It’s a wrap.
The last of our previews for this winter’s indoor track & field season. Here’s we feature the girls’ middle and long-distance events, which includes the 1,000-meter run, mile and two mile.
1,000m
Noticeably missing this season will be reigning Meet of Champions winner, Abigail Hennessey of Westford Academy. who has been nursing an injury since early into the cross-country season. According to girls’ coach Ashley Smith, it’s more likely that Hennessey will “wait until spring to race again.” In 2024, the gifted senior not only won the 1K crown but swept the 800m and mile at the outdoor states. With Hennessey out this winter, this event becomes wide open with a number of runners capable of winning the individual title at the MOC. The field includes nine returnees that broke three minutes last year, including Haverhill’s Lauren Downer, a runner-up to Hennessey at the MOC with a best of 2:56.48. Others that made the podium who are coming back is Plymouth North’s Macey Shriner, Nauset Regional’s Madeline Mahoney and Holliston’s Annabelle Lynch, the 4-6-7 finishers. Shriner had a best of 2:54.95 to capture the Div. 2 crown and has already run a season best and state-leading 5:07.29 for the mile. Not to be ignored are Framingham’s Sasha Lamakina and Newton South’s Emily Frawley, who both are capable of getting it done in this event. Lamakina was second in the 600m last season and currently leads the state in the event with a best of 1:34.39. She also holds the No. 1 spot in the 1,000m with a PR of 2:56.55 from the Beantown Winter Classic. As a ninth-grader last year, Frawley was fourth in the 600m. During the outdoor season, she proved she’s capable of running a 1K time in the low-to-mid 2:50 range, possibly by twice running 2:12 for the 800m, including a PR of 2:12.15 from the Nike Outdoor Nationals
Mile
Five of the top eight finishers from last year’s MOC are expected to be coming back this season, including 1-2 finishers, Charlotte Tuxbury of Wellesley and Belmont Dana Lehr, our two leading contenders. After winning the 2024 race in 4:56.35, Tuxbury capped off her winter season with an indoor best of 4:55.80. The Red Raiders senior was second at the MOC in the spring and clocked an all-time best of 4:50.43 at the New Balance Nationals. In addition to her runner-up finish to Tuxbury in the winter, Lehr was also third at MOC. She holds an all-time best of 4:56.23 from her victory at the Div. 2 Championships in late May. Thus far this winter, she has a top time of 5:08.30 for the mile, which is currently ranked No. 2 in the state. There are a bunch more that have a chance to secure those coveted positions on the podium. Among them are Newton North’s Ciara Evans, Westfields Megan Moran, Woburn’s Sinead Butler, and Billerica’s Gianna McGowan, who are all in that high 4:50, low five-minute range.
Two Mile
This event could get interesting. In our opinion, the top two runners in this event are the same two runners that were our quickest during the cross-country season, Needham’s Greta Hammer and Whitinsville Christian’s Emily Flagg. Hammer is coming off a cross-country season where she won the individual title at the Div. 1A Championships and Meet of Champions and also qualified for the Nike Cross Nationals by finishing second at the regional meet a week earlier. Hammer is competing in her first indoor season. She was the runner-up in the deuce at the MOC last spring where she posted an all-time best of 10:39.90. In her first race of the season on Jan. 2, Hammer won the two mile in a Bay State Conference meet in 11:20.77, winning by 40 seconds. On Saturday, Flagg certainly made a statement that she’s ready to contend, winning the 2M in a solo effort and meet record of 10:45.38. The Crusader sophomore, who captured X-C titles at the Div. 2C meet and the MOC, was more than a minute ahead of her closest rival. Keep an eye on Oxford’s Cameron Davis, who like Hammer is in her initial season on the indoor surface. Davis, the Div. 3C and MOC winner, had a best of 11:08.98 from the outdoor season last year. Thus far, she’s raced the mile twice with a PR of 5:16.23 from the Boston Holiday Challenge on Dec. 28.
