WELLS — Quality over quantity has proven to be a successful strategy for Wells this season, and hopes are high as their team prepares for this weekend’s Eastern Maine cross country regional meet. The boys are going into this meet undefeated in the regular season, and the girls team is the strongest it has been in years.

Senior Syd Sayward said, “three years ago we had a race and all the Wells girls came in last place.”

This year is very different. In addition to the change in coaching to Bob Winn, at Friday’s Western Maine Conference (WMC), Wells’ Heidi Fortin placed 15th overall in the girls 5K run, one of only four girls from Division 2 to place in the top 15.

Neither the boys nor the girls side has a deep team of runners, making every person that much more important to the overall team standing. Each team needs at least five runners to compete. Sayward tells a story that a few years back she was one of only five team members when she was injured and they had to frantically recruit a new runner just to be eligible to compete. The girls team runs eleven strong this year.

This year, the girls team has a chance to make it to the state meet, something which Winn says, “I don’t think that has ever happened in the girls team history.” Winn believes Fortin and Izzy Sossei have the best chance the bring the girls to conference.

The team has already accomplished some of its season goals and continues to aim higher. Sossei said she would like to improve her 5K time to 22:30-22:25 and the girls team has made marked progress toward its goal to run as a tighter pack. The well-grounded attitude of the Wells team seems to make its prospects of victory even more reasonable.

Winn is confident the boys will make it through regionals with flying colors and go on to the state championship. There is little doubt after Friday’s WMC when Mitch Libby placed fourth overall, Wesley Moody placed seventh (a tight 17 seconds behind Libby and less than a minute behind first place), and Griffin Allaire placed 15th.

Boys and girls alike both attributed their greater motivation to the team. During difficult stretches, Natalie Robinson said, “you think, if you don’t do this then your team is going to fail. You have to do it for your team.”

Wesley Moody said to general agreement, “you think of your other teammates in front of you or behind you and think to yourself, what are they doing for you? Then you’ve got to push yourself to the next level. You’ve gotta help them out. You’re not doing it for yourself- you’re doing it for everyone on your team.”

Even with more than twenty years of coaching, Winn gives all the credit to his team, “It’s up to these guys, what they can do. I just coach, that’s my job. They set the goals and I’m supposed to follow through to get them there.”

Wells competes at the Southern Maine Cross Country Regionals Oct. 22. Class B boys start at 11:00 a.m., and the girls take off at 11:35 a.m.