The Boothbay Region High School Lady Seahawks cross country team continued its winning streak with a victory at the Mountain Valley Conference meet in Augusta on Wednesday, Sept. 23. The boys team also did well, placing second overall.

In her fourth meet of the season, Faith Blethen smashed another record. This time Blethen beat the MVC preview meet record previously held by former BRHS running star Sophia Thayer by 22 seconds.

“The race served as our best indication yet in regards to where we are as a team versus the rest of the conference. As of right now we are clearly in a really good position,” Coach Nick Scott wrote in an email.

“The girls had another decisive win over St. Dom's Academy and remain undefeated. The boys fought to a second place finish, being bested by Winthrop and while they are a strong team they certainly are not unbeatable.”

“We are only half way through the season, which means that there are a whole lot of miles to log and races to run, but generally speaking both teams are set up to be very successful in the post season.”

For the girls,  Blethen bested the field of 55 runners, logging her fourth win in as many races, in a time of 21:00. Blethen appears to be a shoo-in for the MVC girls championship title, but the MVC girls’ second place title will be hotly contested. Hannah Morley, who beat St. Dom’s Sydney Sirois and Ella Brown at home last week, finished in between the two this week. Sirois finished second at 21:48, Morley third at 22:00, and Brown fourth at 22:29.

Freshman Loren Gengrich finished 12th at 24:48, Lincoln Hamblett 14th at 25:03 and Kate Friant 19th at 25:24. BRHS won the meet with 29 points, followed by St. Dom’s, 38 and Monmouth, 53.

For the boys, Kyle Ames, Matt Burnham and Blake Erhard appear to have established themselves as the BRHS frontrunners, but who will garner the four remaining spots for championship races is still in flux.

On Wednesday in Augusta, Ames finished 1st for the Seahawks and 6th overall at 18:58, followed by Burnham (7th, 19:07), Erhard (8th, 19:12), Shane Johnson (21st, 21:05) and Will LaBrecque (23rd, 21:25).

Finishing but not scoring for BRHS were Sam Betts (25th, 21:35), Morgen Wilsen (26th, 21:39), Bayly Gaughan-Carrasco (27th, 21:41), Graham Bryer (31st, 22:02), Sam Burnham (45th, 23:33) and Max Hoecker (72nd, 30:35). Despite the hilly course, Erhard, Sam Burnham and Hoecker all set new personal records.

Winthrop won the meet with 42 points, followed by BRHS, 57, Lisbon, 69, Carrabec, 101, St. Dom’s 111, Hall-Dale, 124 and Madison, 173.

On Saturday, BRHS will join 65 other Maine schools and five out of state schools for the annual Festival of Champions race. The Festival of Champions is a highlight of the high school cross country season and is run on the speedy Troy Howard Course, which offers a great opportunity for record setting.

Blethen is seeded first for the freshman girls race but she will face her stiffest competition of the season from Bonny Eagle’s Christine Toy and Camden Hills’ Augusta Stockman. Blethen’s fastest time this year (19:56) is only four seconds in front of Toy’s and Stockman’s best (20:00). Whatever the outcome, this promises to be an exciting race.