Wow. Boothbay Region High School cross country teams won big, really big, at the annual Mountain Valley Conference championship meet in Augusta on Friday, Oct. 16.

Both girls and boys teams won the MVC championship titles and eight Seahawks earned a place on the all-conference teams (top 14 runners of each gender).  

Faith Blethen ran away with first place in the girls competition, set another meet record in the process, and was named MVC female runner of the year. And Coach Nick Scott, the man behind all this success, was voted the MVC Girls Cross Country Coach of the year.

“Friday night was an amazing night for Seahawks cross country,” Scott wrote in an email.

The weather was clear, cool and breezy in Augusta on Friday and freshly fallen leaves littered the wooded trails. It was a perfect day for running, and the BRHS runners ran as well as they have all season.

For the girls, Blethen effortlessly broke away from the pack in the first hundred yards and never looked back. She finished alone at 20:36, beating not only all of the other runners, but leaving most of the spectators behind as well.

Hannah Morley ran most of the race without serious contest, as well, crossing the finish line second at 21:19. Morley and St. Dom’s Sydney Sirois have been within seconds of each other all season — but not on Friday. Morley ran extremely well, capturing second place with ease, while Sirois had an off day for her, finishing 4th, at 22:28. 

Loren Gengrich finished 9th at 23:24, Lincoln Hamblett, 11th at 23:37 and Kate Friant, 21st at 24:55.

BRHS won the MVC championship title easily with 36 points, followed by St. Dom’s, 61, Monmouth, 68, Telstar, 84, Winthrop, 116, and Dirigo, 131. This is the first BRHS girls cross country title in school history. Blethen and Morley were named to the first all-conference team and Gengrich and Hamblett the second team.

The Boothbay boys were able to pull off the win they have worked toward all season. From the start of the race, the boys ran strong and there was a whole lot of gold running in the front of the pack. That strong, speedy start held throughout the course. 

Leading the Seahawks, Kyle Ames finished 7th at 18:18, followed closely by Matt Burnham, 8th at 18:22. Blake Erhard, who had been sidelined by illness, was back in fine form on Friday, finishing 11th at 18:47, a new PR.

Liam Conlin (14th, 19:29) and Bayly Gaughan-Carrasco (17th, 19:49) delivered BRHS’s fourth and fifth scores. Ames and Burnham earned a place on the first all-conference team and Erhard and Conlin a place on the second.

Not scoring, but finishing were Shane Johnson (18th, 19:56), Will LaBrecque (24th, 20:22), Morgen Wilson (30th, 20:40), Graham Bryer (31st, 20:49), Sam Betts (37th, 21:20), Sam Burnham, (44th, 22:05) and Max Hoecker (70th, 28:19).

BRHS won the MVC title decisively with 55 points, followed by Lisbon, 72, Winthrop, 81, Monmouth, 99, St. Dom’s 122, Carrabec, 124, Hall-Dale, 152 and Madison, 192. Scott reports that this is not only the boys team’s third consecutive MVC title, it is the program’s sixth title in eight years. In the two years the Boothbay boys did not win, they placed second.

This year’s title win was also an upset, as Boothbay trailed Winthrop by 15 points in the midseason MVC preview race.

“This is the first year since the mid-season race began that a team who didn't win that event went on to win the MVC Championship. Previously, the MVC champion had always won the mid-season race as well. Winthrop won that event by a sizable margin earlier this year, but came up short on Friday,” Scott added.

The cross country championship season moves to the next level this week. On Saturday, Oct. 24, BRHS cross country teams head to Cumberland for the Western Regional Championship title race at Twin Brooks. Class C races begin with the girls race at 2:30 p.m.