The next time all of the SMAA schools get together for a cross country meet, the climate will be different than it was for last Thursday’s season-opening relays at Thornton Academy. The weather will be different, too.

When the teams met Thursday under cloudless skies the course was half the distance it usually is and the runners were broken up into seeded groups instead of running together in one big pack. It was more of a welcome back tune-up than an actual meet.

“It’s really fun to see all the other runners and see all the teams here at one place,” said Gorham co-coach Kevin Jenkins. “I think it’s a great event.

“You get a chance to see runners and you can talk to other coaches about what they’re doing for training. And there’s a good camaraderie amongst the coaches.”

The girls were divided up into seven groups, with each school’s top runner in group #1. The boys were broken up into five groups. First they ran, and then they shared a laugh and compared times.

“You don’t have to go out as fast ’cause it’s not as many people. So it’s easier to get out,” said Scarborough’s Erica Jesseman. “It’s fun. I like it. Besides the heat, it’s fun.”

Jesseman finished second in the girls No. 1 race to McAuley’s Abby Iselborn, but she wasn’t disappointed because she accomplished her goal of beating last year’s relay time (9:27). Jesseman finished in 9:17.

Bonny Eagle’s Kat Pagano took a break from running over the summer, and it paid off. She finished third in the No. 1 race with a time of 9:29. “I actually came in kind of intimidated because there are a lot of really good girls here, especially running with the first runner from each team,” said Pagano. “But I actually did pretty good.”

The Lady Scots finished sixth in the final team standings for the relays with a total time of 58:01. Anchored by Jesseman’s blazing time, Scarborough won the meet (52:55). Kennebunk was second (54:57), followed by McAuley (55:47) and Deering (56:16). Led by Marie Lemay (10:00) Thornton Academy finished fifth. Kendra Johnson (11:40) led Massabesic to an eighth-place finish. Westbrook got a strong performance by Keelin O’Connor (11:10) to finish 10th, while Sarah Popovics (10:43) led 11th-place Gorham.

On the boys side, Bonny Eagle’s Evan Embrey was all smiles after beating Scarborough’s Chris Harmon by 11 seconds in the No. 1 race. Embrey finished at 8:03.

“I love running in the heat,” he said. “Training throughout the summer really gets me ready for the beginning of cross country season, but not towards the end when it’s 10 degrees and stuff like that.

“We know a lot of people run during the summer, and this can definitely tell you who ran during the summer and who hasn’t.”

The Scots (61:40) finished second to Scarborough (60:02) in the final team standings for the meet. The Red Storm were led by Harmon, but got top 10 performances from three other runners (Travis Griffin, Ben Talbot and Brecht Moulin.)

Moulin outkicked Bonny Eagle’s Ben Roy down the stretch to take first in the boys’ No. 2 race.

“Thank god it was only a mile and a half instead of three miles, otherwise that final kick would’ve hurt a lot more,” he said.

Falling in behind Scarborough and Bonny Eagle in the team standings were Cheverus (64:02) and Portland (64:26). Thornton Academy, competing without No. 1 runner Ben Rumery, finished fifth (65:02). Ryan Dyer (9:18) helped lead Gorham to a sixth-place finish. The Rams were followed by Sanford and South Portland (66:19), who got a strong performance from Michael Welch (9:28). Westbrook was was 10th thanks to Alex Emery (8:40), while Adam Jette (9:17) led 11th-place Massabesic.

“It was a little warm. We could’ve turned the temperature down a little, but it was a good crowd,” said TA coach Paul Mondor, who ran the meet.