FARMINGTON – Gwen Beacham and Shelby Aseltine crested the hill at Troy Howard Middle School’s cross country layout in Belfast, and the finish line – lined with spectators and officials – popped into view.

Both went into an all-out sprint, channeling what energy they had left.

Aseltine edged Beacham at the line, and both runners hugged, a mixture of sweat and tears sprinkling their faces.

In competition? Yes.

But Beacham and Aseltine are also Mt. Blue teammates.

“Gwen and Shelby, at the state meet, were at the mile together, they were at the two-mile together, they were at the the three-mile together, and I think it was four one-hundredths of a second apart at the finish line,” Mt. Blue coach Kelley Cullenberg said. “That says a lot about the girls, and regardless of their experience, they were willing to challenge themselves.”

That attitude permeates the team, Cullenberg said. Melody Lam, the team’s top runner as a junior, and senior co-captain Hannah West, led a group of more than 20 girls to a second-place finish at the Eastern Class A Regional race and at the KVAC meet, both times coming in behind Brewer.

“We only have a couple of seniors on the team, and Hannah is the only one in the top seven,” Cullenberg said. “Lindsey Keenan and Caitlin Douglass, who are both underclassmen, are running similar times already. I can’t see, if everybody stays healthy and everybody return, I can’t see how we’re not going to get better. That’s really exciting.”

The season began with a bevy of “what-ifs,” as top runner Silver Hunt, last year’s state champion, did not return. The team also lost Marjorie Hardy, but pushed forward.

“They knew that they needed to get the most out of the season, and work hard,” Cullenberg said. “They set their goals in August, and worked hard to accomplish them, regardless of their experience level. It certainly was nice to have Melody (Lam) as a leader and a role model, and Hannah West was our senior captain. They had the experience in terms of number of years.”

Battling through adversity and through the growing pains of a young squad, Mt. Blue grew closer as the season wore on.

“The girls became quite a team,” Cullenberg said. “Many of them were able to do a majority of the workouts fairly close to each other, and that helped them form closer bonds, and helped them once the meets rolled around.”

Despite youth and inexperience, the Cougars showed well in the big meets, when it counted. For it’s perseverance and tenacity, and for its youthful exuberance, the Mt. Blue girls’ cross country running team is this year’s Sun Journal All-Region Girls’ Cross Country Team of the Year.