The Boothbay Region High School cross country teams kicked off the 2014 season at Medomak Valley High School on one of the hottest days of the year. With high humidity, poor air quality and temps over 80 F, Friday, Sept. 5 was no day for running hard.

But the Seahawks ran hard, turned in some remarkable performances, and at the end of the meet came away with two easy wins.

“I was really impressed with how the night turned out for us,” Coach Nick Scott wrote in an email. “To win both races in a KVAC meet against primarily larger schools is an excellent way to begin the season.”

For a first meet in tough conditions, the 2013 state champs turned in some fantastic individual performances that bode well for another great year for the Seahawks.

Sophomore Joey Paolillo logged his first meet win of his high school career, with a 17:59 finish time, just 30 seconds off last year’s 17:29 personal best. Like Chase Brown, Paolillo appears to be the presumptive front-runner at a young age. But, with some very fast teammates, Paolillo may not so easily distance himself from the Seahawks pack as Brown did.

Nipping most closely at Paolillo’s heels early in the season is freshman Kyle Ames. Ames turned in an amazing first race of his high school career at Medomak on Friday, finishing second overall at 18:37.

Also scoring big for BRHS were Kyle Alamo (5th, 18:57), Matt Burnham (6th, 19:02) and Kyler Carty (9th, 19:26 ). Finishing sixth and seventh for BRHS were newcomer Dan Drummond (10th, 19:35 ) and Trystan Mercier (11th, 19:43).

The Seahawks won the event with 20 points, followed by Lincoln Academy, 49, and Medomak, 69.

Scott said he was extremely pleased with the team’s performance.

“I believe that this is the very first time that a team I've coached has had seven guys all break 20 minutes in the first race of the season, that is quite impressive and I'm excited to see how much faster we will get,” Scott wrote in an email.

The Lady Seahawks also posted their first win, with 32 points, followed by Lincoln Academy, 47; Medomak, 58; and Oceanside, 78.

Leading the ladies was junior Hannah Morley (2nd, 22:23), followed by Morgan Crocker (4th, 23:48 ), Kate Friant (5th, 24:35 ) freshman Lincoln Hamblett (6th, 24:51) and Maya Schwehm (16th, 27:24).

“Hannah Morley had a great race and despite going the wrong way still placed second overall,” Scott wrote. “Morgan Crocker and Kate Friant picked up where they left off last year with strong performances and Lincoln Hamblett came up big with an excellent freshman debut.”

Although the weather may be cooler this week, the competition heats up, as the Seahawks travel to Winthrop to face their toughest competitors in the Mountain Valley Conference on Wednesday, Sept. 10.

“Winthrop will be our first conference race of the season and important for a number of reasons,” Scott wrote. “For the boys, the preseason conference favorites Winthrop will host the event and we'll get to see how we stack up against them. Lisbon is seeded third, just a handful of points behind us, so this should be a great event for seeing where the top boys teams in the conference are at in the early stages. The girls will get a similar look at the conference favorites as Monmouth (the heavy favorite) and Lisbon (the 2nd seed) will both be there.”

For full race results, click here.