The Wrentham Developmental Center has been a busy place this past week, hosting a plethora of conference and divisional championships. This Saturday, the moderately-challenging five-kilometer course will be the site of the Frank Mooney Coaches Invitational, the final stop before next weekend’s MIAA Divisional State Championships.
Here’s a look at the Large School races at Saturday’s meet.
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Boys’ Sophomore 5K – 12 p.m.
Oftentimes, it can be difficult to predict which athletes will perform best in a particular meet, since factors like course toughness and even course measurements can affect their times. That’s not the case with our top entries in this race as all have run some of their strongest races on the very course they’ll be competing in this weekend.
All of the top 10 seeds have broken 17 minutes this season, with many clustered between 16:17 and 16:38. If everything holds true to form, we could see a tightly packed lead group well into the late stages of the race.
Catholic Memorial’s Gerard Stock headlines the field as the No. 1 seed with his 16:17.30 best from a 12th-place finish at the Catholic Conference Championships on Oct. 21. Stock nearly matched that at the Bay State Invitational last month, finishing seventh overall in 16:17.4. Expect him to be in that range—or faster—on Saturday, especially on a course that plays to his strengths.
Concord-Carlisle’s Cameron Smack and St. John’s Prep’s Sam Valentine enter as co-No. 2 seeds, both clocked at 16:23.80. Smack’ ran his effort’s time came at the Bay State Invite, while Valentine ran his mark at the Catholic Conference Championships.
Brookline, ranked No. 4 in our New Balance Power Rankings, has four runners listed among the top entries with Nam Danh (16:30.0), Elias Thomasson (16:37.60), Matt Ritter (16:38.10) and Noah Karp (16:46) expected to answer the gun. As the saying goes, team work makes the dream work. Look for this quartet to work together with hopes of a top finish.
Don’t overlook Catholic Memorial’s Theo Fitzpatrick, who ran a PR of 16:33.4 at the Catholic Conference Championships.
Will give a slight edge to the Knights’ Stock, based on his success on the multi-looped course. But with a deep field and plenty of talent, expect multiple contenders in the mix down the stretch.
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Girls’ Sophomore 5K – 12:25 p.m.
This race features a trio of athletes who have broken 19 minutes this season — Westborough’s Clare Hall, Central Catholic’s Kyla Breslin, and Westford Academy’s Diya Shrestha.
Hall enters off a win in the Division A race at the Mid-Wach League Championships this past Saturday, where she clocked her season best of 18:17.25 at Ghiloni Park. Breslin owns a top time of 18:18.5 from her fourth-place finish at the Bob Glennon Twilight Invitational, and just two weeks ago she was fourth again at the Catholic Memorial Invitational, running 18:30.5 on the more demanding terrain of Franklin Park. Shrestha’s season best of 18:29.1 also came at Twilight.
Three more runners in this field have times in the 19-minute range, with several others hovering in the low-to-high 20s — meaning the chase pack should be strong.
Look for Hall, Breslin, and Shrestha to set the pace up front. Who will emerge with the victory? Breslin gets the slight edge here — she’s been the most consistent of the group and already owns a pair of wins this fall, taking the Varsity 1 race at last month’s Ocean State Invitational and the Large School race at the Frank Kelley Invitational on Sept. 20, where she clocked 10:39.2 for 3,000 meters.
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Boys’ Freshmen 3K – 12:55 p.m.
As a team, we’re expecting a dominate performance by Boston College High, which occupies most of the top seeds with Seamus Collins (10:17.10), Braeden Donovan (10:18.0), Nolan Kurtz (10:21.3) and Jack Cook (10:23.40) on the line. At No. 1 is Arlington’s Emmett Mack, an 18:40 5K runner with a best of 10:13.18 for three kilometers.
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Girls’ Freshmen 3K – 1:15 p.m.
The favorite in this race is top seed Aly Amin of Somerville. Amin has put together a strong freshman campaign highlighted by a PR of 19:18.9 for 5K, earned at last month’s Bay State Invitational where she placed 11th overall in the Varsity B race. She’s also dipped under 20 minutes at both the Devens Pre-Championship Classic and the Catholic Memorial Invitational. Earlier in the season, Amin clocked a 3K best of 11:28.8 in the Large School Freshman Race at the Frank Kelley Invitational.
