Over the past three years, Ellsworth’s Steve DeWitt has tromped over the state’s trails all fall, then given up running after the snow flies in order to focus on basketball.

The formula has worked well: DeWitt has been Ellsworth’s starting point guard since his freshman year.

Not this year.

DeWitt casually admitted on Saturday – after winning the Eastern Maine Class B cross country individual title – that this winter he’d do what most of the state’s top distance runners do. He’s running indoor track.

“I love basketball, and I love the coach [Dan Clifford],” DeWitt said. “I know he’s gonna be disappointed.”

But DeWitt said that when he injured himself when he jumped back into training after last year’s basketball season, it made him rethink competing in that sport again.

And one other fact swayed him: In track and cross country, DeWitt is a Division I prospect who will likely be able to choose from several top-notch suitors. In basketball, he isn’t.

“I’m not going to college for basketball,” DeWitt said. “It’s just too much of a risk, I think, going into the outdoor season.

“It’ll be so much better if I get a good base under me for running going into the outdoor season,” he said.

DeWitt was a Penobscot Valley Conference second-team Class B All-Star in basketball last year, but he has been even more impressive on the track and in cross country.

DeWitt won the state Class B individual cross country championship last year and won the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 state titles as a sophomore in spring track. He also won the prestigious high school mile at the New Balance Maine Distance Festival after his sophomore year.

His junior spring track season was scrapped due to injury.

DeWitt also holds the school cross country course record at Ellsworth. That record was previously held by an Ellsworth athlete, Louie Luchini, who is a standout at Stanford University, one of the top cross country teams in the nation.