They may be down in numbers this season, but coach Nick Scott said the Boothbay Region High School cross country team makes up for it withdedication. The Seahawks competed in their first event of the year Aug. 30 at the Panther 2-Miler in Waldoboro.  

Last year, the roster was particularly robust. However, some didn’t reenroll, others graduated, and star runner Karen Higgins transferred to a different school.   

“That was a bit of a bummer out of the gate,” Scott said about the numbers. “However, we have a bunch of dedicated athletes that are on the roster. I feel like summer training went really well.”  

Scott said the team is a mix of experience levels, and hehas high hopes. He said each athlete who ran the event last year ran a personal record this time around, a benchmark for performance. “Personal records are a great litmus test of how things are going. So,that is pointing in a really positive direction.”  

He was also impressed with the new athletes, who he said had strong showings. “You could tell that they put in time, energy, and effort over the summer preparing for the season. So, even with our substantial losses that we had, I still think we are competitive with both teams.”  

The complete roster is as follows: seniors Rose Campbell, Abby Orchard, Nathan Percival, Madeline Andreasen, Ross Gaffney, Hannah Kreft and Lysander Lefevre; juniors AJ Crocker and Lexi Hughes; sophomores Louie Caidoc, Ben Gapski (Wiscasset), and Jackson Zehm; and freshmen John Cooper, Maggie McCarthy, Audrey Robinson and Carson MacKusick.   

Overall at the meet, the boys team placed fifth with 131 points, and the girls team placed sixth with 171 points. The Camden Hills boys team won with 39 points and their girls team won with 28 points.

Crocker led the boys with a seventh-place finish in 11:29.28. Other results were: Zehm, 36th, 13:00.66; Gaffney, 42nd, 13:38.08; Gapski, 49th, 13:52.08; Percival, 50th, 13:52.91; and Cooper, 57th, 14:25.26.   

For the girls, Robinson led the Seahawks with a 42nd place in 17:00.80. Other results were: McCarthy, 45th, 17:08.86; Campbell, 56th, 17:58.86; Orchard, 60th, 18:19.76; Hughes, 61st, 18:23.57; and Kreft, 67th, 20:49.01.  

The first regular meet of the season is Sept. 4 at Maranacook High School.   

“We're looking forward to progressing throughout the season,” Scott said. “It's a hard-working group of individuals. They'repretty excited to get out there, run some personal records,  and see how things shake out.”