BELFAST – Most people tend to think that the sixth and seventh runners don’t matter in high school cross country.

On this day at Troy Howard Middle School course, the fifth runner was the difference in one of the closest meets in state championship history.

In high school cross country, if there’s a tie, then the sixth runner breaks it. And Scarborough junior Steven Hayworth may have been 45th and sixth on his team, but it was good enough to give his Red Storm the state Class A championship over defending champ Deering of Portland. Both teams’ first five runners totaled 118 points, but Deering’s sixth-place runner finished 63rd.

Bonny Eagle of Standish and Edward Little of Auburn each had 120, but the Scots earned third as Shawn Smith place 53rd, ahead of the Red Eddies’ sixth-place runner. Cheverus of Portland tallied 147 to round out the top five.

Eastern Maine champ Mt. Blue of Farmington was sixth, and Brewer was 10th.

Greely of Cumberland Center captured the Class B title, Lisbon collected the Class C crown and Monmouth Academy took home the Class D title.

Scarborough coach Jim Harmon was excited for his team, who earned their first state crown in 20 years.

“It was an incredible race,” he said. “The team gave everything. This was their goal from day one.”

Harmon welcomed the change in venue from the water-logged course at UMaine-Augusta to Belfast.

“We could do well on either course,” he said. “Other teams would have faced the same thing.”

Tim Waterhouse and Mike Griffin led Scarborough with 12th- and 13th-place finishes, respectively,

In Class B, Ben True was a happy young man when he left Troy Howard Middle School for two reasons: First, he broke Levi Miller’s course record set earlier this year, touring the slimy 5-kilometer loop in 15 minutes, 49 seconds. Second, his Greely Rangers of Cumberland Center walked out with the team title, nipping rival York 65-77. EM champ MDI was third with 114, followed by Ellsworth with 134. Falmouth finished fifth with 153, and Hampden was seventh with 180.

True admitted he was worried about the mucky loop.

“It was very slimy, and I was worried about falling,” he said.

True was more focused on a team crown than a course record, however.

“My goal was to help the team more,” he said.

True did just that, and his teammates helped him out, too. Casey Dieh finished fourth and Dan Crosson eighth.

“It’s finally good to run at almost full strength,” said Greely coach David Dowling.

The Rangers were concentrating more on their Western Maine foes rather than the Trojans.

“We knew MDI had a pack, but we were more focused on York,” said Dowling.

In Class C, the Lisbon Greyhounds were paced by a 2-3-5-9 finish by Dan Suthers, Jared Cloutier, Troy Clark and Tyler Clark to easily outdistance runnerup North Yarmouth Academy 34-67 and capture their first state crown.

East champ Sumner of East Sullivan was third with 94, followed by Fryeburg (96) and Wiscasset (127).

Pack times win championships in cross country, and that’s just how Lisbon got its, boasting a pack time of 1:13.

“This is the tightest group of kids I’ve ever coached,” said coach Hank Fuller. “The tightness comes from [captain] Troy Clark. We’re a band of brothers.”

The Greyhounds enjoyed the fast Belfast course but prefer the hills of Augusta.

“We’re used to hillier courses,” said Fuller.

In Class D, the Monmouth Mustangs tucked three runners in the top 10 to edge Waynflete of Portland 45-56. Valley of Bingham was third with 71, followed by EM champ Madawaska (97) and Lee (113).

Coach Tom Menendez and his Mustangs had seen the course before and knew what to expect.

“We ran up here a month ago [in the Festival of Champions],” he said. “We preferred Augusta, but the boys took the adjustment well.”

Menendez also expected his team to be in a dogfight with the Cavaliers and Flyers.

“One place is worth two points in a field this size,” he said, explaining that there’s no margin for error in Class D.