If a preseason race is any indicator for future performance, the Seahawks cross-country team will fly high this season. Led by sophomore Karen Higgins, who broke two records at the race, the Seahawks made a strong opening Aug. 31. Coach Nick Scott said the team’s performance at the Panther 2 Miler in Waldoboro makes him optimistic. 

“I feel like it's going to be a really fun season,” he said. “We have a great mixture of experience and novice. But the overall morale and optimism and general positivity is fantastic. And those are kind of the building blocks to have this successful season both for individuals, but then collectively as a team and as a program as we march into October and November.” 

Shaping up as the team’s strongest runner, Higgins took second place out of 71 runners in the girls race. According to Scott, she and the winner broke the record for the course, which is shorter than a standard cross-country race. In addition, he said her performance was the fastest two-mile race from any Seahawk female in school history, including on a track. Scott said she has been making gradual progress, but Saturday’s performance “blew the doors off from that.” He said she will likely be one of the better runners in the state this year.  

“She was already school record-setting-history good,” he said. “To make that kind of jump is a testament to her strength and her ability to just follow through with what she should be doing, to prepare properly, and then to have the strength and fortitude to really go after something." 

But Scott said Higgins is part of a cohesive pool of girls who work together as a team. He is excited to see how competitive they will be this season based on their performance against schools with a history of running excellence such as Camden Hills and Brunswick. For the boys, he said an influx of athletic freshmen performed exceptionally well.  

“It's going to be a lot of fun watching them progress over the course of this season because most of them have zero distance running experience. And those that do, it's kind of minimal,” he said. “So that means that the growth over the course of the season will just be faster than someone who's a seasoned person.” 

The full girls results were Higgins, second, 12:10.70 minutes; Maddie Orchard, 11th, 14:43.37; Olivia Rittall, 12th, 14:43.91; Maddie Andreasen, 31st, 16:16.78; Sophia Mansfield, 44th, 17:16.69; Lexi Hughes, 54th, 19:29.36; Bella Orr, 57th, 20:25.53; and Sarah Harris, 63rd, 20:42.88.  

AJ Crocker led the boys in 14th place out of 100, finishing in 11:58.45 minutes. Other results were Cleyton Splaine, 24th, 12:37.76; Ethan Clark, 34th, 13:00.91; Lysander Lefevre, 36th, 13:23.80; Ben Gapski, 49th, 14:01.52; Thomas Hennessy, 53rd, 14:06.89; Alex Ross, 54th, 14:09.06; Ross Gaffney, 65th, 14:43.67; Jackson Zehm, 76th, 15:22.76; Chase Mansfield, 89th, 16:19.47; Nathan Percival, 98th, 20:26.51; and Neal Baldwin, 99th, 20:35.64.  

Overall, the Boothbay girls placed third with 64 points and a 15.02-minute average, and the boys placed fourth with 120 points and a 13.12-minute average. Camden Hills Regional High School won the girls race with 27 points and a 13:40 average. Brunswick High won the boys race with 34 points and an 11:13-minute average.