The Seahawks outdoor track teams swooped in and scored big at the Mountain Valley Conference Championship meet last Thursday, May 29 in Augusta. The girls team placed second behind Lisbon, the boys third and Morgan Crocker, with three first place finishes and one second, was aptly named athlete of the meet.

“Thursday night was a really good night all around,” Coach Nick Scott said. “It was the highest boys finish since joining the MVC in 1997. The girls' team obviously had a tremendous night, placing second for the second year in a row. The big difference this time around was that we were oh-so-close to winning the title.” 

“On the girls side, so many team members had great nights. Most notably, Morgan Crocker nailed it. Winning the 300 hurdles, the 100 hurdles, and the triple jump, then placing second in the long jump, she was appropriately honored with the athlete of the meet title.

“Morgan is the first athlete from BRHS to earn that distinction.”

The Lady Seahawks were hoping to win the MVC title, so the team’s second place finish, although a great achievement, was a bit of a let-down.

“We were pretty evenly matched with Lisbon, but the big difference was they were really able to capitalize on the 800m run and the pole vault,” Scott said. “In those two events they scored a combined total of 43.5 points, which is a phenomenal amount of points for only two events.”

Hurdling events have contributed largely to the girls’ success this season, and the MVC championship event was no exception. Crocker, Sinead Miller and Angie Perkins have consistently racked up points and top honors in the 100 and 300m hurdles all season. At MVCs, they finished first (Crocker), third (Perkins) and fifth (Miller) in the 300 and Crocker won the 100, as well.

“The 300m hurdles was a really fun race to watch unfold. With only a single flight of hurdles left the BRHS runners were in contention to go 1-2-3, but ended up with a 1-3-5 finish,” Scott said. “It was a huge event for us, and at the time had put us up by .5 point. Unfortunately, the Lisbon girls went 1-2-3 in the very next event, the 800m which then put them up by 20 points, a deficient we were unable to overcome that late in the meet.”

At MVCs, the queen of BRHS running, Sophia Thayer, provided a fitting ending to her phenomenal high school running career: She won both the 1600m and 3200m events in record-setting times.

“Sophia had a huge last meet of her extraordinary running career at BRHS. She turned in her fastest 1600m race ever, out sprinting a Lisbon athlete in the last 150 meters,” Scott said. “Sophia led for the first three laps of the race before the Lisbon girl aggressively passed her with about 350 meters to go. Sophia looked like she was struggling to keep pace, but as she usually does, found that other gear and broke away from the competition to win the event. She would later win the 3200m with her best time of the season as well.”

Senior Nell Anthony, who will continue on to states next week, also scored big for BRHS. Anthony placed second in shot put, third in javelin and fourth in discus. Freshman Perkins also had a big night, placing fifth in the 200m, 3rd in 300 hurdles, 5th in high jump and as a runner on the fourth place 4x100 relay team.

The Lady Seahawks top scorers at MVCs were Crocker with 38 points, Thayer, 21, Anthony, 18 and Perkins, 13. Lisbon won the event with 121.5 points, followed by BRHS, 111, Carrabec, 60, Dirigo, 59, St. Dom’s, 54, Winthrop, 52, Monmouth, 46, Mountain Valley, 40, Madison, 35.5, Hall-Dale, 31, Telstar, 16, Wiscasset, 12 and Spruce Mountain, 5.

For the boys, top scorers Benn Scully and Abel Bryer again led the BRHS pack to a better than expected finish. Scully placed second in the 800m, third in the 1600m and was key to BRHS’s third place 4x800 relay team. Bryer placed third in the javelin throw, setting a new BRHS sophomore record, and also placed fourth in discus.

Runners Robert Campbell and Joey Paolillo also contributed significantly to the team score. Campbell finished second and Paolillo third in the 3200m, Paolillo placed fifth in the 1600, and both ran on the third place 4x800 relay team.

“This was a huge season for the boys, last year they were 8th, so jumping forward like they did is quite impressive,” Scott said. “The really good news is that the team looks to be even stronger next year. As far as individual performances on Thursday, Benn, Robert Campbell and Joey Paolillo all had big nights in the distance events, while Abel and Shane Johnson did really well in the throwing events. Kyle Alamo also came up big in the race walk, far exceeding his seed.”

Lisbon won the MVC title with 177 points, followed by Madison, 82, BRHS, 60, Spruce Mountain, 52, Monmouth, 48, Telstar, 48, Hall-Dale, 39, Oak Hill, 33, Carrabec, 29, Winthrop, 21, Wiscasset, 6 and Mt. Abram, 3.

The outdoor track and field ends on June 7 with the state championship meet at Dover-Foxcroft. With any luck, several BRHS athletes may find a place at the podium.