The Boothbay Region High School (BRHS) indoor track team met in Gorham for the final meet of the team's regular season Jan. 31. The Seahawks finished with eight podium placements, including two wins. Now, some BRHS athletes are gearing up for state championships, marking the end of one of the best seasons in Seahawk history.  

Coach Nick Scott said this year’s team was the program’s largest, with around 25 athletes at each meet. But their strength wasn't just in numbers. He said this year more athletes qualified for states and with more automatic qualifications this year than any previous season since indoor track returned to BRHS in 2018.  

“On the girls' side, not only was it the largest team that we had, but it's also really the fastest team that we had,” he said. “We've got three of the fastest girls in school history on the team at the same time, which is ... not a very common occurrence, to say the least.” 

Karen Higgins, Rose Campbell and Moriah Smith automatically qualified for multiple events at the state championship. AJ Crocker, who provisionally qualified, may also compete. Boys and girls relay teams will also likely join the championships. Scott said getting athletes to state championships is a success for a small school, and scoring, placing in the top eight, would be a big win.  

Regardless of the championship performance, the team made its mark on BRHS. According to Scott, this year’s Seahawks broke team records in every category from the 55m dash to the two-mile run, and almost all school records for girls were rewritten. But he said it's not just their performance on paper that counts.  

“It has been just a tremendous indoor season. There's the successes that we see from athletes setting new school records and making top 10 or individual class records, but day in and day out, kids were, by and large, accountable for themselves and they're showing up and working hard. And I think that we saw that, whether somebody was just setting a personal (record) or doing some pretty incredible things in terms of school records and qualifying for states.” 

Varsity girls results from Jan. 31 were: Campbell and Kora McKenney placed third and 12th in the 55m dash with 7.84 and 10.02; Campbell and Abbie Clark placed third and eighth in the 200m dash in 28.73 and 32.69; Higgins won the two-mile run in 11:54.96; the relay team placed third in the open 4x200m relay in 2:01.23; Clark placed ninth in the open long jump with 11-01.50; and Campbell and McKenney placed third and fourth in shot put with 26-00.00 and 19-05.25. 

Varsity boys results were: Neal Baldwin placed 12th in the 200m dash in 27.10; Nathan Percival placed 12th in the open 800m run in 2:39.35; Cleyton Splaine and Ross Gaffney placed 13th and 18th in the open one-mile run in 5:52.54 and 6:10.92; Crocker and Gaffney placed first and eighth in the open two-mile run in 10:59.51 and 12:58.69; Ben Gapski (Wiscasset) placed third in the 55m hurdles with 9.60; the relay team placed second in the open 4x800m relay in 10:48.73; Aron Geddes and Jacob Charleton placed 14th and 20th in the open long jump with 15-03.25 and 11-04.50; and Baldwin placed eighth in shot put with 27-07.50.  

The Class B State Championships are scheduled for Feb. 17 at Bates College in Lewiston.