MARION — The roots of the undefeated regular season recently achieved by the Tabor Academy boys cross country team began, it could be said, in Marion all the way back in 2002.

That’s the year head coach Chris Adams began the “Marion Mile,” a series of runs for young children held during summers. It’s also the year the cross country team’s assistant coach David Friedman ran the Marion Mile as a kid.

And the group of Tabor runners who just completed a 21-0 season and won an Independent School League championship in 2024 are also alumni of the Marion Mile.

Senior captains Ben Hebbel and Nic Huaco, both of Marion, and junior Charlie Jackivicz of Mattapoisett are all former “Marion Milers,” according to Adams.

It’s a “fun connection,” Adams said.

“It’s very cool, very fulfilling to see the guys continue running in high school and have success,” he said.

In addition to running the Marion Mile as children, some on the team — including senior Cam Jeppson of Marion and junior Aidan Pearsall of Dover — volunteer to help Adams with the summer event.

“Those are my assistants out there,” Adams said.

The Independent School League championship, held in Wrentham at the beginning of November, was a “hard-fought win” for the boys cross country team, according to Adams.

The Seawolves beat Roxbury Latin School by one point, led by Hebbel running to a 5-kilometer personal best 15:54 time.

But it was the team’s depth that “paid off” over the course of the year, Adams said.

That was reflected even after the regular season as Tabor’s number five and six runners, Jackivicz and Huaco, beat Roxbury Latin’s number five runner to narrowly win the championship in the Independent School League — “a big deal for Tabor athletics,” Adams said.

Tabor Academy joined the league in 2017.

“It’s a strong league — in cross country especially,” Adams said.

Tabor then competed the following weekend in the New England Prep School Track Association Div. 2 championship in North Andover, reaching second place for the second year in a row.

“The guys ran well,” Adams said.

The Seawolves finished as runners-up to none other than Roxbury Latin in first place.

“I knew it was going to be hard to beat them two weeks in a row,” Adams said.

Five Tabor runners earned New England Preparatory School Athletic Council all-star honors, and a few runners will be competing at the Foot Locker Cross Country Northeast Regional in Boston at the end of November, according to Adams.