The Wolverines’ Gage Varian placed third at a four-school cross country meet hosted by Boothbay Region High School Wednesday, Sept. 13. Varian crossed the finish line in 20:05.

The Seahawks’ Blake Erhard and Kyle Ames were one and two, respectively. Erhard’s winning time was 17:44.

Wiscasset Middle High School’s Nate Gilliam placed 18th (22:28) among a field of 38 runners. Hall-Dale, Lisbon and Winthrop high schools also competed. Boothbay finished first in team points followed by Hall-Dale, Lisbon and Winthrop. Five runners are required to figure in the team scoring.

In the girls’ race, Wolverine Maria West finished 10th (30:50). Only the field’s top 18 runners were listed in the results. Boothbay’s Glory Blethen and Abbott Haily were first and second. Blethen won in 22.11. The Seahawks  won the girls’ meet as well; Winthrop was second in team points, Hall-Dale third.

The Mountain Valley Conference meet was the second one for Wolverine Coach Warren Cossette who has seven runners, five boys and two girls on this fall’s squad.

“Gage who’s a sophomore also placed third in our first meet this season. He has unlimited natural ability. The challenge for him is to harness the work ethic that’s required of becoming a distance runner,” Cossette said. “Nate Gilliam’s a freshman. He’s working hard, willing to learn and I expect him to improve as the season goes on.” He said he has high expectations for sophomore Maria West and freshman Lily Yeaton. “Both girls are running for the first time, have a great attitude and seem to be enjoying themselves and that’s what’s it’s really all about.”

Cossette returned to coaching this fall after taking the last two years off. He’s coached high school sports since 1991 and is well-respected among his MVC coaching peers.

“After school started I went through the halls and recruited kids to run. The numbers have been down the last couple of years but my hope is to slowly build the program back up. We’ve got a cross country program started at the middle school level and I think that will certainly help. All it really takes is finding the kids willing to give running a try.”

Cossette said Wiscasset isn’t much different than many other smaller high schools. “As the student enrollment drops off it becomes more of a struggle especially when you’re running two or three fall sports.”

Two runners, Matt Chapman and Caleb Gabrielle, are also playing soccer this fall. Both boys couldn’t run at the meet because they had a soccer game.

Other runners include Kobe Carrier and Gabby Leavitt.

All of the Wolverines’ meets are on the road this season. The Mid-Season Race at the University Maine at Augusta is less than a week away on Sept. 20. On Sept. 25 the team will travel to Winthrop for another multi-school meet.

Cossette said he’s grateful for the positive encouragement his team has gotten from Vice Principal-Athletic Director Mandy Lewis. “She’s given her full support to our program.”