minutes. Yep, you guessed it, they’re all coming to Twilight. The sub-18 club includes the Crusaders’ Flagg (17:51.5). Wellesley’s Charlotte Tuxbury (17:54.0), Cambridge Rindge & Latin’s Aoife Shovlin (17:54.5) and Westford Academy’s Abigail Hennessey (17:59.4). Scroll through the rankings and we have five more that have averaged six-minute pace for the 5K distance – Newton North’s Ciara Evans (18:21.6), Cambridge Rindge & Latin’s Sophia Juanes Seto (18:23.1), Wachusett’s Naomi Witt (18:33.5), Attleboro’s Emilia Smith (18:37.9) and Taunton’s Emersyn DePonte (18:38.1).