TURNER – In the half-hour between the finish of the Class A boys race and the presentation of awards, Lewiston boys cross country coach Ray Putnam may have been the most apprehensive man in Maine.

He feared Western Maine champ Cheverus of Portland had just enough to thwart the Blue Devils’ quest for the program’s first state cross country title.

However, Lewiston’s 1-2 punch of Mohamed Noor and Sadam Abdi, who finished first and sixth, respectively, was a bit too much for the Stags. The Devils became the first Eastern Maine team to earn the Class A crown since Lawrence of Fairfield in 1995 by posting 79 points on a rainy Saturday at Leavitt Area High School.

Cheverus finished with 86 points, followed by Portland (108), Scarborough and Mt. Blue of Farmington (164 apiece).

Greely of Cumberland Center cruised to the Class B crown while Caribou and Medomak Valley of Waldoboro finished tied for second.

The Vikings were awarded runner-up honors as their No. 6 man, Christian Sleeper, finished ahead of Medomak’s No. 6, Caleb Philbrook.

Winthrop captured the Class C title, ending Lisbon’s four-year state championship run.

In Class A, the scoring was too close for Putnam.

“It was so close to having Cheverus [win], you can probably find a trash bag around here with my lunch in it,” Putnam quipped. “We didn’t think we had it.”

Lewiston’s No. 5 runner Matt Driscoll, who finished 31st, ran one of the toughest races of the afternoon after losing his shoe a half-mile into the race.

“You’re not going to find a kid with more heart than that,” Putnam said. “Tom knew he had to step up and he absolutely did it.”

Noor set the bar for his teammates by posting a time of 16 minutes, 57.82 seconds on a 3.1-mile course that deteriorated so rapidly throughout the day that meet officials had to prevent runners from slipping at the finish line.

Putnam was impressed with the way the Devils acted after it was announced the Stags had finished second.

“Our plan was to sit there and have excellent sportsmanship and just clap,” he said.

Bangor senior Riley Masters ran to an impressive third in 17:09.45 on a course where footing was at a premium.

“The course was a giant mud puddle,” Masters said. “It was ridiculous; you couldn’t get [a stride].”

Mt. Blue senior Eric Marceau, who finished second in 17:08.30, pulled away from Masters in the last half-mile, and Masters couldn’t make up the difference.

“He had a good seven-second lead on me and to make that up in the last 200 meters was tough,” Masters said. “He definitely had a little more than me at the end.”

Masters joined Marceau and many other runners after the last race in diving through a large mud puddle just off the course.

Ironically, the only portion of the course that stayed dry was the portion nicknamed Satan’s Inferno, a grueling uphill just about two miles into the race.

Hampden Academy’s Evan Piccirillo capped a strong freshman season with an 18th-place finish in 18:28.36.

Travis Blackmer paced Brewer with a 32nd-place finish while Evan Taylor was 39th.

In Class B, Caribou had what coach Roy Alden felt was its best race of the season en route to its runner-up finish.

“Our kids ran excellent. Last week Ellsworth and Medomak were ahead of us by 30 points,” Alden said. “We had a real great day, we worked together and we worked hard.”

Senior Spencer McElwain was the Vikes’ top finisher in 10th place, while junior Jesse Stephens captured 20th, Stephen Melbourne 25th, Jordan Powers 43rd and Tim Freme 45th.

“Steve and Timmy and our middle guys had really good races,” Alden said. “They ran real well, [we have] no complaints at all.”

As rare as a tie is in cross country, it goes to show that you can never count a team’s sixth and seventh runners out.

“It really sends a message to the kids how important one person is,” Alden said. “It happens once in a while.”

Greely, led by the 6-8 effort of James Lepage and Logan Price, compiled 85 points while Caribou and Medomak notched 143 each. Eastern Maine Champ Ellsworth took fourth with 145 while WM winner Cape Elizabeth finished fifth with 146.

Poland’s Nick Williams pulled away from Fryeburg Academy’s Timothy Even and Falmouth’s Ethan Shaw and clocked the day’s fastest time of 16:30.48.

Senior Logan Will was Ellsworth’s top finisher in seventh while Presque Isle’s Corey Park captured fifth.

In Class C, the Ramblers trailed the Greyhounds by four points through four runners, but No. 5 man Alex Cottrell’s 22nd-place finish lifted Winthrop to its first state cross country crown in program history.

The Ramblers compiled 65 points to Lisbon’s 68. Hall-Dale of Farmingdale finished a distant third with 107, followed by Monmouth Academy (129) and Eastern Maine champ Foxcroft Academy (133).

Cottrell finished seven places ahead of Lisbon No. 5 Robert Patchell, who was 29th, while Tor O’Brien (second) and Danny Soltan (ninth) recorded top-10 finishes.

Wade Davis of Hall-Dale was the individual champ in 17:25.74.

Foxcroft sophomore Graham Pearsall ran to a solid third in 17:47.75, while Orono’s Matthieu Nadeau captured fifth in 18:13.75.

Aaron Cloutier and Ethan Masselli paced Lisbon’s effort, finishing fourth and sixth, respectively.