A plethora of MA harriers have chosen to continue their cross-country seasons beyond the Thanksgiving holiday with more than 300 registered for Saturday’s Foot Locker Northeast Regionals, held for the second straight year at historic Franklin Park.
In the featured Championship race, where the top 10 finishers earn a trip to San Diego for the Foot Locker Nationals on Dec. 14. we have three MA natives (boys and girls) that solidified a spot out west from last year.
Who are among our top Bay Staters for this weekend’s meet, one that also includes athletes from Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Rhode Island, Vermont, Pennsylvania, New York and Washington, D.C.? Who are the few that have a shot at cracking that top 10 against the region’s best?
Here’s some we have in mind on the girls’ side.
Returning to Saturday’s competition is last year’s Foot Locker finalist, Aoife Shovlin of Cambridge Rindge & Latin. The Falcon senior earned a trip to San Diego by finishing tenth at the regionals in 2023 with a time of 18:15.4. While she broke 18 minutes twice this season, it hasn’t quite been the same this fall for Shovlin. She fell short of defending her titles at the Div. 1A championships and the Meet of Champions, a meet she was fourth overall. Still, you can’t count her out this weekend with two weeks to prepare on a course she is very familiar with.
Whitinsville Christian’s Emily Flagg appears to be our best shot to qualify for the nationals, and a good one at that. The Crusaders’ diminutive sophomore has been in Championship mode ever since the season began on Martha’s Vineyard back on Sept. 7. The only difference with Saturday’s race as opposed to the other races where she has often won by large margins, is that this time she will be challenged. We expect she’ll pass that test with flying colors. This will be Flagg’s second time competing at Franklin Park. Back on Oct. 19, the recent Div. 2 titlist cruised to a dominating win at the Catholic Memorial Invitational with a time of 17:48.4. At last year’s FL-NE, that effort would have placed her sixth overall. It seems almost inevitable that the W-C standout will punch her ticket out west this weekend.
You have to figure that Oxford’s Cameron Davis also has a legit chance. The talented sophomore breezed to the Div. 3 crown at the Meet of Champions. Like Flagg, Davis has been consistent all season long and appears capable of running a time in the high 17-minute to low 18-minute range, which she has done throughout the fall. That could be enough to sneak into that top 10. At the very least, she should crack the top 15, top 20.
Wellesley’s Charlotte Tuxbury and Haverhill’s Lucy McLean, who competes for the New England Elite Track Club, are two others we’re expecting to have strong races. Tuxbury, a 4:50 miler, was third at the MOC. She was the Div. 1B winner and ran a solid 18:10.1 at the Bay State Conference Championships a few weeks ago at Wrentham where she took the bronze. McLean was third at the USATF Region 1 Junior Olympic Championships less than two weeks ago in New York, running 18:21.85 in her only race this fall.
The Championship race is scheduled for 11:30 a.m.
COMPLETE ENTRIES
SCHEDULE
8:30 a.m. – 9-12 Boys & Girls Youth 3K
9:00 – 13-14 Boys’ & Girls Youth 3K
9:30 – Freshmen/Sophomore Boys
10:10 – Freshmen/Sophomore Girls
10:50 – The Marty Lewis Championship Boys
11:30 – Phil Zodda Championship Girls
12:10 p.m. – Junior/Senior Boys
12:50 – Junior/Senior Girls
1:30 – Open Race
