History was made in Seahawk Nation on Saturday, as Sophia Thayer cruised into the finish line in first place at the Western Maine Regional cross-country championships in Cumberland. Thayer’s feat made her the first ever runner in BRHS history to capture a regional title.

On October 20, a light drizzle fell from the skies on the Twin Brook Recreation Center’s grounds dampening the terrain into a sloppy mud hole, which made the course extra ripe for running. Despite the slippery conditions, the Seahawks boys and girls teams both finished in the top five teams and will advance to the state championships on Saturday in Belfast.

Sophia Thayer, (21:12) led the field of 85 runners from 10 different teams and emerged victorious, running stride for stride with North Yarmouth Academy’s Hannah Austin during most of the race. Austin took the lead in the last mile, but Thayer’s endurance and power kicked in for the last half mile to outdistance Austin by more than 17 seconds at the finish line. Morgan Crocker (22:50) finished in sixth place with an impressive performance, while Hannah Morley (23:18) followed earning eleventh place overall, despite battling a stomach ailment. The support from teammates Maya Schwehm (26:54), Genevieve Taylor (27:46), and Allison Crocker (28:11), reinforced Boothbay’s fourth place team performance, and paved a road to the first state title appearance by the Lady Seahawks since 2003.  

After the race, Sophia said she came to regionals with high expectations, “I was hoping I was going to win it, I was seeded first but I knew there were girls behind me that had the ability to beat me, but I was pretty confident and ended up winning.”

In a close match for runner up, the boys team missed the podium rank by four points. Boothbay’s top runner Alex Owen (18:23) continued his successful post-season streak with a sixth place finish amongst 103 runners.Tying up the loose ends were the dynamic running duo, Benn Scully (18:51) and Robert Campbell (19:06) who ensured a consistent finish for Seahawks earning eleventh and thirteenth place respectively.  

Out of all the Class C schools competing at the regional championship, Coach Scott said Boothbay had the fastest race times for the top three runners on both the girls and boys teams, despite some of the worst conditions Scott has ever witnessed at Twin Brooks.

The Seahawks will compete at their last race of the post season, the state championships at Troy Howard Middle School in Belfast on October 27. The boys  race will run first at 2 p.m. followed by the girls race at 2:45 p.m.