The Southern Regional Cross Country Championship meet, originally scheduled for Oct. 22, was rescheduled because of heavy rain to Saturday, Oct. 29. Unfortunately, weather on the rescheduled date turned out to be worse than the original.

With steady rain and temperatures in the 40s, Class C runners faced trails littered with slippery leaves and puddles. While spectators huddled under umbrellas, runners braved the nasty weather in singlets and shorts.

Despite the conditions, Faith Blethen won her second consecutive Class C Southern Regional Championship title and the Boothbay Region High School boys team placed third.

Covering a cross country race is a challenge; the runners are simply too fast to keep up with. So one settles for catching them at certain points along the way and relies on the runners and coach to fill in the blanks. From my limited perspective, Blethen was ahead the whole way, but she wasn’t. For the first time this season in Class C competition, Blethen actually had to fight to come back from behind.

Blethen has been challenged by shin splints all season, which have hampered her racing and her training regimen. On Saturday, she came out strong and held a comfortable lead until about half way. Coming out of the woods, Blethen was dogged by Maine Coast’s Olivia Skillings.

Coach Nick Scott said that shortly thereafter, as the runners entered what Scott called the “pain cave,” both Skillings and St. Dom’s Alexandra Hammerton passed Blethen. For the first time all season, Blethen found herself in third place. But by the final stretch, Blethen was able to regain and hold the lead to the finish line.

“It was one of the gutsiest races I have ever seen,” Scott said in the pouring rain after the race.

Blethen crossed the finish line at 21:11 and then stood in the rain and congratulated every female runner as she crossed the finish line.

The Lady Seahawks did not have enough runners on Saturday to score as a team, with only Kate Friant and Loren Genrich running with Blethen. Genrich crossed the finish line 35th at 24:37 and Friant ended her excellent cross country career with a 38th place finish at 24:50.

Unfortunately, Genrich and Friant were just a few competitors away from finishing among the top 30 runners, who automatically advance to the state meet. Blethen will be the sole Lady Seahawk to compete at states this year, but she wasn’t the only Boothbay native to qualify on Saturday. Helen Hamblett, who attends and competes for North Yarmouth Academy, finished 22nd at 23:34.

In the boys race, only 10 points separated the top three teams, who were way out in front of all the other teams. Maine Coast Waldorf came out on top with 70 points, with Waynflete (72) and Boothbay (80) close on their heels. Fourth place NYA scored 138 points, St. Dom’s 140, Carrabec, 147, Lisbon, 151, Traip, 174, Winthrop, 177, Madison, 224 and Hall-Dale, 283.

The dynamic duo of Kyle Ames and Blake Erhard led the Boothbay charge on Saturday, as they have all season. Ames finished ninth at 18:20 and Erhard 10th at 18:33.

Will Perkins, (22nd, 19:22), Rowan Kristan (25th, 19:33) and Bayly Gaughan-Carrasco (27th, 19:36) added their excellent finishes to Boothbay’s score on Saturday. Sam Betts (31st, 19:49) and Will LaBrecque (47th, 20:47) rounded out the top seven.

Boothbay Harbor native Rick Hilscher, running for NYA, qualified for the state meet by finishing 15th overall with a time of 18:56.65.

The Seahawks’ third place finish qualifies them for a place at the starting line at the state championship meet next week.

The 2016 Maine High School Cross Country Championship race will take place at Belfast’s Troy Howard School, one of the fastest courses in the state, on Saturday, Nov. 5.

Blethen and the Boothbay boys will be in the thick of it. Keep your fingers crossed for a dry day.