Three new banners will hang from the walls of Porter Memorial gymnasium at Boothbay Region High School, and one of them is for a State Championship.

The Boothbay boys cross country won the Class C State Championship, and the girls finished fifth place overall at Twin Brook in Cumberland on November 2. Additionally, both teams were honored with banners for Good Sportsmanship from the Maine Principals’ Association.

Blue and gold were popular colors in the winners circle as Benn Scully, Robert Campbell, Joey Paolillo, Matt Burnham, Jack Hasch and Sophia Thayer were recognized individually for finishing in the top field of runners. Thayer, the most decorated runner of Boothbay, finished fourth place overall; Matt Malcom of Boothbay, who runs for North Yarmouth Academy, placed third overall.

 Boys race

By the time the race gun sounded, temperatures were in the 70s as Boothbay fought to gain their position near the front of the pack. After two months of dominating the Mountain Valley Conference race circuit, and the Regional Championships, the only opponent with a shot at beating Boothbay was Orono.

“Orono is exactly the same team we have, both dynamically and structurally. It’s like somebody cloned our team,” Boothbay Coach Lauren Forgues said.

Seahawk seniors Scully and Campbell and freshman Paolillo stayed within strides of one another, keeping close tabs on their Orono rivals.

“We ran as a pack and Robert definitely surged through the woods, which made us all go faster,” Paolillo said.

As the finish line crept closer, the Seahawks trio tapped into their extra fuel reserves and disrupted a pair of Orono runners. Scully (18:10), Campbell (18:11) and Paolillo (18:15) finished eighth, ninth and eleventh place respectively.

By the time Boothbay’s Kyler Carty (20:21) crossed the finished line, neither Boothbay nor Orono knew which team had won the state championship. The only thing anybody knew was it was going to be close.

Statistics compiled by Milesplit.com said Boothbay would win by one point. When the results finally came through, Boothbay was on top — not by one point, but by two.

“They definitely ran the same way they’ve been running all season, which is in a group, working together and closing the gap between any runners that would be in between any gold jersey, and that’s why we beat Orono today,” Forgues said.

 Girls race

A season of hard work, dedication and new recruitment boded well for the Lady Seahawks, who finished fifth place out of 10 teams in the Class C state championship race. 

Seahawks senior Sophia Thayer finished fourth place overall with a time of 21:03.

Thayer was supported by teammates Morgan Crocker (23:10) and Hannah Morley (23:38), who helped Boothbay score well consistently in the Mountain Valley Conference and Regional races. Rounding off the top seven runners in the race were Tori Schmid (24:52), Shaw Pinkham (25:07), Brooke Alley (25:29) and Kate Friant (25:50).

“Times overall were a little bit slower because I think it was the heat. When you’ve been running in 40 degree weather, 70 is kind of warm,” Forgues said. 

Forgues, who served as head coach in the interim of Coach Nick Scott’s absence, said she looks forward to the future with the Seahawks. 

“I’m definitely not ditching these kids yet,” Forgues said. “I will definitely help out through the rest of the school year with track in the spring, and then in the fall we’ll see what Nick’s up to and hopefully he will be back in charge and I will be around to help.”

By the end of day, blue and gold banners adorned the Boothbay’s boys and girls teams. But before getting on the bus to head toward a hometown celebration, the Seahawks walked over to their rivals from Orono and congratulated them on a season well done, which earned both teams a Good Sportsmanship banner from the Maine Principals’ Association.

The Boothbay boys team will extend its season one more week since earning a spot to compete in the New England Championships next weekend in Manchester, N.H.