Wednesday, Sept. 9, was abysmally hot and humid, with temperatures in the mid to high 80s. It was a tough day for any form of outdoor exercise, but the Boothbay Region High School Seahawks and their competitors rose to the challenge in the second meet of the cross country season at Winthrop.

With the pressing heat, individual race times were uniformly slow, but Boothbay Region teams did well. 

“I was impressed with a lot of different aspects of the race, but one of the most impressive was the teams’ composure even amid the hazy, hot, humid and hilly conditions,” Coach Nick Scott wrote in an email.

In their first competition against Mountain Valley Conference teams, the Lady Seahawks scored a decisive victory. Faith Blethen and Hannah Morley scooped up first and second place, with Blethen finishing at 22:38 and Morley at 23:31. Kate Friant finished 9th at 26:48, Loren Gengrich 11th at 27:12 and Lincoln Hamblett 14th at 27:47. BRHS girls easily won the meet with 32 points, followed by Monmouth Academy, 57, Richmond, 58, and Winthrop, 71.

“In the girls race our main objective was to see how we matched up against Monmouth. As the score clearly indicates, we match up really well against them. We had all five of our girls in before their third runner crossed the finish line, which is super impressive,” Scott said.

Although not faring as well as the girls team, the boys also turned in solid performances. Senior Matt Burnham finished 6th at 19:50, followed by Blake Erhard (8th, 20:22), Liam Conlin (13th, 21:41), Morgen Wilson (14th, 22:08) and Will LeBrecque (15th, 22:24). Frontrunner Kyle Ames is nursing a foot injury and did not race. Racing but not scoring in the meet were Shane Johnson (22nd, 23:47), Bayly Gaughan-Carrasco (25th, 23:56), Graham Bryer (26th, 23:59), Sam Betts (30th, 24:50) and Sam Burnham (34th, 25:50). Winthrop won the meet with 46 points, followed by Lisbon, 53, BRHS, 56, Monmouth, 85 and Hall-Dale, 98.

“On the boys side, we knew that Winthrop and Lisbon were the teams to beat, we just needed to figure out how we fit into the equation. It now looks as though we have a real shot at competing with and beating both of those teams. Winthrop won the meet with 46 points, Lisbon was second with 53, and we were third with 56 points. That score alone is pretty encouraging, but when you factor in that I kept Kyle out of the race as a precaution it looks really good,” Scott said.

On Wednesday, Sept. 16, BRHS hosts Carrabec, Wiscasset, Madison, Lisbon, Winthrop, Monmouth, Telstar, Hall-Dale, Dirigo, St. Dom’s, and Mt. Valley at the annual cross country home meet. The race starts on the football field and then proceeds through the woods at Penny Lake and around the school campus. The girls will run first; race time is 4 p.m.