GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Stanford University men’s cross country team spent most of the season ranked No. 2 in national polls.

On Monday, the Cardinal, led by Donald Sage and Maine native Louie Luchini, finished their season at the NCAA championship meet. As it turns out, the pollsters were right: Stanford finished second, one point behind champion Colorado.

Luchini, a sophomore standout from Ellsworth, finished second on his team and 12th overall in the meet, running the 6.2-mile course in 29 minutes, 41 seconds. Sage was seventh overall in 29:24. Boaz Cheboiywo of Eastern Michigan won the race by 19 seconds in 28:47.

Luchini’s Cardinal scored 91 points, one point behind the Buffaloes of Colorado. Arkansas, Northern Arizona, and Wisconsin rounded out the top five teams.

Luchini, who returned to Maine for the Murray Keatinge Invitational in October, improved on his 53rd-place finish from last season, his first year of collegiate cross country. He sat out the fall season in 1999, his first year at the Palo Alto, Calif., school, opting to focus on qualifying for the World Junior Cross Country championships, which he did.

Luchini finished one place and three seconds behind Michigan star freshman Alan Webb, who took the track world by storm last summer when he snapped both the 4-minute barrier in the mile and the longstanding high school mile record of Jim Ryun.

Among Luchini’s teammates who competed in the NCAA championships was freshman Ryan Hall, the Murray Keatinge champ, who finished sixth for the Cardinal and 76th overall in 30:43.

Another Mainer fared well in the men’s race: former Cheverus of Portland standout Ryan Demers of Acton finished 48th overall and first for the Tennessee Volunteers.

Demers, who transferred to Tennessee from Clemson University, ran the course in 30:19. His Volunteers ended up 30th of 31 men’s teams with 722 points.

In the women’s race, Murray Keatinge champ Tara Chaplin of Arizona earned her first national cross country championship in 20:24 over the 6-kilometer course. She won by seven seconds.

Shalane Flanagan, a past winner of the high school mile at the Maine Distance Festival, was 22nd overall as the top runner for North Carolina.

Two former Waterville High stars also participated in the meet: Carolyn Shea, a freshman at UCLA, and Jenna Richardson, a senior at Brown.

Shea was the top runner for the Bruins, finishing in 123rd place in 22:20. The Bruins were 22nd out of 31 teams.

Richardson was the fifth runner for the Brown Bears, crossing the line in 203rd place with a time of 23:07.

Easter excels in Division III meet

Justin Easter of Jay earned yet another All-American honor on Saturday when he finished 19th out of 215 runners in the NCAA Division III cross country championships at Rock Island, Ill.

The Bates College junior finished the 5-mile course in a lifetime best 24:43, but saved his best for last in the race.

Easter moved up from 30th place after four miles to his eventual finishing spot by running a 4:41 final mile.

“Justin ran just a fantastic race,” coach Al Fereshetian said. “The conditions were difficult, around 70 degrees. That made his performance all the more impressive.”

Easter has also earned All-American status in Alpine skiing and track in his career at Bates.

His previous best effort at the NCAA cross country meet was 37th as a sophomore.

In addition, Bowdoin of Brunswick finished 11th out of 24 teams.

Bowdoin’s finishers: Stephen Allison (15th in 24:38), Todd Forsgren (28th in 24:51), Jeffrey Rubens (75th in 25:34), Scott Herrick (145th in 26:16), Conor O’Brien (154th in 26:22), Patrick Vardaro (177th in 26:44), and Scott Barbuto (186th in 26:53).

In the women’s Division III national meet, former Portland High star Michela Adrian of Middlebury finished 10th in 17:28 on a 5K course.

Audra Caler of Bowdoin, who ran for Mount View High in Thorndike, finished 34th in 17:53.

LOUIE LUCHINI

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

2001 cross country: Finished 12th in the NCAA Championships, helping Stanford to a second place finish. Luchini completed the 6.2-mile course in 29:41.

2001 indoor track: Finished 11th in the NCAA championships at 5,000 meters to earn All-America honors.

2000 cross country: Helped lead the Cardinal to the Pac-10 and NCAA West Regional titles. Finished eighth in the West Regional and 53rd in the NCAA Championships.

2000 spring track: Won the U.S. Junior championship at 5,000 meters and finished 18th in the 10,000 at the NCAA championships. His 28:54.30 for 10,000 meters ranked as the third-best time ever run by a U.S. junior (under age 20).

High school: Finished second in the prestigious FootLocker National cross country championships as a senior. Ran a 9:06.17 to finish second in the National Scholastic indoor two-mile championship.