Freshman Faith Blethen out-distanced senior teammate Hannah Morley and the rest of the field as the Seahawks cruised to a team victory over St. Dom’s at the University of Maine at Augusta course. The Boothbay boys edged Lisbon for their title.
The girls’ race, run first, belonged to the freshman phenom Blethen, who crossed the line in an MVC course-record 20:36, beating her teammate Morley by 33 seconds.
“It felt really good. I could kind of tell where my teammates were at, and knowing where they were really helped me,” said Blethen, who jumped ahead of the field early and stayed there. “My coach has been telling me like try to get a jump at the beginning, and then it really helps sets a pace the rest of the run.”
Blethen’s winning time broke the MVC course record of 20:44 set by Hall-Dale’s Magen Ellis in 2007. Scott called Blethen’s performance “incredibly impressive.”
Finishing behind Blethen and Morley was St. Dom’s Ella Brown, who clocked in at 21:31 — 12 seconds behind Morley.
“I was trying to keep up — well, trying to get to Hannah Morley the whole race. She’s a tough competitor, she really works the hills,” Brown said. “I finished a lot better than I thought I was going to, so it was exciting.”
Brown said she didn’t really see Blethen, proving just how far ahead the Boothbay runner was.
The same can be said for the Seahawks as a team, who finished with 36 points to easily beat the second-place Saints, who totaled 61.
“Our team did really well, I think we were pretty competitive,” Brown said.
Monmouth finished third, with 68 points, followed by Telstar, Winthrop and Dirigo.
Brown was followed by teammate Sydney Sirois in fourth, with Lisbon’s Bree Sautter taking fifth.
The Greyhounds had the top individual finisher on the boys’ side — senior Nick Harriman. His time of 17:17 gave him a relatively comfortable cushion over the Winthrop duo of Jacob Hickey (17:32) and Will Vance (17:44).
“Really just pushing hard,” Harriman said of what it took to win the race. “If I wouldn’t have pushed hard I would not have won that race. A lot of guts.”
Harriman said he passed Hickey just before a big hill two miles in, and getting the lead at that point was a big key to his victory.
Monmouth’s Luke Thombs finished fourth, and Lisbon’s Jordan Cole took fifth.
The Greyhounds’ top two runners finishing in the top five of the race put Lisbon in good position in the race for the team title, but Boothbay placed all five of its point scorers in the top 17, led by Kyle Ames and Matt Burnham in seventh and eighth, respectively.
“On paper I thought the boys were actually third. Winthrop and Lisbon both have really strong teams, we just have a stronger pack. So we kind of squeezed them in there I guess,” Boothbay head coach Nick Scott said. “We really talked a lot about having to close down gaps that we had in between runners, and a lot of guys stepped up and really ran well today.”
The Seahawks topped Lisbon, 55-72, with Winthrop coming in third with 81 points. Monmouth and St. Dom’s rounded out the top five.
wkramlich@sunjournal.com.
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