AUGUSTA — They took different paths to get there, but ultimately the results were the same for the Boothbay Regional High School boys and girls cross country teams.
The Seahawks went one-two in the girls race and used a well-balanced approach on the boys side to win their respective Mountain Valley Conference championships Friday afternoon at the University of Maine at Augusta.
Freshman Faith Blethen posted a time of 20:36.6 to finish 42.7 seconds ahead of teammate Hannah Morley as the Seahawks placed each of their runners inside the top 15 for a total of 36 points. St. Dominic was second with 61 points and Monmouth third with 68 points. Shayna Frost (10th), Abbie Hunt (14th), Danielle Parker (15th), Elliott Sharples (22nd) and Lindsey Ridlon (24th) paced the Mustangs.
“I tried to make (my move) as soon as the gun went off,” Blethen said. “I tried to get out ahead and then I just tried to keep it the whole race. It felt pretty good.
“My teammate, Hannah, was closest to me at the beginning but I didn’t really feel that much pressure on the back of me.”
On the boys side, Boothbay did not place a runner in the top six but did have its five scorers finish within 91 seconds of each other, beginning with Kyle Ames’ seventh place finish in 18:18.7. Matt Burnam (eighth), Blake Erhard (11th), Liam Conlin (14th) and Bayly Gaughan-Carrasco (17th) rounded out the winning group for the Seahawks, who totaled 55 points.
“Boothbay came home with the win,” Winthrop junior Jacob Hickey said, “but we gave it our best.”
Paced by race-winner Nicholas Harriman (17:17.3), Lisbon was second with 72 points, Winthrop third with 81 points and Monmouth fourth with 99 points. Winthrop’s Hickey and Will Vance did what they could to try to stick with Harriman, but ultimately finished second and third, respectively, a little more than 17 seconds off the pace.
“(Harriman) is a very good runner,” Hickey said. “He just stays with you and then he takes off.”
“He does a lot a better in the second half than he does in the first,” added Vance.
Through the first mile the Winthrop duo, Monmouth teammates Luke Thombs (fourth) and Nick Menice (sixth) and Lisbon’s Jordan Cole (fifth) stuck with Harriman, but leading into the second mile the pre-race favorite poured it on to distance himself from the field.
“There’s a wicked, grassy hill just before the two mile (mark) and that’s where I took them,” Harriman said. “I was planning on moving a little bit further ahead but I figured if I took them on the hill that he wouldn’t be able to keep up, so that’s what I did.”
After Jesse Stevens crossed the finish line in ninth, the Ramblers seemed to have a shot at the team title, but Boothbay’s depth proved too much. Nonetheless, it has been a strong 2015 campaign for the Ramblers.
“One through seven we’re really strong,” Hickey said. “We’ve got a good mix of kids and we all like running.”
Also recording top 25 finishes locally in the boys race were: Hall-Dale’s Enrico Giunti (15th), Monmouth’s Mark Greenwald (20th) and the Carrabec group of Jacob Atwood (16th), Jackson Sidell (21st), Brody Miller (23rd) and Evan Gorr (25th). The Cobras did not place another runner in the top 50, though, and settled for sixth as a team. Freshman Josh Linkletter was the top finisher for Madison, placing 36th with a time of 21:19.1.
Carrabec’s Emilee Fortier (12th) and Brianna Lesperance (19th), Winthrop’s Jada Choate (13th) and Rocio Vance (23rd), Madison’s Jennifer Dean (17th) and Hall-Dale’s Tess Gioia (20th) and Maggie Pomerleau (25th) each recorded top 25 finishes locally in the girls race.
Evan Crawley — 621-5640
ecrawley@mainetoday.com
Twitter: @Evan_Crawley
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