Seniors dominated the podium during last year’s boys championship season, claiming individual titles in seven of nine divisional meets and all three divisions at the Meet of Champions.
That leaves the door open for a host of new faces to emerge at next month’s championship meets. A few made their presence felt Friday night in the Varsity Small & Medium School Races at this past weekend’s Bob Glennon Twilight Invitational.
The Large School Varsity Races, scheduled for Sunday, were cancelled as heavy downpours forced race officials to pull the plug on the two-day meet after just five events.
“I really did just about everything I could to have the best race that I could.”
Those were the words of Weston’s Hunter Waechter after capturing the Medium School race. In the meet’s finale, the Wildcats’ junior covered the fast five-kilometer layout at the Barnstable Fairgrounds in an all-time best of 15 minutes, 29.4 seconds.
After a fourth-place finish at last week’s Bay State Invitational where he clocked his previous best of 15:37.9, Waechter was looking for similar results in his second straight nighttime event. It all changed in the closing stages of the race.
“I was hoping for a top five, which would kind of be equivalent to what I did at Bay State,” he said. “Throughout the race, I stuck with the lead pack as close as I could and when it came down to the end I just had a lot left.”
Finishing second in the race was Whitinsville Christian’s Benjamin Barron, who was timed in 15:34.1. Amherst-Pelham’s Calvin Miller was third at 15:39.6. Waechter’s time at Twilight was more than 40 seconds faster than what he did at last year’s event where his16:14.8 effort placed him 12th overall.
The added bonus for Waechter is that Weston also took home the team prize with an 88-101 decision over Amherst-Pelham. Placing 12th for the Wildcats was Matt Fitzgibbon with a time of 16:04.3.
Hopedale’s Quinn Cook followed up his victory in the Open 5K at last weekend’s Frank Kelley Invitational with a PR in the Small School race. The Blue Raiders sophomore, timed in 15:15.8, dictated the pace early and pulled away to win by nearly nine seconds over runner-up Evan Hedlund of Frontier Regional (15:24.0). Maynard’s Konrad Schluter was third at 15:29.6.
“The goal was to win. I really wanted to take it from gun,” said Quinn, who raced to a previous best of 15:28.8 at the Kelley Invite. “It went according to plan. I took the lead after a half mile and it just worked out. It’s pretty awesome.”
Averaging 16:19.9 by its five scorers, Hopedale won the team title with 94 points. The Blue Raiders were comfortably ahead of Mount Greylock, which scored 155 points for second overall. Ben Stone (tenth, 16:03.9) and Connor Fitzgibbon (12th, 16:09.3) were the next finishers for the victors.
The two Varsity races saw 20 break 16 minutes on Friday.
On the girls’ side, Whitinsville Christian’s Emily Flagg made it a perfect 4-for-4 at Twilight. The Crusaders senior claimed her fourth consecutive title at the Fairgrounds in a meet-record 16:58.7, smashing her own two-year-old mark of 17:46.79, set during her sophomore season in 2024.
“I’m happy,” she said. “I’m not sure if I paced it quite right. It was a little cold, and I’m not amazing at running in the cold. I’m still happy. I broke 17 (minutes), and [I’m] happy to see what the rest of the season looks like.”
Saturday’s race featured five sub-18-minute performances, all resulting in PRs. Holliston’s Lucy Downin finished second overall in 17:33.2, followed by Flagg’s Whitinsville Christian teammate Abby Flagg in third at 17:54.3. Northampton’s Mairead O’Neil placed fourth in 17:56.8, while St. Mary’s Kelsey Kwiatek rounded out the top five in 17:58.
Led by the Flagg twins’ 1-3 finish, Whitinsville Christian secured an impressive 58-70 victory over Amherst-Pelham.
In the Small School race, Hamilton Wenham’s Grace Rich and teammate Asa Labell took the top two positions with Rich finishing just 1.2 seconds ahead of Labell with a time of 18:25.3. Norwell’s Katherine Murray was third at 18:35.6.
Mount Greylock, highlighted by a fourth-place showing from Brenna Lopez (18:40.2), won the team title with 70 points. Greater Lowell Tech with 90 points.
