AUGUSTA – In the week before his Eastern Maine champion cross country team headed to Augusta to compete for a state title, Mattanawcook Academy coach John Norris kept his girls focused by pointing toward something tangible.

Foxcroft Academy.

“I told the girls that we beat Foxcroft at regionals, and the first thing we had to do [at the state meet] was beat Foxcroft again,” Norris said. “If we don’t do that, nothing else matters.”

As it turned out, the Lynx from Lincoln did find a way to beat Foxcroft Academy.

And as it turned out, Norris’ big fear turned out to be well-founded: North Yarmouth Academy was just too tough.

The Panthers capitalized on a 1-2 effort from individual champ Rachel Blanchard (21 minutes flat over the 3.1-mile course) and Julia Bachelder en route to 44 points and the team title at the University of Maine at Augusta.

Mattanawcook Academy scored 71 to take second while Foxcroft Academy was third with 93.

“We knew NYA would be tough coming in. I knew their first two girls were super girls,” Norris said. “That’s really tough to overcome, when you know the other team’s going to get 1-2 or 1-3 or something like that.”

Mattanawcook countered with the 11-12 effort of senior Codi Slike and freshman Quinci Sanderson. The Lynx have reason to be optimistic: Slike is the team’s only senior, and four of the top seven are freshmen.

In Class A, South Portland senior Andrea Giddings powered away from the field in the day’s fastest time – 19:06 – but Mt. Blue of Farmington earned the team crown with a 77-point total. Mount Ararat of Topsham, which got a 3-4-5 effort from sophomores Jessie Wilcox and Beth Wilcox and freshman Krystal Douglas, scored 86. Sanford was third with 95 and Edward Little of Auburn was fourth with 109.

The state title was the ninth since 1976 for Mt. Blue and the Cougars’ fourth in five years.

Brewer’s Heather Clark bounced back from a third-place finish at last week’s Eastern Maine regional to take second in the day’s second-fastest time (19:21).

“The difference was, I went with the lead person, who was going out fast,” Clark said. “At regionals we went out at a pedestrian pace, it was really easy, and I found myself getting caught behind people.”

In Class B, Ellsworth sophomore Lacie Dow accelerated away from the pack to post a 21-second win (19:49), but Western Maine teams proved dominant, capturing the top four slots.

Both Fryeburg Academy and Leavitt of Turner scored 96 points, but Fryeburg earned the team championship based on the performance of its sixth-best runner.

Fryeburg’s sixth, senior Carly Trumann, finished 43rd, and was actually ahead of Leavitt’s fifth runner. Leavitt’s tie-breaking sixth runner finished 61st.

Dow said she put particular emphasis on the beginning portion of the race, and that paid off.

“I knew [who the top competitors were] and when I started out, I thought that as long as I can get to two miles [and be running] my race, I should be doing fine,” Dow said. “I got to the two-mile [mark], saw nobody was behind me, and I kept going.”

In Class D, Laura Pelletier, a home-schooled student who competes for Seacoast Christian, burst onto the statewide scene in style: She won a state title … and she’s only an eighth-grader.

Pelletier is the younger sister of former Seacoast Christian star Samantha Pelletier and boys Class D winner Doug Pelletier, ran the course in 21:11.

The 5-foot, 94-pounder is allowed to run as a middle school student because of Maine Principals’ Association rules that permit small Class D schools to fill their rosters with athletes who aren’t in high school yet.

“When we started, there was another girl leading the way for quite a while, but then I passed her and that was it,” Pelletier said.

Helen Pottle, a freshman at Shead High in Eastport, took second in 21:37, while the Elan girls of Poland captured their third straight state title with a 35-61 win over Monmouth Academy. Seacoast Christian was third with 91 and Washington Academy took fourth, also with 91.