What a week it was in Philadelphia!
There is no denying the depth of track and field talent in Massachusetts. A look at the results from recent years – and the number of athletes who have gone on to compete at the Division I level – has proven that the Bay State can rival most states from coast to coast.
We certainly got a taste of that during four memorable days at historic Franklin Field, site of this past weekend’s New Balance Nationals Outdoor Championships. From Thursday through Sunday, Massachusetts athletes captured three national titles, earned several All-American honors and racked up a multitude of national-caliber performances and PRs on the biggest of stages.
How about what Lexington’s Ainsley Cuthbertson did in the girls’ hammer?
Along with the weight throw during the indoor season, this is an event that is not yet recognized as an official event by the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA). That could change soon, and Cuthbertson’s sterling victory on Saturday, where she unleashed an all-time best of 180 feet, 4 inches, may have provided a wake-up call for the MIAA to recognize both the hammer and weight throw as official events in the not-so-distant future.
Cuthbertson’s performance came just one day after she finished sixth against a field that included several collegians at the USATF U20 Championships in Eugene, Ore., where she had thrown a then-personal best of 179-0.
It was a cross-country trip that proved well worth it for the gifted senior. Talk about saving your best for last.
A year after his breakthrough performance at last year’s New Balance Nationals, Catholic Memorial’s triple-jump extraordinaire Amar Skeete delivered the biggest leap of his career. After all, it did produce a national title on Saturday.
Competing against a field where four athletes exceeded 49 feet, Skeete was the only one to surpass the 50-foot mark, earning the gold medal with a personal best of 50 feet, 7.25 inches.
It was just the second 50-footer of his career, the first coming at the 2025 New Balance Nationals. Do we see a pattern here? He’s only a junior. Could it be déjà vu next June?
They went 1-2 at the Meet of Champions and then did the same at the New England Championships. Why not continue the trend on the national stage?
That’s exactly what Cohasset’s Nicholas Askjaer and Oliver Ames’ Mitchell Callender did in the shot on Friday. The state’s two best throwers topped the field with Askjaer winning with a toss of 64-1, and Callender taking runner-up honors with a PR of 62-8.5. Here’s the thing with these two talented athletes. Their state rivalry didn’t end in Philadelphia this weekend. They’re only juniors. They’ll be back next year.
Abby Hennessy didn’t win the mile on Saturday night in what would have been a much-deserved victory in the final meet of her outstanding career.
But it took a meet record to defeat the Westford Academy senior, and she was under it, too.
The state’s most celebrated distance runner did everything she could to earn her first-ever national title. On this day, Indiana’s Mallory Weller just had a little more to hold off the determined Hennessy. The Cadet Distance Project senior crossed the line in 4:31.78, with Hennessy also dipping under the previous meet record in a state-record 4:33.18. Both broke the meet record of 4:33.67, set last year by Paige Sheppard of Union Catholic (N.J.). Both put on a show for the fans who filled the seats at Franklin Field.
For Hennessy, she wasn’t finished quite yet at New Balance. Less than 24 hours later, the University of Washington commit earned All-American honors again. Only this time, she had three teammates to celebrate with.
In 10th place when she was handed the baton for the 1,600-meter anchor leg of the Distance Medley Relay, Hennessy nearly caught everyone in front of her with an outstanding 4:36.72 split that spurred the Ghosts to a second-place finish in a state record 11:36.71, a time that smashed the previous mark of 11:44.77 by Newton South in 2010. The Westford Academy standout’s leg was the fastest among all 46 competitors.
Hennessy capped off her weekend later in the meet by clocking 2:09.26 in the 800m.
What a weekend. What a perfect sendoff for the multiple All-American and state record-holder as she heads west this fall.
We’ve always been impressed with the gritty competitiveness of Harry Flint. The Brookline senior always gives 110 percent. He never backs down from a challenge. If Flint is not the first to cross the line at the end, it’s never for lack of giving everything he possibly can, and more, to get the job done.
