A well-calculated indoor campaign by Abby Hennessy is making one thing abundantly clear about the Westford Academy senior.
The University of Washington commit is ready to make her mark during championship season—and beyond—when she faces the nation’s elite at New Balance Nationals in mid-March.
In her third race against top-tier competition this winter, Hennessy delivered yet another standout performance. The Westford Academy star came within a mere hundredth of a second of stealing the spotlight in the junior mile at Sunday’s prestigious Millrose Games. She clocked an indoor personal best and nation No. 2 of 4 minutes, 38.70 seconds.
Just four-hundredths of a second separated the top three finishers, with Jaelyn Williams of Eastlake (SD) claiming the win in a nation-leading 4:38.69. Blair Bartlett of Lawrenceville School (NJ) was third in 4:39.73.
Hennessy’s Millrose performance followed a third-place finish and previous PR of 4:40.87 in the junior mile at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on Jan. 24. Earlier in the season, on Jan. 15, she posted another massive personal best at the UW Preview, finishing fifth in the open 3,000m against collegiate competition in 9:15.79, the second fastest all-time in Massachusetts.
That performance currently ranks second nationally, trailing only Williams’ 9:07.39, which she ran two days before Millrose at the BU John Thomas Terrier Classic.
Falmouth’s Silas Gartner was among the field in the boys’ race. The Clippers’ senior clocked a solid 4:15.62 to place tenth overall. In the weight throw held two days earlier, Ainsley Cuthbertson of Lexington was fifth overall with a toss of 54 feet, 3.75 inches. Cuthbertson currently holds the No. 1 spot in the country with a PR of 57-9.7.
