West teams sweep three meets

TURNER – Cape Elizabeth boys cross country coach David Weatherbie had a hunch Saturday’s state championship meet at Leavitt Area High School would be as tight as the packs of runners who churned around the new 3.1-mile course.

“We really expected a good battle out of Ellsworth and York and Falmouth,” said Weatherbie.

The Yachtsmen tucked three runners in the top 10 – usually a recipe for success in the championship season – but Falmouth’s fourth and fifth runners finished 22nd and 33rd, compared to 16th and 17th for Cape, to give the Capers a 63-66 win in the Class B race. York finished third with 98 points, Eastern Maine champ Ellsworth fourth with 110 and Lake Region of Naples scored 128 to round out the top five.

Scarborough captured the state Class A crown and Lisbon took home the Class C title.

In Class B, another thing that caught Weatherbie’s eye was Ellsworth’s pack, which lifted the Eagles to last week’s EM title.

“We were really homed in on Ellsworth. They had a good 2-3-4 pack in the Eastern regionals,” Weatherbie said. “Our goal was if we get five guys in the top 20, we felt like we had an excellent chance to win.”

The Capers accomplished that goal. Their pack time, the difference between the first and fifth runner, was a stingy 42 seconds. Graham Egan led the way in eighth in 17 minutes, 4 seconds, followed by Stanis Moody-Roberts (11th, 17:25), Colman Hatton (12th, 17:27), Michael Howland (16th, 17:37) and Brendan Flynn (17th, 17:46).

Weatherbie also noted his senior-laden team has come a long way to win the state championship.

“It’s a tremendous feeling, we set a goal to win the state championship,” said Weatherbie, who added the Capers were 10th in state meet three years ago, 10th in 2003, and second last year before winning it all this year.

Miles Bartlett of Lake Region was the individual champ and Class B and also recorded the day’s fastest time, completing the tough course in 16:33. The course featured a steep uphill a little more than two miles in – which was dubbed “Satan’s revenge.”

Poland’s Nick Williams finished second in the “B” race, followed by Falmouth’s John Forcella (16:53.79), Ellsworth’s Corey DeWitt (16:54.79, and Falmouth’s Jon Wilson (16:54.49)

Caribou’s Sam Sheehan (16:56) earned a seventh-place finish.

In Class A, heavy favorite and defending state champ Scarborough ran like the favorite, placing four runners in the top 10 to end runner-up Portland’s chances.

The Red Storm finished with 48 points and the Bulldogs with 81. Mt. Blue of Farmington topped Eastern Maine teams with 93 points. Bonny Eagle of Standish was fourth (115), followed by Cheverus of Portland (143).

East champ Lewiston ended up eighth with 229 as top runner Bashir Mohamed didn’t finish the race.

Travis Griffin led Scarborough with a second-place finish in 17:09, followed by Ben Talbot (fifth, 17::27), Chris Harmon (seventh, 17:35), coach Jim Harmon’s son, and Brecht Moulin (10th, 17:43).

“As far as getting that group together, they ran a great race,” Jim Harmon said. “They really had to push it. Bonny Eagle and Portland are really good teams. The guys came and they gave it 100 percent.”

Brewer senior Brendan Carr was the lone Penobscot Valley Conference representative in the 111-runner field. He finished 12th in 17:52 while Mt. Blue’s Adam Deveau took the top spot in 17:03.

Bonny Eagle of West Buxton’s Evan Embrey finished third (17:16.16) and Mount Ararat of Topsham’s Raleigh Swan placed fourth (17:20.78).

In Class C, Lisbon overwhelmed the 14-team field by sticking three runners in the top 10 and five in the top 13.

The Greyhounds tallied 39 points to runner-up Winthrop’s 97. Freeport was third with 125, Wiscasset fourth with 155 and Eastern Maine champ Orono took fifth with 156.

Lisbon’s Tyler Clark made an early statement by tearing up the course in 16:45. The Greyhounds didn’t look back from there. Josh Kelton took fifth in 18:09, Kaleb Boucher ninth (18:20), Aaron Cloutier 11th (18:28) and Nick Caton in 13th (18:33) rounded out Lisbon’s scorers.

Brian York from Schenck in East Millinocket was the top Eastern Maine finisher, taking fourth place in 17:48.

Also earning top-five finishes were St. Dominic of Auburn’s Justin Richardson (second, 17:03.91), Winthrop’s Danny Soltan (third, 17:37.09) and North Yarmouth Academy’s Josh Kelton (fifth, 18:02.09).