The boys Seahawks-Wolverines cross country team took a close second place and the girls fifth at the Southern Maine Class C Regional Championship in Augusta Oct. 23. Runners Lucas Hardwick, Gryffin Kristan, Dominick Dow, Ryan Clark, Laura Chapman, Ava Schlosser, Maddie Orchard and Emerson Harris will be going to the Maine Class C State Championship.

The Seahawks-Wolverines faced teams from Dirigo, Mt. Abram, Maine Coast Waldorf, Lisbon, Spruce Mountain, Oak Hill, Old Orchard Beach, Richmond, Winthrop, Maranacook Community, Telstar, Forest Hills, Madison Memorial, Valley, St. Dominic Regional, Sacopee Valley and Hall-Dale high schools; North Yarmouth, Traip and Monmouth academies; and Waynflete School.

Hardwick, Kristan and Dow took ninth, 10th and 11th in 18:51, 18:57 and 19:00. They were seeded 14th, 17th and 31st. Clark, seeded 27th, took 13th in 19:03 and Austin Trask, seeded 52nd, took 32nd. Marlowe Recoing-Tallen and Henry Putnam placed at their respective seeds, 44th and 45th, in 20:59 and 21:00.

“The boys team ran out of their minds awesome today!” Coach Nick Scott said in a followup email. “Congrats again for running your strongest race so far this season!”

Scott said he considers the boys’ improvements extraordinary considering the team was seeded for 125 points, 80 behind Maine Coast Waldorf School, and came out with 59 points, six behind MCWS. Most Seahawks-Wolverines finished much better than their seeds and none fell below their seeds. The boys’ improvements also show in their out-performance of Monmouth Academy which nipped at the talons and paws of the Seahawks-Wolverines last week at the Mountain Valley Conference Championship. “We squeaked out a six-point win at MVCs over Monmouth Academy. At regionals Monmouth again finished behind us, but this time we beat them by 56 points!”

The girls team placed fifth out of six teams. Scott said this year’s team would likely have qualified for states in a normal year, but only having six teams narrowed the field down.

Chapman took 15th in 23:32; Schlosser, 16th, 23:47; Orchard, 29th, 25:00; Harris, 30th, 25:01; Julia Truesdell, 35th, 25:28; Emily Gilliam, 37th, 25:49; and Grace Campbell, 45th, 27:07.

States are Oct. 30 at Troy Howard Middle School in Belfast. Said Scott, “This is the same fast course that we ran back in the beginning of October at the Festival of Champions and it should be a lot of fun to get back on it for the last meet of the season.”