Ellsworth, Orono, Lewiston earn titles DeWitt, York, Kazar capture individual race honors

BELFAST – Caribou and Ellsworth have literally been chasing each other all over Maine’s cross country trails this fall, and Saturday’s Eastern Maine Class B regional championship at Troy Howard Middle School was no different.

Led by junior Corey DeWitt’s first-place finish, in 16 minutes, 32 seconds over 5,000 meters, the Ellsworth Eagles tucked four runners in the top 10 en route to a 48-67 victory over the runner-up Vikings. Leavitt of Turner was third with 85, while Waterville took fourth with 141, and Medomak Valley of Waldoboro was fifth with 171.

Old Town (176), Belfast (187) and Camden Hills (219) rounded out the eight qualifiers for Saturday’s state meet.

Lewiston took Class A honors while Orono won in Class C.

In Class B, the Eagles and Vikings were dead even through two runners apiece, before an 8-9-10 effort by Louden Jellison (17:31.98), Logan Will (17:32.86) and Leif Jacobsen (17:34.74) all but ensured Ellsworth of the crown.

Alec Phippen (20th), Dan Whitney (23rd), and Matt Carter (63rd) rounded out the Eagles’ lineup.

Ellsworth coach Andy Beardsley noted one of his top runners, Charles Silsby, missed the meet because of mononucleosis, and freshman Carter ran in Silsby’s place.

“The guys really grouped together,” Beardsley said. “I think they wanted it, they got real fired up.”

In close meets, it’s the fifth runner (five runners count toward a team’s score) who is often the deciding factor, and Beardsley credited his fifth runner for a strong effort.

“Alec Phippen, who was our fifth man, really stepped it up. He had his best race of the year,” Beardsley said. “Dan Whitney, our sixth runner, is a senior who has never run cross country before, so for him this was a really big deal. I’m just really proud of them, as a whole team.”

Less than 20 seconds after crossing the finish line, DeWitt found a bench near the finish chute, and cheered the rest of his teammates home.

“With something like this it’s all about team, and he [DeWitt] really wanted that team title,” his coach said. “We had great races out of everybody right down the line.”

DeWitt had the best time of the day among all four classes.

Caribou’s Sam Sheehan (16:43.57) placed second overall in the Class B race, followed by Ryan Lena (16:48.34) of John Bapst of Bangor, Seth Tillotson (17:02.80) of Old Town, and Luke Miller (17:09.88) of Belfast.

In Classes C-D, PVC champ Orono used a strong finish from its fourth and fifth runners to oust a Foxcroft team whose first two runners finished second and fifth.

The Red Riots’ margin of victory over the Ponies was 61-82. Lee Academy was third with 83, Central of Corinth fourth (143), Sumner of East Sullivan fifth (152), and Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln sixth (162) to round out the state-meet qualifiers.

Orono ran as a tightly bunched pack throughout the race as its top four runners – Brandon Paul (18:05.6), Thomas Hornsby (18:33.59), Jay Lewey (18:41.52), and Matthieu Nadeau (18:46.08) – took places 4, 10, 11 and 13. Fifth man Emmett Harrity rounded out the scoring in 23rd (19:46.51).

“The kids ran really well, they’ve been running as a pretty tight pack, and they continued to do that today,” said Red Riots coach Lin White. “[Freshman] Brandon Paul just had an amazing day. He ran a gutsy race.”

Brian York of Schenck of East Millinocket was the top individual finisher in 17:17.80, followed by Tom Lamarche of Central in Corinth (17:58.99), Richie Chilson of Greenville (18:02.17), Jerod Hayes of Foxcroft Academy (18:02.63), and Addison Pellerano (18:04.46) of George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill.

In Class A, teams from the KVAC dominated the 13-team field and, for the first time since Brewer won the title in 2001, Mt. Blue of Farmington was not the overall champ.

Instead it was the Lewiston Blue Devils ousting the Cougars in a close meet that came down to, yes, the fifth runner, by a score of 56-66. Lewiston’s Jason Robustelli edged Mt. Blue’s fifth-place runner, Ben Lochala, by five places.

Edward Little of Auburn was third with 113, followed by Morse of Bath with 126. Mount Ararat of Topsham was fifth (165), Cony of Augusta sixth (166) and Messalonskee of Oakland rounded out the seven state-meet qualifiers with 168.

Lewiston top runner Bashir Mohamed, who was third – one slot ahead of Mt. Blue frontrunner Adam Deveau, surprised his coach with his performance.

“I was completely shocked that Mohamed was able to get out ahead of Deveau,” said Blue Devils coach Ray Putnam.

The Class A race featured one of the most exciting finishes of the day as Edward Little sophomore Nick Kazar (16:40.6) nipped Brewer senior Brendan Carr (16:41.3) at the finish line. Chris Roy (17:00.2) of Morse in Bath rounded out the top five.