Winchester’s Madelyn Baynes (11:43.99), Central Catholic’s Olivia Scatamacchia (12:11.88), Bridgewater Raynham’s Mackenzie Rowan (12:31.92) and Winchester’s Caitrin Newman (12:34.93) are among others that should figure in the mix.
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Boys’ Junior 5K – 1:35 p.m.
Like most of Saturday’s races, this one doesn’t have a clear-cut favorite. The field lining up this weekend features 19 athletes who have broken 17 minutes for the 5K this season, meaning several runners could realistically break the tape at the finish.
Catholic Memorial’s Daniel Kaleba enters as the top seed with his 16:04.7 performance from the Catholic Conference Championships. With the meet taking place at Wrentham, that mark suggests Kaleba has the potential to dip under the 16-minute barrier. His recent improvement backs that up — at the Bay State Invitational just a month earlier, he clocked 16:46.1 on the same course, a sign of strong momentum heading into championship season.
Among his top challengers will be Shrewsbury’s Havish Thotakura, who placed sixth at the Mid-Wach League Championships with a personal best of 16:15.0. Franklin’s Kyle Twomey (16:23.0), along with the Lincoln-Sudbury duo of Brandon Ma (16:24.1), Lukas Masiakos (16:25.2), and Plymouth North’s Dylan Vaughan (16:25.2), round out the next few seeds.
With so many athletes tightly packed in the standings — and a fast course on tap — this race has all the makings of a thrilling finish.
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Girls’ Junior 5K – 2:00 p.m.
Our pick to win on Saturday is Plymouth North’s Devon Foy, the No. 1 seed. Foy has shown the most consistency among the top contenders this season. She owns a best of 19:11.7, which she ran to finish runner-up at the Patriot League Championships. Her remaining 5Ks have all been in the mid-to-high 19-minute range, showing dependable form.
Earlier this season, Foy also placed sixth in the Large School Junior 3K at the Frank Kelley Invitational, clocking a personal best of 12:01.7. She’s certainly capable of breaking 20 minutes on Saturday — a performance that might be enough to secure the title on this moderately-challenging course.
Other top runners to watch include Newton North’s Adelle Dupere, Plymouth South’s Ada Cote, Newton North’s Pearl Neafsey, and North Quincy’s Zoe Nelson, who all enter with seed times between 19:43 and 20:04.
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Boys’ Senior 5K – 2:30 p.m.
Judging by both times and course difficulty, Westford Academy’s David Caggiano gets the nod as the runner to beat. Caggiano boasts a best of 15:40.1 from the Twilight Invitational at the Cape Cod Fairgrounds. He followed that with a 15:59.2 at the Dual County League Championships — a strong sub-16 effort on the more challenging 5K terrain of Franklin Park.
Chasing him will be the Arlington trio of Daichi Collins (15:35.32), Patrick Kenneally (15:37.55), and Owen Merrill (15:38.60), who finished 5–6–7 at the ML-12 Championships. Despite their faster times, Caggiano gets the edge here for his proven ability on tougher courses.
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Girls’ Senior 5K – 2:55 p.m.
As the saying goes, they saved the best for last. This race not only features one of the state’s top runners, but one of the nation’s best as well — Westford Academy’s Abby Hennessy.
Hennessy has been in remarkable form, breaking the 17-minute barrier in each of her last two races. She captured the Twilight Invitational title on Oct. 12 with a personal best of 16:43.00, and followed that with a dominant win at the Dual Valley Conference Championships, clocking 16:46.6 at Franklin Park.
The Washington commit will be racing at the same venue she’ll compete on for the Division 1A Championships next weekend — and there’s little doubt she’ll be in overdrive again. The current Wrentham course record is 17:04.1, set by former Natick great Grace Connolly at the 2018 MIAA Eastern Division Championships. Expect that seven-year-old mark to fall this weekend if Hennessy is true to form.
As for the battle for silver, it should be an exciting one between Westford Academy’s Emily Wedlake (17:51.9) and Winchester’s Julia Ramsay (18:03.86) — both capable of pushing each other to fast times.
