On Saturday, Rhode Island’s Goddard State Park welcomed the 17th annual Ocean State Invitational. For the Bay State, it might as well have been its home turf.
Massachusetts athletes and teams hauled in a truckload of hardware during the nine-hour regional meet, claiming eight team titles and 10 individual crowns across 14 high school races.
Can you say dominance?
In the featured Championship races, Massachusetts runners made it a clean sweep.
For the second straight year, Westford Academy’s Abby Hennessy captured the girls’ overall crown. The Ghosts’ senior broke away from a strong field midway through and won convincingly in a personal-best 17 minutes, 35.7 seconds for the five-kilometer layout. Competing in her first race since placing third in the mile at New Balance Nationals in June, Hennessy finished comfortably ahead of runner-up Chase Gilbert of East Lyme, CT (18:02.2). Whitinsville Christian’s Emily Flagg was third in 18:09.6.
In the team competition, Lexington edged state rivals Westford Academy and Billerica. The Minutemen scored 63 points to top the Ghosts (76), with the Indians close behind in third (86).
On the boys’ side, the drama came down to the final stretch. Monument Mountain’s Everett Pacheco outlasted Falmouth’s Silas Gartner in a thrilling finish. Gartner held the edge with about 30 meters left, but fatigue caused him to stumble, and Pacheco seized the opening to cross first in 15:38.1. Gartner quickly got back up to take second in 15:44.5, just strides ahead of East Lyme’s Sam Leone (15:45.8). Natick’s John Bianchi was fourth in 15:47.3.
St. John’s Prep, the 2021 champion, earned its second title in five years with 93 points. Lexington followed in second with 117.
In the girls’ Varsity 2 race, Whitinsville Christian’s Abby Flagg was a dominant winner, despite running off course midway into the race and re-tracing her steps to get back on track. The Crusader junior was timed in an impressive 18:29.6, more than a minute ahead of second-place finisher Anna Labell of Hamilton-Wenham (19:40.4).
Central Catholic’s Kyla Breslin was victorious in the Varsity 1 race. Breslin was timed in 19:15.5, finished ahead of Chelmsford teammates Mia McCusker (second, 19:32.5) and Kate Leonard (third,19:56.7). MA teams dominated the team standings with Natick taking the prize with 124 points. Central Catholic was second (146 points), Lexington placed third (171 points) and Andover solidified fifth (207 points) among the 35 schools.
Billerica’s Mason Niles and teammate Sahil Gandhi went 1-3 in the boys’ Varsity 1 race. Niles breezed to a time of 16:11.7, while Gandhi crossed the line at 16:18.3. Lexington put on a clinic in pack running to take the team title. Just 16 seconds separated the top five with Sam Finch leading the way in 13th overall (17:08.1).
Gabriel Ostrower led Lexington to a dominating team win in the boys’ Junior Varsity 1 race with a triumphant 17:55.9. With five of the top six finishers, the Minutemen scored just 17 points. Rohan Baneji (second, 17:59.2), Colin Ryan (third, 18:08.6), Arjun Raha (fifth, 18:13.3) and Sean Ryan (sixth, 18:14.7) rounded out the scoring.
In the girls’ Junior Varsity 1 race, Billerica teammates Anna Rossini (20:34.1) and Caroline Gorski (22:40.7) finished 1-2. Natick won the team crown, scoring 69 points, four ahead of Southington (CT). Raffaela DeLuca (11th, 23:42.3) and Avery Cacio (12th, 23:49.7).
Highlighted by a victory from Quinn Cook, Hopedale took the boys’ Freshmen 2 title. Cook cruised the 2.5-mile course in 13:27.5, nearly 40 seconds ahead of his closest pursuer. Parker Charter’s Zephyr Schermerhorn was second (14:05.6). Also placing among the top five were Hopedale’s Cedric Arthur (fourth, 14:29.4) and Parker Charter’s Asher Schemerhorn (fifth, 14:35.0).
Other wins from the Bay State were Hampshire Regional’s Charlotte Niswonger in the girls’ Junior Varsity 2 race and Parker Charter in the boys’ Varsity 2 race.
