The Boothbay Region High School indoor track team finished its final regular-season meet Jan. 30 in Gorham with five podium placements. Now, coach Nick Scott said, is the time to prepare for championships.    

"All the hard work is behind us. And now, it's just the fine tuning,” he said. "The sheer quantity of either miles or whatever it is that you measure your quantity in, depending upon event type, will go down, and we'll focus more on quality.”   

Four girls and six boys qualified for the championships across 14 events. That includes automatic qualifications for Rose Campbell in the 55m dash and Ben Gapski in the 55m hurdles. In addition, Ross Gaffney qualified for the New Balance Nationals for the one-mile racewalk, which is not an event in Maine high school sports.    

Scott said the team's performance was especially strong considering several setbacks. Indoor track has a short season, giving athletes few chances to qualify. That was exacerbated by a missed meet due to a bus failure and persistent illness over the winter. According to Scott, the team may not have reached its full potential, but performance was consistent with previous years, and athletes still set new personal and program records.   

Boys varsity results for Jan. 30 were: Nathan Percival and Kolton McKenney placed 15th and 20th in the open one-mile run in 5:54.68 and 7:21.86; AJ Crocker and Ross Gaffney placed second and seventh in the open two-mile run in 11:04.84 and 12:34.28; the 4x200 relay team placed third in 1:46.74; the 4x800 relay team placed fourth in 10:52.21; Ben Gapski (Wiscasset) placed second in the open long jump with 18-8.5; Lysander Lefevre placed 12th in the 55m dash in 7.29; Lefevre and Percival placed 13th and 17th in the 200m dash in 27.83 and 30.21; Gapski placed third in 55m hurdles with 8.93; and Casey Phelps and Logan Bourne placed sixth and eighth in the shot put with 37-10 and 37-6.    

For the girls: Maggie McCarthy placed sixth in the open 800m run in 2:58.32; McCarthy placed fifth in the open two-mile run in 13:44.61; Rose Campbell and Kora McKenney placed fourth and 19th in the 55m dash in 7.96 and 10.04; Campbell placed fourth in the 200m dash in 28.93; and Campbell and McKenney placed third and eighth in shot put with 25-11 and 19-6.5.    

The team's next meet, the Maine Class B State Championship, is Feb. 16 at Bates College in Lewiston.