The weather couldn’t have been more perfect for the Seahawks’ home meet on Sept. 17 at Boothbay Region High School; and once again, both boys and girls teams turned in super performances.

Cross country fans spread out across the playing fields in small groups, as the runners looped around the fields, around a field hockey game, in and out of the woods at Penny Lake Preserve and the elementary school, and ended up streaming into the finish line across the football field.

Seahawks’ blue and gold dominated the front of the boys pack, with five Boothbay boys finishing in the top 10. The Seahawks trounced their competitors, winning with a 41-point margin over second place Lisbon. BRHS won with 25 points, followed by Lisbon 66, Hall-Dale 69, St. Dom’s 103 and Richmond 144.

The Lady Seahawks felt the pinch of being short-handed even more so on Wednesday with Maya Schwehm sidelined with an ankle injury. With just enough runners to score as a team, the Lady Seahawks team finished second behind St. Dom’s. St. Dom’s won the meet with 27 points, followed by Boothbay with 44 and Monmouth with 52.

“The boys' team was extremely successful, placing five runners in the top eight to secure more than a 40-point victory over runner-up Lisbon,” Coach Nick Scott wrote in an email. “The girls' team also had a strong evening placing second, beating a very strong Monmouth squad in the process.”

For the boys, the top five scorers all delivered their fastest times of the season. Top finisher Joey Paolillo ran another speedy, consistent race, challenging Lisbon’s Nick Harriman (1st, 17:33) through the first half of the course.

Paolillo set a personal record for the season at Wednesday’s meet, finishing second at 17:46. He looked strong throughout the course and charged into the finish line with an impressive final kick. Based on Wednesday’s performance, it seems likely that this season record will not be the best we see from Paolillo this fall.

Scott reported Paolillo is only one of a handful of runners who have ever broken the 18-minute mark on the hilly Boothbay course.

Freshman Kyle Ames delivered another strong race, running more like a veteran than a newcomer. Ames tied his personal best on Wednesday, finishing fourth at 18:37.

The rest of the Boothbay scorers followed suit: Matt Burnham finished 5th at 18:45, Kyle Alamo, 6th at 18:53 and Trystan Mercier broke into the scoring pack for the first time, with an 8th place and 19:10 finish. Kyler Carty finished 11th at 19:32 and Dan Drummond came in 12th at 19:34.

For the girls, Hannah Morley fought hard at the finish line to take second at 21:56, her fastest time this season. With about a mile left in the race, Gardiner’s Sophia Oliveri passed Morley and maintained second until yards from the finish line, when a determined Morley surged past.

“I wasn’t feeling great and then Mr. Scott was at the top of hill, yelling, ‘You’ve got to go now,’” Morley said after the race. “I lost to her (Oliveri) at the last race and I really wanted to win here at home.”

When asked about her tremendous finish, Morley said, “I don’t know where it came from.”

Morgan Crocker finished 10th at 23:53 and freshman Lincoln Hamblett, with a new personal record, finished 11th at 24:16. Kate Friant finished 13th at 24:35 and Genevieve Taylor, with her best time of the season, 36th at 28:53. Hall-Dale’s Emma Wilson won the girls race at 21:34.

The Seahawks travel to UMaine Augusta for a Mountain Valley Conference mid-season race on Wednesday, Sept. 24.

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