ORONO – In the morning, a new star dawned upon the Eastern Maine cross country scene. By late afternoon, the sun began setting on one of the finest individual careers in the state’s harrier history.

Few could have cared if clouds covered Saturday’s regional championship action at the University of Maine here. The performances made it a bright day.

In the morning’s first girls race, Melissa Smith of Machias – a 14-year-old freshman – got the day off to a surprising start, coming from behind to beat Lubec’s Morgan Buehner for the girls Class D individual title.

In the day’s finale, Narraguagus senior Gladys Ganiel ran away with her third straight individual title that was made even sweeter by her team’s regional title.

In between, the day was filled with the usual Maranacook dominance in Class B, a fantastic one-on-one showdown between Ryan Richardson of Washington Academy and Parker Pruett of Sumner in Class C, and a Central Maine dominance among the Class A teams.

Smith had trailed Buehner for most of the girls D race, passing the favored Lubec junior in the final half mile to win in 21 minutes, 2 seconds.

“She’s going to be a good one,” said Ganiel, who got to the meet early enough to watch Smith’s race. “It reminded me a lot of my sophomore year, when I had to come from behind to beat Jodie Lake. It was kind of eerie. But I’ve watched her a lot this season and she’s grown a lot as a runner.”

Especially in the last week. During the Downeast Athletic Conference championship last week, Smith, admittedly nervous, went out too fast and tired before finishing fifth.

“Coming in as a freshman, I don’t know a lot,” Smith confessed. “I was just a little inexperienced. In this race, I just kept my pace down. It was a challenge, really. There was a lot of people here. It was exciting.”

For Ganiel, it was another day at the races, cruising to victory with a 2-minute margin while posting the fastest girls time of the day.

“It was a little slower than last year, but the footing was a little softer so that’s a good excuse,” Ganiel laughed. “The team did great. My coach yelled to me in that last mile that Dara Knapp was third, ahead of the Foxcroft girl. I just broke into a big smile.”

With Ganiel’s victory and Knapp finishing third, ‘Guagus was on its way to winning its second EM title in three years. The Knights of Harrington also got a top-10 finish out of freshman Heather Knapp, who was eighth, to beat Foxcroft.

Race of the day honors went to the boys Class C duel between Richardson and Pruett.

The two were running stride-for-stride after the first mile and stayed that way for the final two-plus miles, pulling away from the pack in the process.

The final sprint up a hill saw Richardson pick up two yards on Pruett to post the victory.

“I didn’t think I had a kick. I’m not known for it,” said Richardson who won in 16:37. “I don’t know what happened. I guess I just wanted it.”

Pruett’s second-place finish was easier to deal with after his team beat a surprising Piscataquis Community team by 11 points for the team title.

It was a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference sweep in the big school races with the Lawrence boys and Gardiner girls claiming team honors.

P.J. Gorneault of Caribou, a sophomore, won the boys race in 16:45 while Danielle Donovan, a sophomore from Presque Isle, won the girls race in 19:05.

In the boys Class D race, Stephan Bean of Jonesport-Beals was the victor in 17:51 while Valley-Bingham edged Forest Hills by five points for the team title.

Forest Hills did win the girls D title, by six points over Woodland.