In their first and only home meet of the season, the Seahawks cross-country team soared. AJ Crocker and Karen Higgins won the boys and girls events, and eight Boothbay Region High School athletes placed in the top five.  

The meet had around 40 total runners from Boothbay, Richmond, Hall-Dale and Spruce Mountain. Boothbay was the only team that placed in the boys event, earning 15 points with a 20:13-minute average. The girls team won against Richmond with 16 points and a 22:41-minute average.

Higgins led the girls with her win in 19:27.15 minutes. Other results were Laura Chapman, second, 20:20.17; Olivia Rittall, third, 23:24.70; Maddie Orchard, fifth, 24:41.95; Maddie Andreasen, eighth, 25:32.55; Sophia Mansfield, ninth, 25:36.28; Lexi Hughes,13th, 30:16.70; Bella Orr, 18th, 33:14.16; and Hanna Kreft, 19th, 35:30.60.  

In his first ever cross-country win, Crocker took first place for the boys with an 18:39.08-minute finish. Other results were Cleyton Splaine, third, 20:01.87; Ethan Clark, fourth, 20:02.23; Lysander Lefevre, fifth, 20:26.65; Thomas Hennessy, ninth, 21:55.74; Ross Gaffney, 10th, 22:20.03; Alex Ross, 11th, 22:28.96; Jackson Zehm, 12th, 22:34.52; Ben Gapski, 14th, 24:49.00; Nathan Percival, 28:12.17; and Neal Baldwin, 20th, 32:42.96.  

Coach Nick Scott said the meet was lower in intensity than the season’s previous races. However, he said it was a good breather before the next two, including the year’s biggest meet, the Festival of Champions in October.

He said the athletes outperformed expectations on their newly expanded home track, partly thanks to the recent dry conditions.

"(It has) this really kind of gritty, true cross-country feel to it,” he said about the course that includes boggy low points, uphill ledge and new material to add extra footing. “Students are loving it. The other teams that came really liked it. So it's good. It's really good.”

Scott said about a quarter of the Seahawks boys and girls broke personal records at the meet, ranging from 20 seconds to almost a minute. He said Chapman beat her record by a “phenomenal” 50 seconds. Higgins, he added, continued her streak of success, breaking 20 minutes at each meet this year. Combined, he said the two will be a “formidable one-two punch in big races.”

“Something's going to have to go sideways to derail our expectations (for the girls), which always is a possibility. But, knock on wood, that is not going to come to fruition, hopefully,” Scott said. “With the boys ... looking at the end of last season and kind of projecting forward, there's nothing that would have made me think that we were going to be as good as we are right now.”

Earlier this year, Scott wasn't confident he would have a boys' team that would qualify for the state championships, which would be the first time since 2008. But Scott said athletic, hardworking freshmen are motivating the team and hitting their stride. 

“When you're first kind of starting off, there's nothing that can really prepare you mentally or physically for that type of consistent distance running,” he said. "... Then, all of a sudden, your feet feel like they're underneath you and you take right off. And I think those guys are reaching that phase, which is really, really cool.”