BELFAST – Ellsworth High School cross country coach Andy Beardsley knows just how competitive Class B is on a yearly basis.

He also had a huge hunch his Eagles would be in a dogfight with PVC rival Caribou and KVAC champ Medomak Valley of Waldoboro at Saturday’s Eastern Maine Championships.

“We knew it was going to be very close with Caribou and Medomak Valley, it certainly proved to be a close match today,” said Beardsley.

Beardsley’s Eagles spread their wings valiantly and soared through the Troy Howard Middle School course, tucking all five scorers in front of Medomak Valley’s fourth score en route to a 61-69 win over the Panthers and their third consecutive EM crown.

The Vikings finished third with 99 points, Leavitt of Turner Center was fourth with 101, Mount Desert Island fifth with 115, Presque Isle sixth with 134, Waterville captured seventh with 178 and Belfast rounded out the eight qualifiers for next week’s state championships at Leavitt with 193 points.

Lewiston continued its year-long dominance in Class A, cruising to its second EM crown in three years by a 40-point margin over Mt. Blue of Farmington while Foxcroft Academy captured its second straight Class C championship.

In Class B, it was the 3-4-5 combination of senior Alec Phippen and sophomores Ben Chapman and Dakota Hellum that was pivotal in helping the Eagles dispatch the Panthers, along with the 1-2 punch of seniors Logan Will and Akihisa Ishida.

Beardsley knew it could’ve easily gone in the other direction.

“With us and Medomak, it could’ve gone either way,” he said. “Our guys had to run well and they did.”

Junior Jeremiah Roper, a newcomer to cross country who Beardsley says has been a “pivotal sixth man for us all year,” finished 27th while James Doe was 78th.

As pivotal as Ellsworth’s 3-4-5 punch was in putting Medomak away, its 1-2 trio of Will and Ishida kept them in striking distance early, as the Panthers’ Matt Poulin and Alex Goldrup finished fourth and fifth to give them an early lead.

“Our seniors really came through when we needed them,” Beardsley said. “They all just ran well. I was real happy, they knew what they had to do.”

Presque Isle senior Corey Park sprinted away from Leavitt senior Justin Fereshetian to take individual honors in 16 minutes, 38.54 seconds over the 5-kilometer course. Fereshetian finished in 17:02.11 while Caribou’s Spencer McElwain finished eighth and teammate Jesse Stephens 10th.

In Class A, Bangor senior Riley Masters was in contention with Lewiston’s Mohamed Noor and Morse of Bath’s Jason Kaake before things went south in the pivotal middle mile.

“The second mile felt like crap, once I got a mile and a half into the race I just didn’t feel very hot,” said Masters, who finished third in 16:22.69 behind Noor (16:06.48) and Kaake (16:19.40).

Once Masters started to falter, Noor made his move and pulled away from Masters and Kaake, who ran stride-for-stride throughout the stretch portion of the race before Kaake passed Masters for good on a short, steep hill with just under a quarter-mile to go.

“He passed me first with 800 [meters] left, I look it back at the 400 mark, then going up that hill he put on a huge kick and was able to get me,” Masters said.

Noor’s Blue Devils racked up an impressive 43 points while Mt. Blue scored 83. Brewer, Hampden Academy and Bangor finished two points apart, but the Witches and Broncos earned sixth and seventh places and the final two state-meet berths with 156 and 157 points, respectively.

Bangor tallied 158 for eighth.

While Noor has emerged as Maine’s top schoolboy runner this fall, Lewiston’s 2-3-4 of Sadam Abdi, Matt Driscoll and Robbie Leeman have constantly been battling it out for those slots, which can change any given meet.

“That switches every week,” said Blue Devils coach Ray Putnam.

Abdi finished fifth, Driscoll seventh, Leeman 11th and No. 5 Tom Tripp captured 20th.

As good as Noor’s time was, had he been running on a drier course, he could’ve easily broken 16 minutes.

“The section that was the muddiest we had to go through twice,” Masters said. “It dropped a good 10 seconds off times I’d say.”

In Class C, Foxcroft used strong pack power to overcome a solid 4-5-6 finish by runnerup Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln.

The Ponies, bolstered by the 2-8-9 effort of Graham Pearsall, Chris Bridges and Kaleb Mann, piled up 46 points to MA’s 59.

Orono finished third with 73 points, Lee Academy fourth with 99, Schenck of East Millinocket fifth with 120 and Calais rounded out the state-meet qualifiers in sixth (125).

FA coach George Rolleston was a bit apprehensive early, with the Lynx sticking three runners between his first and second.

Foxcroft’s 4 and 5 Seth Oldfield and Amos Almy calmed their coach’s nerves, both finishing ahead of MA’s fourth.

“I think anytime you can pack your runners together, it’s going to help,” Rolleston said.

As defending champions, the Ponies were ready and willing to face the challenge that comes with keeping a title.

“I think when the season started they knew it was something they wanted to do,” Rolleston said. “They wanted to defend their title.”

Orono’s Matthieu Nadeau outkicked Perasall to capture the individual title. Nadeau was timed in 17:34.22 and Pearsall in 17:36.59.