A somewhat quiet week went out with bang this past weekend. While most of our athletes were finding ways to avoid snowbanks and ice-covered roads, we had a few travel out of state for a little meet in New York City. Last week also saw the start of League Championships, priming everyone for the post season.
Girls Athlete of the Week:
This past week was a little different than the first few, when you could have flipped a coin to see who athlete of the week was; there were that many standout performances. Abby Hennessy and Ainsley Cuthbertson both traveled down to the Armory for the Millrose Games. Cuthbertson competed on Friday in the weight throw where she finished fifth overall with a throw of 54-3.75. Not her best throw, but it still eclipsed the previous state record before Ainsley rewrote the book. The top two finishers were both from Rhode Island, perhaps setting up a showdown at the New England Championships.
However, on Sunday in the Nike Girls Mile, Hennessy almost stole the show. By one hundredth of a second. She finished second overall in 4:38.70 to Jaelyn Williams 4:38.69. The race played out somewhat like the Mile at the New Balane Grand Prix. New Jersey’s Blair Bartlett dropped the pack early, while most of the runners came through 800 in 2:23. From there Hennessy and Williams started to reel her in. It was Williams who caught her first and appeared to drop Hennessy as well. With the camera following Williams, the race appeared locked up heading into the final 50m. It was then that Hennessy burst into frame and ran down Williams all the way to the line. Williams was able to hold her off and out lean her for the win.
It was a tremendous effort from Hennessy, one that sets her up well for Nationals when she’ll face a lot of the same runners. It was also a season and indoor best. For her efforts, she is Athlete of the Week! Congratulations!
Boy’s Athlete of the Week:
It was a similar story on the boy’s side. Both Falmouth’s Silas Gartner and Catholic Memorial’s Amar Skeete traveled to the Armory to compete in their respective events. Both Silas and Amar have experience at this level of competition: Amar earning All-American honors at New Balance Nationals and Silas competing at the former Foot Locker National Championships in 2024.
Silas competed in the Nike Boy’s Mile and finished in 10th place with a time of 4:15.93. While it wasn’t a PR, he competed hard against a strong field that will prep him well for more high level meets to come.
Amar competed in the triple jump on Saturday. Previously, it would have been easy to brand the triple as his best event, but after his 24’ leap in the long jump, that’s tough to say. Still, Amar has consistently been one of the nation’s best in the triple since last spring. At Millrose, he finished third overall with a jump of 49-2.75. Like Silas, not his best jump, but getting third in a meet like that is no small feat. We still feel that we’ll see at least one state record from Amar this season.
However, we’re going to highlight a performance that may not garner a spot in the national rankings but deserves praise all the same. The Catholic Conference Championship saw numerous strong performances. (Last week’s winner Greg McGrath had a strong double) Sophomore Marco Petrino of Xaverian Brothers took down a strong field to take gold in the 1000m, in an almost five second PR! Heading into the meet, Petrino held a PR of 2:38.66 and came away with a 2:34.91. This is what we love to see at this point in the season. Athletes leveling up. The win puts Petrino squarely among the contenders in the 1000m this season. For his breakthrough, we are awarding Marco, Athlete of the Week! Congratulations!
