WRENTHAM – As Hopedale cross country runner Ben Powell ran through the finish line in his race at the Massachusetts State Track Coaches Association’s Frank Mooney Invitational on Saturday, he lifted his arm well above his pink jersey and pointed a finger up at the sky.

The No. 1 he gestured with the point was for his first-place finish in the small-school boys sophomore 5K, earning a personal-best time of 16:36.65. Closing out the season with a top finish is meaningful for him.

But as the whole team donned purple ribbons pinned to their pink jerseys, winning carried a more special depth to it.

“We’re all wearing cancer bands because our team photographer, and our school photographer (Steve Bassignani), passed away, and so did my uncle (Russ), so it means a lot to me that I won this race while wearing this,” Powell said. “Some of our runners had, like, ‘For Bass’ on their legs. It’s a huge thing that we did. … I think every time we wear this jersey, I kind of think about it. It’s why we’re running. It’s why we wear these jerseys. It’s why I run, personally.”

The whole group of Hopedale’s sophomore boys performed well in the race, especially with Ben Stone taking third place (17:04.67). Ethan DeWolf (18:21.96) and Bishoy Bebawy (21:44.83) finished well outside the top 10, but all four of them hit personal-best marks by a wide margin.

“This makes makes every runner way more confident because we got second at DVCs,” Powell said. “We all did good today, we all got PRs by, what, 30 seconds? This gives us more hope. And some of our little guys who are on our varsity team, they’re at states right now and one of them might win it. So that’s going to give us more momentum to be better as a team and push together.”

Personal bests was a theme among teammates across all of the other small-school races on the afternoon.

Top boys junior/senior 5K finisher, Shepherd Hill’s Nathaniel Grant (15:53.89), stood out, hitting new marks with Riley LePage (11th, 16.54.88). Dedham’s Zachary Lemberger (fourth-place, 16:28.01) and Townsend Roussin (16:30.61) did it in the same race, as did Dartmouth’s Tyler Amaral (third-place, 16:09.23) with three teammates.

Whitinsville-Christian’s Emily Flagg won the junior/senior girls 5K with a personal-best 17:21.92, while teammate Emma Wierenga took fourth with an 18:05.51. Ahead of Wierenga were Oxford’s Cameron Davis (17:43.82) and Holliston’s Maggie Kuchman (17:49.17) in second and third.

Melrose’s Reilly Powell finished well before everyone in the sophomore girls 5K, posting a 19:29.70 time.

Norwell dominated in the freshmen girls 3K, led by Katherine Murray’s 11:10.12 first-place finish. Hadley Amon (12:03.88) took fourth and Olivia Sowinski (12:04.35) took fifth.