Aoife Shovlin wasn’t alone in pursuit of a victory at Saturday’s Frank Kelley Invitational.
After all, there was the lead vehicle she had to follow.
With only a view of the ATV in front of her, the Cambridge Rindge & Latin senior claimed gold in the girls’ Championship race with a gun-to-wire victory and PR of 17 minutes, 54.49 seconds. Coming on strong in the late stages of the race, Oxford sophomore Cameron Davis finished second at 18:06.51.
“I am really happy with it,” said Shovlin, shortly after her race, held on the grounds of the Wrentham Developmental Center. “It’s also a cross-country PR, so that’s exciting. I have been racing at Wrentham for three years but never have won a 5K here. It was really exciting to get to do that.”
The CB&L standout’s start to the fall campaign certainly bodes well for what’s instore in the coming months. In her two previous season-openers at the Kelley Invite, Shovlin was third and second, respectively, with a best at Wrentham in 2022 of 18:22.5.
“My coaches tried to build a strong base of mileage over the summer to prepare for the season and I think it really worked,” she said. “I feel a lot better at the beginning of the season than I have before.”
Besides setting a goal of winning a third consecutive Division 1 title at the Meet of Champions, Shovlin is excited about the prospects of her team at the state level. The Falcons, who won the Div. 1A title last year with a three-point victory over runner-up Weymouth, won the team crown at this weekend’s meet, defeating North Andover, 67-104. Finishing among the top 10 and under 19 minutes were junior teammates Sophia Juanes (third, 18:23.13) and Fiona Litman (seventh, 18:42.33).
Just two runners have graduated from last year’s squad.
“I want to win all states for sure and definitely try and go to nationals again. That was very exciting,” said Sholvin, who earned a trip to the Foot Locker Nationals in San Diego by placing tenth at the regional meet. “We’re also hoping to do very well as a team. I feel like we got a strong group of girls this year… I think we’ve done a really good job of putting in the training and training together. I think we’re in a really good spot.”
In the boys’ Championship race, Falmouth’s Silas Gartner looked strong in posting a fast time of 15:30.72 for the moderately-challenging layout. Gartner was about 80 meters ahead of his closest rivals, Cambridge Rindge & Latin teammates Daniel Bronstein (second, 15:42.10) and Gael Medina (third, 15:42.41).
Gartner, a junior, stayed with the lead pack for the first two miles of the race. He took charge in the last of three loops at Wrentham.
“I didn’t want to take the lead too early,” he said. “Sometimes, that’s just a mistake. I didn’t want to do that.”
Gartner, who was 18th at the Kelley Invite last year and third at the Div. 2B Championships with a previous best of 15:58.90 at Wrentham, has high hopes for the current X-C season. He’s coming off an outstanding outdoor track season where he had PRs of 4:16.30 for the mile and 9:07.95 for the two mile as a tenth-grader.
“I want to go to Foot Locker Nationals and win the state meet,” he said. “That’s my goal.”
With its top four scoring runners finishing before the next closest team’s third (Cambridge Rindge & Latin), Concord Carlisle took the team hardware by scoring 100 points, 29 more than the Falcons. Brendan Quinn was the top finisher for the Patriots, placing 20th in 16:08.15. The next three for Concord Carlise were less than six seconds behind – sophomore Sawyer Bout (22nd, 16:09.88), sophomore Braeden Quayle (23rd, 16:11.47) and junior Luke Crounse (24th, 16:13.53).
While the weather wasn’t exactly cooperative, the times were still fast for the early-season competition which featured freshman to senior Small and Large school 3K races along with the Championship 5Ks. Throughout the day, participants were faced with a consistent rainfall and a bothersome-at-times wind. The meet had 1,843 finishers in the 18 races.
The fastest 3K race for boys was turned in by Parker Charter’s Henry Jacobsen. Jacobsen won the Small School 3K in the senior division with a time of 9:30.12. Last year’s Div. 3C titlist led the Panthers to the team title. Parker Charter scored just 22 points. Medfield was second with 56 points.
Jacobsen took control early, hitting his opening mile at just under five minutes.
“I tried to get out pretty quick to form a gap,” he said. “My goal for the rest of the race was not to let the gap close or anything. It ended up going well. I think I hit the first mile in 4:55. I slowed down a little bit, but that’s alright.”
The quickest 3K for girls belonged to talented underclassmen Kyla Breslin of Central Catholic in the Freshmen Large School race. Breslin was timed in 10:53.25. Central Catholic was the best among the four schools that fielded a team with 49 points. Just seven points separated the next three squads.
Competing in her first-ever cross-country race, Melrose’s Reilly Powell took the Small School 3K for sophomores in 11:30.74.
“I actually didn’t train over the summer,” she said. “I tried out for soccer and halfway during tryouts I quit to do cross country. It feels good (to win today).”
In all, 25 girls broke 12 minutes and 15 boys went under 10 minutes for the 3Ks. The 5Ks had 11 girls dipping below 19 minutes and 11 boys going sub 16 minutes.
RESULTS
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