We once again got a glimpse of his unwavering determination at New Balance, and it occurred twice on the same day.
Getting the baton in 15th place in the seeded section of the Distance Medley Relay, Flint blasted a 1:50.92 leg to move Brookline into fifth as he handed off to Theodore Butty for the anchor leg. Butty responded, perhaps inspired by what he had just witnessed, by running the race of his life with a 4:09.41 split that enabled the Warriors to secure All-America honors with a sixth-place finish and a school record of 10:00.71.
If that wasn’t enough for Flint, he came back later in the meet to compete in the 800m. After his heroic effort in the DMR, the Brookline star nearly broke 1:50 against the nation’s best, hitting the mark exactly with a time of 1:50.00 and an eighth-place finish, just 0.03 seconds shy of a top-six finish.
We also can’t forget what he did on Friday, when his workmanlike weekend began with a 1:52.84 anchor leg for Brookline’s 4×800-meter relay, which finished in 7:51.48
Catholic Memorial was sixth in the 4x100m where the foursome of Tristan Ham, Ramar Thomas, Jameson Booker, Jelani Semper combined for a time of 41.88. In the semifinals, the Knights clocked a state record of 41.30 to earn the rite to medal, breaking the state mark of 41.53 by St. John’s Prep from the Division 1 Championships.
The list goes on for Massachusetts athletes. By our count, the four-day competition featured 11 All-Americans from the Bay State, and a bunch of PRs.
Newburyport’s Michael Mohoric capped off a season for the ages by placing fourth in the boys’ mile on Saturday with a PR of 4:04.55. Mohoric never backed down from facing some of the country’s top milers. The MIT commit was among the leaders from the gun, and led the field through a 3:05.40 split at the 1,200m mark. Falmouth’s Silas Gartner also broke 4:10, placing tenth at 4:09.63.
Abington’s Aiden Calcano Da Silva continued his mastery in the 400m hurdles on Friday with an all-time best of 51.96. That time is just 0.24 seconds shy of Westford Academy’s Ryan Kyle’s state record of 51.72, set at last year’s Meet of Champions. That mark appears vulnerable next year, considering Calcano Da Silva is only a junior and still has another season to develop.
On Sunday, the Abington standout ran 48.93 without hurdles for the Galloping Ghost’s state-leading 4x400m squad that was tenth overall with a near best of 3:16.18. He was joined by Nazir Paulding, Lucas de Oliveira and his brother Nathan Calcano Da Silva, who anchored the squad with a 47.91 split.
Wayland’s Ryan McCormack was fifth in the decathlon on Friday with a 6,643 points, a best by 261 points. In all 10 events, he either tied or set a PR. Among them was a fast 49.48 in the 400m where he collected a high of 839 points.
Meet of Champions winner Cooper Calvert of Wahconah Regional earned the No. 3 spot on the podium by soaring to a height of 6-9.5 in the high jump. His effort follows up his runner-up performance at the New England Championships where he cleared his previous best of 6-9.
Needham’s DMR squad was seventh overall with a time of 11:39.99. The Rockets were just 0.21 seconds from making the podium with anchor Greta Hammer doing her absolute best to try and make it happen. Hammer’s split 4:46.59 to nearly catch New Jersey powerhouse Union Catholic Regional for the sixth spot.
Other top performances came from Natick’s Chloe Elder in the 400m (seventh, 54.32), Lexington’s Amelia Whorton in the 800m (ninth, 2:07.79), Weston’s Solana Varela in the 400m hurdles (eighth, 1:00.68), a pair of sub 4:50s in the mile from Whorton (13th, 4:45.55) and Canton’s Lauren Raffetto (23rd, 4:49.68), and the Concord-Carlisle in the girls’ 4xMile (11th, 21:07.75).
And we have plenty more.
Yes, indeed, the Bay State’s finest put on quite a show in Philly.
