The Boothbay-Wiscasset combined cross country team traveled to Belfast Sept. 30 for the annual Festival of Champions. The girls’ and boys’ teams ranked in the middle amongst hundreds of athletes, but coach Nick Scott said their individual performances stood out.  

“Wow! What an amazing showing ... It was a personal record (PR) kind of day,” Scott said. “The team saw 16 season-best performances, of which 12 were lifetime PRs!”

Overall, the girls' team placed 31st with an average time of 23:20.02 and the boys placed 55th with a 20:02.41 average. The Cumberland High School girls won with an average time of 19:56.75 and the E.O. Smith High School boys won with a 16:20.32 average. In total, 882 boys from 75 schools and 721 girls from 61 schools competed. 

Scott said the race is unlike any other during the season and is a chance to run for personal records and gain experience in big meets.  

“As a small Class C school, it is more about individual team members discovering what they are capable of, as opposed to measuring how we do in the overall results,” he said. “We also think of the race as the great equalizer, because almost all of the cross-country teams in the state participated, we get to see how we stack up against our competitors on the same course and on the same day.” 

Overall, Laura Chapman led the Seawolves in 137th place and finished in 22:08.42. Other results were: Julia Truesdell, 183rd, 22:41.86; Emily Gilliam, 257th, 23:32.58; Olivia Rittal, 298th, 24:05.43; Sophia Mansfield, 303rd, 24:11.79; Maddie Orchard, 357th, 24:47.23; Bella Orr, 413th, 25:34.01; Maddie Andreasen, 487th, 26:34.63; Kate Campbell, 563rd, 28:19.99; Makayla Hodson, 569th, 28:30.81; and Sarah Harris, 630th, 30:40.96. Scott said the girls placed first amongst Mountain Valley Conference (MVC) schools, fourth amongst Class C schools, and third amongst class C South Schools. 

Cleyton Splaine led the boys in 291st place, finishing in 19:23.33. Other results were: Rodi Mayne, 295th, 19:23.89; Austin Trask, 350th, 19:45.98; AJ Crocker, 357th, 19:48.62; Alton King, 604th, 21:50.20; Dominick Dow, 614th, 21:57.45; Ross Gaffney, 706th, 23:07.66; Chase Mansfield; 831st, 26:49.47; and Neal Baldwin, 864th, 31:47.37. Scott said the boys placed second amongst MVC schools, seventh amongst Class C schools, and second amongst Class C South schools. 

The team’s next scheduled meet is Oct. 6 at Lisbon. It will be the last regular season meet, and Scott said he can use the information from the Festival of Champions to make projections and goals for the postseason.  

“After two weeks in a row of important races it looks as though both the girls' and boys' teams should be competitive,” he said. “We'll continue to work hard and keep focused on achieving our goals.”