Maine’s top high school cross country teams will be able to compete in the New England championships beginning next fall based on a vote Thursday by the Maine Principals’ Association.

After turning down similar proposals in 2002 and 2004, members of the MPA’s Interscholastic Division agreed by a three-vote margin from approximately 50 schools that were represented to allow six boys teams and six girls teams from the state to participate in the annual New England Cross Country Championships starting with the 2005-06 school year.

“I think it was a case where the voting trend for this had become closer and closer each time,” said MPA executive director Dick Durost from the MPA’s annual spring business meeting at the Samoset Resort in Rockport.

“We’re very excited,” said Brewer cross country coach Glendon Rand. “It’s something we’ve been working on for a couple of years. Our focus was to educate the principals about the issue, and once they came to an understanding of what this was all about we thought they’d vote for it.”

Under the approved measure, the state boys and girls team champions in Classes A, B and C – Classes C and D were consolidated Thursday in an unrelated matter – will be invited to compete in the New Englands. If any of the three championship teams decline, the runner-up in that class would be invited to participate.

Since the New England championship meet is open to six boys teams and six girls teams from each state, the remaining Maine boys and girls teams to qualify would be determined by recalculating the results of all three state meets as a single meet, with the next three boys teams and three girls teams with the best scores regardless of class earning trips to the New Englands.

“The committee thought it was important that each class be represented,” said Durost. “Beyond that, they felt it would be good to have the best teams represented.”

Durost added that the measure approved by the MPA membership was specific to cross country, and if the Council of New England Secondary Schools Principals’ Association offers future New England team competitions in other sports, they would be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Cross country currently is the only sport for which the New England council sanctions a New England team championship.

Maine has sent the top 25 male and female runners from its cross country state championships to the New England meet annually since 1998 but is one of two states – along with Massachusetts – that has not sent its top teams to the event.

Reasons cited for not sending Maine teams included cost concerns, travel issues and potential lost school time.

The MPA, which sanctions interscholastic sports in the state, had considered a proposal by its cross country committee to send teams to the New Englands three times in the last three years before Thursday’s vote.

In April 2002, the membership voted unanimously not to send teams. Last spring, the issue was tabled while the MPA sought a recommendation from its MPA’s Interscholastic Management Committee. The IMC voted last September to recommend against team participation and two months later the full membership voted 36-29 against the proposal.

“I thought the big thing in finally getting this passed was that the coaches, parents and kids who had gone to the New England cross country meet talked about what a great experience it was,” Rand said, “not just the race itself but also the motivational aspect, expanding horizons and creating higher aspirations.”

Earlier this year, a bill was introduced in the Maine Legislature to allow championship cross country teams to compete in the New Englands. LD 1130, sponsored by state Sen. John Nutting of Leeds, was the subject of a legislative hearing before the Joint Standing Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs on March 31. It also was scheduled to be the focus of a committee work session Tuesday, but no report was made out of committee hearing pending the results of the MPA’s meeting.

Also on Thursday, the MPA membership approved combining Classes C and D in cross country beginning next fall.

Durost said that in many cases, by the time the small-school cross country seasons reached the state meets, there weren’t enough full teams in Class D to warrant awarding a separate state championship. In addition, many cross country runners at smaller schools often participate in a second fall sport, which created scheduling conflicts when it came time to determine state and regional champions in the different sports.