West sweeps team titles; True triumphs in Class B

AUGUSTA – At the end of a day during which Eastern Maine teams watched their state cross country title dreams evaporate one by one, Greely sophomore Ben True (another Western Mainer) – finally got his chance to run.

All he did was A) post the biggest individual upset of the day; B) run the fastest time of the afternoon on UM-Augusta’s 3.1-mile course; C) do exactly what his coach thought he’d do; and D) help his team continue the WM title trend.

“True’s legit,” coach David Dowling said after his Cumberland Center-based team had won its third straight boys Class B championship.

“He’s a smart runner, and I don’t think there’s a tougher one. He ran to plan, and his plan was to win,” Dowling said.

In order to do that, True had to run down Ellsworth standout Steve DeWitt, the defending Class B champ and a heavy favorite. True, who finished third in the race as a freshman, 36 seconds behind a blazing DeWitt, did just that, and won in 16 minutes, 1 second.

“I was just trying to run hard, and hopefully, stay near him,” True said, before breaking into a laugh. “I guess I did that.”

That win, coupled with strong efforts back in the pack, gave Greely a 64-78 win over Falmouth, which tucked three runners in the top five. Caribou was third with 115 while Ellsworth, the Eastern Maine champ, took fourth with 117. York rounded out the top five with 122.

In Class A, Aaron Norton of Morse won the individual crown in 16:18, but Western Maine entries battled it out for the team crown. Cheverus of Portland won its 17th championship, but its first since 1997 while dethroning three-time champ Edward Little of Auburn.

The Stags scored 84 to nip EL’s 85, while Deering of Portland had 94. Mount Ararat of Topsham was the top Eastern Maine team with 122, while South Portland finished fifth with 145. EM champ Brewer finished 11th with 251.

In Class C, North Yarmouth Academy received an individual win from senior Hadrian Engel (17:31) en route to a 44-53 victory over Sumner of East Sullivan and its first state crown. Madison (91), Freeport (95) and Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln (131) rounded out the top five.

And in Class D, Monmouth Academy won its second straight title with a comfortable 58-88 victory over Machias. Valley of Bingham had 99 while Elan of Poland scored 100 and Narraguagus of Harrington had 110.

Narraguagus senior Caleb Paul earned individual honors despite slipping and falling while running down a steep hill over the final 600 yards. He finished in 17:08.

In Class A, Brewer coach Glendon Rand entered the meet with modest goals, despite the Witches’ win at last week’s Eastern Maine regional meet.

“You never know what’s gonna happen when you come down here,” Rand said.But when Rand pulled No. 2 runner Chris Sighinolfi from the course at the two-mile mark – Sighinolfi had been ill all week, and Rand was concerned with his runner’s safety – Brewer’s hopes to finish among the top teams vanished.

He had hoped for a top-five team finish. The Witches came in 11th.

In Class B, the Caribou boys finished as the top Eastern Maine team despite a sub-par race from star Jeff Alden, who battled hamstring cramps and finished 21st. He was second as a junior.

“Put that aside, the other kids were awesome. They were pumped. They cared about each other. And they poured their guts out,” said Caribou coach Roy Alden, Jeff’s father.

DeWitt, who followed True at the beginning of the race, said the brisk early pace may have hurt him later on.

“I stayed with him, which was a mistake, and I paid for it in the last mile,” DeWitt said.

True caught him at the two-mile mark, then pulled away over the final half mile of the race to top DeWitt by 20 seconds.

Falmouth, thanks to its 3-4-5 finish, posted the day’s fastest five-runner average time: 17:11. But that wasn’t enough to overcome Greely’s team strength.

In Class C, the Sumner boys got a 3-4 finish from senior Alexander Brunton and sophomore Ryan O’Keefe, but NYA proved too strong.

O’Keefe, who also finished fourth in the EM championship meet, said that despite his Tigers’ domination of their regional meet, they figured NYA would be a tough foe.

“I think we all did great,” O’Keefe said. “NYA took it out real fast. They had three really far out there for a long time, until about the two-mile, and then they started dropping off. I got real worried in the middle of the race because I saw three black jerseys right in front of me.”

And in Class D, Machias’ bid to give Eastern Maine its first team title since Valley won in 1996 fell 30 points short, but Narraguagus senior Paul didn’t let a little late-race stumble stand between him and an individual championship.

Paul fell feet-first on a steep pitch about 600 yards from the finish, hopped quickly to his feet, and won comfortably.

“My coach told me to kick it in, and I didn’t have spikes on and slid right down the hill,” Paul said. “It didn’t hurt me at all. It slowed me down a little, but didn’t hurt me.”