BELFAST – It wasn’t really a fit day for man or beast, but it was just fine for most of the 300 or so hardy runners competing at Saturday’s Eastern Maine regional cross country championships.

The rain was cold and steady on a gray, overcast day at the Troy Howard Middle School, but that didn’t keep the boys teams from Mount Desert Island, Piscataquis of Guilford, Mt. Blue of Farmington, and Valley of Bingham from realizing their goals of coming away with regional titles.

In Class B, the MDI Trojans accomplished the next-to-last goal on their season-long checklist as they blanked the front of the pack as completely as the rain was soaking the field with five runners finishing among the top 15.

Lone senior Brendan Westphal led the MDI pack with a fourth-place finish and a time of 17 minutes, 10.7 seconds over the 3.1-mile course.

“We’ve been working on this all season to peak at this time and have our best races in the postseason,” Westphal said. “We’ve done a lot of hill work, and that certainly helped today on that last one. This was pretty much a mud run today. After you got around the first corner, you had to slow down because it was a little slippery.”

Westphal was followed, in order, by teammates Jake Emlen (eighth, 17:41.5), Aaron Stevens (10th, 17:46.8), Berkley Wanner (13th, 17:54.5), Joe Barter (15th, 17:58.6), Jordan Robinson (24th, 18:11.2), and David Clements (43rd, 19:10.4).

As usual, the Trojans started out in the midst of the pack and then methodically picked off runner after runner as their green-and-white jerseys surged toward the front.

“I think the big thing for us is not to get out too hard and let the power come through at the end,” said first-year coach Bruce Merrill. “We like to say goodbye to the speed bunnies early on. We’ll catch them later.”

The Trojans easily outdistanced runner-up Belfast 50 points to 92. Maranacook of Readfield senior Stephen Monsulick was the top individual finisher with a time of 16:36.4.

In Class C, the Piscataquis Pirates won the program’s first regional crown on the strength of an inspired effort by a senior-laden team that’s been nipping at the heels of regional powers like Sumner and Mattanawcook Academy for years.

“Our fourth and fifth runners really picked it up today,” said senior co-captain Tyler Tracy, who led the Pirates with a fifth-place finish and time of 18:30.4. “I think that’s what won it for us.”

Junior teammate Adam Knowles was just behind Tracy in ninth with a time of 18:56.60. Then came sophomore Ryan Yeo (13th, 19:23.8), senior Zach Boyce (18th, 19:34.5), senior co-captain Jesse Hall (22nd, 19:57.6), sophomore Jonah Orff (27th, 20:19.4) and junior Shawn Burke (35th, 20:49.0).

“It was kind of a surprise because Sumner and Lincoln are really good teams, but we’ve been working and training hard to beat them,” said Hall, who said the wet, muddy conditions didn’t bother them that much. “It was very slippery out there and there were some big mud pits, but it wasn’t as windy as it was last week.”

The MA Lynx of Lincoln were 17 points back at 71 and third-place Sumner scored 84 points. Sumner junior Ryan O’Keefe was first overall with a time of 17:42.2.

In Class D, the Valley Cavaliers avenged a runner-up finish to Machias last year by beating the Bulldogs 55 to 60 this year as they placed four runners in the top 14 slots.

Machias junior Martin Holmes won the race in 17:10.8, but it wasn’t enough as the five-member Valley team placed three among the top nine.

“I just felt better overall today,” said Holmes. “I had more rest and I was more focused.”

Lone senior Kirk Robinson (fourth, 18:24.2) led the Cavs and juniors Anthony Hibbard (sixth, 18:35.1), Mark Gaudet (ninth, 18:39.5), and Joel Bishop (14th, 19:11.0) followed. Sophomore Tyler Giberson was 33rd (20:18.7).

In Class A, the Cougars survived a strong finish by the Brewer Witches and pulled out a 68-69 victory. Mt. Blue junior Matt Dunlap won the race in 16:45.5 and two other Cougars finished among the top seven.

“I think Mt. Blue was actually further ahead of us with a mile to go, but our guys finished strong,” said Brewer coach Glendon Rand. “We ran really well. I think it was our best race of the season.”