WRENTHAM – As she sprinted down the final slope, Madeline Courtemanche felt the exhaustion beginning to set in. Yet at the same time, she was in her zone, looking to complete the task at hand.

The Central Catholic senior crossed the finish line at a loss for breath, but felt smiled when she turned about face. The senior had just left a cloud of dust in her wake after winning her latest race at the annual Frank Mooney Invitational Saturday.

“I wasn’t really expecting it, to be honest,” said Courtemanche. “I guess I had a feeling from the start, where you have those races where you’re locked in, and that’s what happened today, I guess.”

There was nobody to see.

Courtemanche had pulled away from the pack, winning the girls’ 5,000-meter senior race by 1:07.3. An astounding gap, to say the least.

There were plenty of highlights from the annual meet. Newton South owned the boys’ senior race as Thomas Flaig placed first with a time of 15:27.2. Alex Friedman crossed shortly thereafter at 15:29.8. Gavin MacDonald took third place at 15:48.18.

“It was a close race,” said Flaig. “I think we both paced it really well. Neither of us could have done it without each other. So yeah, it was a complete team effort.”

The boys’ 5,000-meter junior race proved to be a three-man contest for the majority of its competition. With some assistance from the hilly terrain, Catholic Memorial’s Michael Upton was able to gain some separation en route to victory with a time of 15:41.1.

“We were together (in a pack) for the most part,” Upton said. “Around the halfway point, I took a hill over there, and just separated myself. Then, I managed to hold out for the rest of the time.”

The conditions were perfect to start the day, with vibrant sunlight encapsulating the course. Yet, things quickly turned overcast, and a chilly breeze took over the path spanning about 3.1 miles. The terrain suddenly appeared a tad harder to scale. The wind, which at one point felt like an ally, had morphed into a new obstacle.

In spite of the climate, Westford Academy’s Emily Wedlake cruised to a victory in the girls’ junior race, clocking in at 18:31.24.

“My plan was to do a little bit of a workout,” said Wedlake. “Just conserve myself for the next few races coming up. My workout was two miles on, one mile easy. I kind of got carried away in the last mile, so it was kind of hard to slow down. But overall? I’m happy with how the race shook out.”