Four points separated the Lady Seahawks cross-country team from its first ever conference title. Despite a stellar performance from Sophia Thayer, and a top-notch effort by the Boothbay girls, a mere four points (66-70) allowed Dirigo to squeak by with the win in a hard fought battle at the Mountain Valley Conference Championships October 13.

No other girls team in the history of Seahawks cross-country has won a conference title, and although the Seahawks fell just short of that achievement, the other MVC teams received a sobering memo: Boothbay has arrived.

Sophia Thayer (21:11) led the team and the rest of the runners in the conference, winning first place overall. That win made her the only Boothbay Region High School athlete to capture two MVC titles. Hannah Morley (21:40) clung close to Thayer, and finished only 29 seconds after her, taking third place. Morgan Crocker (22:59), Maya Schwehm (24:17) and Genevieve Taylor (25:56) rounded off the top five scorers for Boothbay.

Coach Scott said, “The four, five, six (ranked) girls really stepped it up a lot, because the gap between us and Dirigo was like 20 points on paper, so to come within four points is really good.”

Since 2010, the girls have retained six athletes. They fell within two points of second place at last year’s MVC championships. But with a second place MVC finish this season, the girls have fought harder and pushed further, and will set themselves up with a favorable advantage for next season with all the top five althetes set to return.

The Boothbay boys team won a tight match up for second place splitting the difference by four points between Winthrop and Monmouth Academy. Hall-Dale prevailed over all the conference teams, despite Matthew Burnham, a top runner for Boothbay, not competing due to a foot injury.

Leading the team was senior runner Alex Owen (18:07), who “had the race of his life,” according to Coach Scott. Not only did Owen break his lifetime personal record that he set a week prior, he managed to outrun opponents who had beaten him by as much as a minute earlier in the season.

Owen placed fifth overall as the top scoring runner for Boothbay, which earned him a place on the All-Conference first team. Benn Scully (18:38) and Robert Campbell (18:45) completed the race in eleventh and thirteenth place respectively, followed by Sam Schwehm (19:43) and Jack Hasch (19:51).

“For the guys we figured it would be a pretty tight one for runner-up,” Coach Scott said. “We had a pretty good day all around, but not having Matt Burnham today, we felt that.”

Burnham is expected to run in Saturday’s Western Maine Regional Championships in Twin Brooks in Cumberland at 2 p.m. Oct 20, where the Seahawks will vie for a chance to compete at the state title meet.

Race extras

-Since 2008, the boys team has notched a 5-year streak of successful MVC finishes.

- Sophia Thayer’s finish earned her the MVC Runner of the Year accolade.

-Hannah Morley made the All-Conference first team and was the fastest freshmen at the MVC championships.

-Morgan Crocker, Benn Scully, and Robert Campbell all earned All-Conference second team honors.

-Trystan Mercier (19:54) had a breakthrough race, shattering his lifetime PR (22:02) by more than two minutes.