It was the final stretch of the September 12 home meet, and Boothbay Region High School’s Alex Owen was running stride for stride with his rival, Lisbon High School’s Ben Kates. Beads of sweat sizzled on Alex’s forehead. His legs burned with lactic acid.

That was it: the last stretch of the 3.1-mile race.

With no time to spare, someone needed to make a move. Coach Nick Scott was shouting from the sidelines like a general, commanding his troops into battle.

The finish line was only half a mile away, but that distance may seem to last forever when one’s mind has waged war with a weary body.

The cheers from the crowd grew louder. All Owen needed to do was hang on and push himself for the last few hundred meters.

But it was too late.

Kates had made his move. He out-sprinted Owen, just like he had done the year before.

Owen, a senior, returned to the cross-country team this year with high expectations. During his junior year, the Seahawk nabbed a spot on the All-Conference second team honors, and was expected to keep up the torrid pace he had set for himself.

With a slow start to this season, Owen has yet to achieve the heights that earned him All-Conference honors a year earlier.

On the morning of September 21, Owen could be found in the high school gym. Big banners hung proudly from the walls, boasting their accomplishments to future generations.

Owen coughed quietly. A common cold kept him from competing at the MVC Conference preview race the night before.

This year, Owen has been running at a slower pace (6:23 minutes per mile pace) alongside his teammates, juniors Robert Campbell and Benn Scully.

“Last year I was supposed to be the definite number one, because my PR (personal record) is like forty seconds faster than Robert’s (Campbell, the current top runner) and Ben Scully,” Owen said.

Despite being in fourth place for this season’s personal record ranks (19:50), Owen still appreciates his place on the team.

“The team is really awesome, because they all will help you,” he said. “You can talk to everyone. They’re all friendly.”

Owen, who broke in with the varsity squad when he was a sophomore, said he wasn’t always a fast runner. He ran his first cross-country race in 26 minutes, a time that isn’t considered special by anyone familiar with the sport.

In eighth grade Owen decided to attend a cross-country meeting. He said his teacher at the time, Nick Scott, was the reason he decided to start running.

“He’s amazing,” Owen said of his coach. “He can get you to try your hardest, and he pushes you over the edge, but you still like him.”

Owen said Scott isn’t like most other coaches. He participates with the team during all the workouts.

“It’s the way he does it,” he said. “He runs with us, so we know that he’s doing it too.”

Through all the speed and hill workouts, and the 10-mile runs, Coach Scott has been there, pushing his team to the peak of their abilities.

Owen admitted that he hates to practice, but loves racing; and that he eventually acquired an inward drive that continually yearns for a medal.

But this year, Owen has acknowledged that he needs to be in better shape if he wants to meet his senior goals: to become the top scoring runner for Boothbay at the Mountain Valley Conference and state championships.

“I’m trying to get into at least the 17s (17-minute time frame),” he said. “As we do more and more speed workouts I will get progressively faster, hopefully.”

With the MVC championships happening Friday, Owen isn’t fazed. He seems calm, collected, as if he knows when he needs to, he can push the “on” button.

Perhaps just as important was the October 3 rematch with a Lisbon Greyhound Ben Kates, who had previously gotten the better of Owen.

But, Owen was able to avenge his early season loss, and beat out Kates by 25 seconds, and broke his previous lifetime PR by running the course in 18:13.

After the Lisbon race Owen said he felt like he could run faster, but he’s unsure just how much faster.

“It will be interesting at the MVC’s to see if I can run and race against some of the top runners in the conference,” Owen said. “If all goes as planned, maybe the team can walk away with a championship win. I’m hoping to run my fastest.”

Will the Seahawks boys and girls teams prevail at the MVC championship? Will Alex Owen run his fastest time yet? Will Sophia Thayer lead the girls team to victory?

All these questions will be answered Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. when the Seahawks cross country team competes at University of Maine in Augusta. For real time results follow Ryan Leighton on Twitter @BBRegisterRyan.