There’s not denying that Emily Flagg is at another level right now.
It’s different from the one the Whitinsville Christian tenth-grader experienced last year during her breakthrough freshman season where she won the Division 2C title and finished third at the Meet of Champions.
Every race, seems effortless. Every race, she appears unfazed by the high quality of competition that surrounds her. Every race, also happens to be fast, very fast!
Like Saturday’s performance at the 63rd annual Catholic Memorial Invitational.
In record-breaking fashion, the diminutive harrier turned her race into solo effort with still plenty of real estate to cover on the challenging 5K of Franklin Park. Flagg powered through the finish line with a meet record of 17 minutes, 48.4 seconds. She broke the existing mark of 17:49.0 by former Bromfield great Emily Jones in 2008.
“I was felling really good and confident before the race,” Flagg said. “Once it started, I was ready to go. I just gave it all I could.”
So far this season, the W-C standout has been unbeaten with victories at the Vineyard XC Invitational, Amherst Invitational, Ocean State Invitational and the Bob Glennon Twilight Invitational. At Ocean State and Twilight, she defended her crowns. In all her races, she won comfortably, often convincingly.
Her closest race was last week’s Twilight meet where she was 14 seconds in front of Mari O’Connell of Marblehead. In her remaining three prior to the Catholic Memorial, she has won by 35 seconds (Ocean State), 54 seconds (Amherst) and 34 seconds (Vineyard). At Saturday’s competition, she had her biggest margin of victory this season, finishing more than a minute ahead of her closest rival, Crusader teammate Emma Wierenga, who was timed in 18:51.2 for second.
As she’s done often this season, Flagg took care of business early in the race. She hit her opening mile around 5:20 and built a sizable gap of at least 40 seconds on the chase pack by the time she reached the midway point.
“I was a little shocked to hear that fast,” said Flagg, about the opening mile. “I didn’t feel I was going super fast. I was feeling pretty good.”
Here’s the scary part. The gifted underclassmen – remember, she’s only a tenth-grader – still feels there’s plenty more in the tank with the state championship meets less than a month away.
“I think I still have more to go,” she said. “I am really excited to see how these next races play out.”
Lexington, a team ranked No. 9 in the recent MSTCA XC Poll, captured the team title with a 58-100 decision over second-place Exeter (NH). Peabody was third with 120 points. The Minutemen had four in the top 16 and a gap of just one minute between their one and five runners. Comprising the scoring for a squad loaded with underclassmen were freshman Jane Conrad (seventh, 19:24.9), sophomore Callie Glenn (tenth, 19:43.0), sophomore Erin Ehmann (13th, 19:54.1), sophomore Alycia Charest (16th, 20:03.7) and junior Meghan Caldera (25th, 20:25.1).
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Utilizing a different strategy to Flagg, Newburyport’s Michael Mohoric won the boys’ Silver race with a time of 16:23.9. Mohoric stayed behind the leaders until just past the second mile where he was able to forge to the front and hold on for the win. Finishing second was Boston Latin’s Bilal Elhaji at 16:29.3.
“Today’s race my strategy was to sit on the lead pack and once the going got hard just trust in the pace and power through,” he said. “At that point (mile 2), I just trusted my training and the people that have gotten me here going forward.”
Mohoric has a lofty goal for the upcoming championship meets, including the Division 2 race at the Meet of Champions on Nov. 16.
“My goal has always been the same. My goal is a state championship this year at Fort Devens,” he said. “After today’s race, I know I can be a competitor and I have a better confidence going into it.”
Mohoric has added motivational to excel at this year’s meet, based on what he did at the MOC in 2023.
“Last year I was 16th and was outkicked for a medal,” he said. “I didn’t forget it.”
Bridgewater Raynham edged Boston Latin, 65-73, for the team crown. The Trojans had three of their runners place in the top 10 with senior Joshua Greer (fifth, 16:46.5), junior Brian Peters (seventh, 17:05.5) and junior Jack Alves (tenth, 17:16.5) occupying those spots. Senior Joseph Brand (19, 17:36.6) and sophomore Matthew Parks (35th, 18:17.3) completed the scoring.
Keene’s Sullivan Sturtz of neighboring New Hampshire clocked the fastest time of the day to take the boys’ Red Race with a time of 15:50.3. Sturtz ran with the leaders until about the midway point where he was able to break from his rivals.
The Keene junior led a small pack through an opening split of just under five minutes. On his heels was eventual 2-3 finishers, Graham Heinrich of Marshfield (16:09.2) and Lowell’s Jimmy Kelly (16:17.9).
“I felt great,” he said. “I wasn’t sure how I was going to do. I felt a little nervous going in. But then the gun goes off and everything settles into place. I was feeling strong after that first mile.”
Pinkerton Academy, a team ranked No. 2 in New Hampshire, scored a low 35 points to take first in the team standings. The Astromen had just a 35-second gap between its top five.
In the other races…
Peabody’s Mohamed Lhassouani (10:53.2) and Melrose’s Reilly Powell (12:43.6) were the respective boys’ and girls’ 3K winners in the JV races with Franklin and Duxbury taking the team titles. Swampscott swept the individual crowns in the Frosh races with Atticus Jakious (10:41.0) and Annabelle Averette (11:45.4) coming out on top. Duxbury and Norte Dame-Hingham were the team victors.
