The Boothbay Region Elementary School’s cross country team ran hard last Wednesday, Oct. 11 at Medomak Middle School in the Busline League Championship to finish the 2017 season. It was a picture perfect day to run the 2.1 mile event. The trail was ideal and the crowds came to cheer on the 249 runners from 14 schools.

“I think this was the largest group for the championship that has ever shown up! I don’t believe the league has ever had 14 schools run the event. There were some very talented runners competing. It was great to watch and be a part of it all.” said BRES Coach Hildy Johnson.

The boys ran first with Colby Brown of Medomak impressing all placing first overall with a time of 13:06. Mitiku Yeatts of Islesboro placed second (13:13), Ad Weisbruch of Camden/Rockport third (13:32.02), Henry McDevitt of Camden/Rockport fourth (13:32.78), Finn Urey of Camden/ Rockport fifth (13:32.88), Nolan Gahagan of Medomak sixth (13:36), Nick Archer of Great Salt Bay seventh (13:37), and Boothbay’s own Chase Carty in eighth place with a time of 13:40, followed by fellow team member, Gryffin Kristan in ninth place with a time of 13:43. Tenth place went to Maxwell Gallagher of Camden Rockport with a time of 13:50.

In a field against 83 other competitive runners, Boothbay boys tied for second place with Great Salt Bay. To figure who was going to keep the second place finish the sixth runner was used.

“Great Salt Bay gave us a fight! Our runners pushed hard and came away with a solid third place finish which was awesome as we were missing two strong runners that day, Quincy Coombs to an injury and Ryan Amaral dropped out with a foot injury.”

The third runner for Boothbay was Lucas Hardwick (14:32), fourth Ryan Clark (14:34), fifth Sam Page (16:16), sixth Conner Dover (16:20), seventh Slade Balsdon (17:21), eighth Gavin Carlson (17:42), ninth Duncan Hardwick (19:08), tenth Alec Murphy (19:12), eleventh Gave Barter (19:32), twelve CJ Savastano (20:43), thirteenth Dylan North (22:40) and fourteenth Sebastian Warren-Burdin (23:46).

“These boys did a remarkable job with every one of them running faster than they did at Medomak earlier in the month,” said Johnson. “Gavin Carlson ran over two and a half minutes faster and Gabe Barter three and a half! Just what you want them to do!”

Teams places (with full teams to score) were: 1. Camden Rockport Middle School, 2. Great Salt Bay School, 3. Boothbay Region Elementary School, 4. Medomak Middle School, 5. Troy Howard Middle School, 6. Searsport Middle School, 7. Lincolnville School, 8. Appleton Village School, 9. Drinkwater School

The girls top ten runners were: 1. Elsie Hildreth Camden Rockport 14:07, 2. Kara Andrews Lincolnville School 14:17, 3. Jaden Johnson Lincolnville School 14:28, 4. Karen Linares Mendoza Camden/Rockport 14:29, 5. Abby Williams Camden/Rockport 14:56, 6. Zoe O’Brien Lincolnville 15:02, 7. Charlotte Taylor Camden/Rockport 15:06, 8. Kailin Fuller Lincolnville 15:12, 9. Jazmine Balducci, Boothbay 15:13, 10. Aspen Brewer Troy Howard 15:22

Jazmine Balducci placed first for Boothbay running a solid race. Second place for Boothbay was Grace A. Campbell (8th grade) 16:33, third Nora Conlin (18:12), fourth Madison Peters (20:44), fifth Grace Campbell (23:26), sixth Suzie Edwards (25:14), and seventh runner for Boothbay was Maya Pangburn (29:06).

“The girls were also amazing this last meet. I considered this year’s girls team a rebuilding year with only three veterans returning: Jazmine Balducci, Grace A. Campbell (8th grader) and Grace Campbell (7th grader),” said Johnson. “Improving times was the goal for all our runners, especially our newcomers. Maya Pangburn ran her race over three minutes faster than she did before at Medomak with Suzie Edwards almost two minutes faster and Madison Peters almost three. Nora Conlin ran the trail for the first time. Boothbay girls were quite impressive for a small team running against a field of 114 runners.”

There were nine girls’ teams with enough runners to score with the following finishes: 1. Camden Rockport Middle School, 2. Lincolnville School, 3. Great Salt Bay School, 4. Appleton Village School, 5. Medomak Middle School, 6. Troy Howard Middle School, 7. Boothbay Region Elementary School, 8. Drinkwater School, 9. Wiscasset Middle School