The Boothbay Region High School boys cross country team won its third consecutive Southern Regional Championship title at Twin Brooks in Cumberland on Saturday, Oct. 24. Freshman Faith Blethen took first place in the girls race, while the girls team placed third overall.

For the boys, the Southern Regional race was a bit like the Mountain Valley Conference race, in that their biggest competition came from MVC competitors Lisbon and Winthrop. There was one significant difference: Boothbay’s usual second place finisher, Matt Burnham was sidelined with an injury. Despite the loss of a frontrunner, the boys were still able to edge out Lisbon and best the rest of the Class C field.

Seahawks frontrunner Kyle Ames led the Boothbay scorers, crossing the finish line 10th at 17:57, followed by Blake Erhard (16th, 19:13), Liam Conlin (18th, 19:20), Bayly Gaughan-Carrasco (27th, 19:38), and Shane Johnson (29th, 19:42). Morgen Wilson finished 48th at 20:31 and Will Labrecque 61st at 21:21.

“Most of the top seven ran close to PR pace, even though the Twin Brook course is one of the harder courses that we run,” Coach Nick Scott wrote in an email.

“Kyle Ames had an especially impressive day. Not only did he place in the top ten (in a year when it was really hard to do so), but he also ran a time that only four other Seahawk runners have run faster than at Twin Brook.”

BRHS won the title with 92 points, followed by Lisbon, 98, Winthrop, 113, Monmouth, 151, Maine Coast, 161, Old Orchard Beach, 161, Waynflete, 164, St. Dom’s, 178, Carrabec, 187, NYA, 191, Hall-Dale, 220, Traip, 233, and Madison, 352.

“The boys'  team claimed their third Regional title in a row, no small feat especially considering all of the hurdles we had to overcome during the season,” Scott wrote, “Not having Matt available to run really reset the team landscape and for Boothbay to continue to come out on top was the epitome of a team effort. Depth is what wins big races and yesterday we were able to show that we are the deepest team in Southern Maine Class C.

For the girls, the Southern Regional race offered their first serious competition of the season. Although the Lady Seahawks ran well, it was not enough to catch top ranked Waynflete and Maine Coast Waldorf (the former Merriconeag).

Blethen turned in another super performance, crossing the finish line 1st at 20:30. Blethen is only the second BRHS cross country runner to win the regional title (Sophia Thayer won the title in 2012).

“Individually, Faith becomes only the second Boothbay runner to ever be crowned Regional Champion and she did so with an incredibly impressive run. According to Milesplit, which ran an article earlier in the week showing the 100 fastest times run by Class C girls at regionals, Faith's time of 20:20 places her third on the list,” Scott wrote.

Hannah Morley finished 13th at 22:18, Loren Gengrich 27th at 23:28, Lincoln Hamblett 29th at 23:40, and Kate Friant 37th at 24:30. Waynflete won the regional title with 69 points, followed by Maine Coast Waldorf, 77, BRHS, 101, St. Dom’s 106, NYA, 143,  Monmouth, 153, Richmond, 154, Traip 160, Telstar, 222, Catherine McAuley, 236 and Winthrop, 253.

“Overall, the girls team ran quite well. When compared to previous years, it was actually our fastest average finishing time, even slightly faster than in 2013 when we finished as Regional runners-up,” Scott wrote in an email, “ In 2002 the team also placed second, but that was before the merger of classes C and D, so the competition was significantly different (weaker) than it is today.”

Next Saturday, cross country action returns to Twin Brook in Cumberland for the state championship races. Both Orono teams are the favorites, and the Orono girls team is seeking their third consecutive team title. It promises to be a very fast race.