AUGUSTA — Edward Little cross country coach Dan Campbell relishes the role of being the underdog.

Two weeks ago a solid finish by his team was overshadowed by eligibility questions surrounding one of his runners. Saturday, the Red Eddies surprised everyone but their coach in capturing the boys' Class A team title over Brunswick in the KVAC Championships at the University of Maine at Augusta course.

Sadam Abdi finished fourth overall and four more teammates scored in the top 22 as the Red Eddies beat pre-race favorite Brunswick by a 65-84 margin.

At the Festival of Champions race in Belfast, the Red Eddies had one of their top runners disqualified when he was deemed ineligible. Running without him Saturday, the Red Eddies weren't expected to challenge for the top spot.

"I'm so proud of them," said Campbell. "Our guys did it. "It's redemption for them. To come back like this is a real treat. I didn't want anybody to see us coming. I'm ecstatic."

Campbell is one of the top coaches in the state when it comes to getting his runners' performance to peak at the right time and his team provided yet another example of that from top to bottom.

At an eight-team meet at Leavitt last week, senior John Barbosa-Neto ran the 3.1 mile course in 19 minutes and 30 seconds and finished in 23rd place. Saturday, he defeated 10 of the runners who finished above him at Leavitt and covered the distance in 18:27.

"Everybody did what they had to do," said Abdi. "I'm so extremely proud of them. They stepped it up today, especially Barbosa."

Will Geoghegan won his individual battle with Mt. Blue's Kelton Cullenberg to capture the top spot in a time of 16:09. Jason Kaake of Morse was second while Cullenberg finished third. Darik Frye of Hampden was the top Class B runner.

"It really comes down to who's feeling better that day," said Geoghegan of his competition with Cullenberg. "Running an even pace helps a lot."

The Hampden boys won the B crown by a 66-94 difference over Winslow.

The girls' race belonged to Maranacook sophomore Abby Mace who bettered her time by 22 seconds from last year and won in a time of 19:03. Kate Spies of Mt. Ararat was the top finisher for Class A. She finished over one minute behind the pace of Mace who quickly ran to the front of the pack and just kept increasing the separation. As she sprinted the final one-tenth of a mile, she looked as if she was running a 200-meter sprint.

"My coach told me to come out, relax and run a comfortable race," said Mace. "I should have picked it up a bit in the last 400 meters, but I had a good kick at the very end."

Mt. Blue's Melody Lam was feeling under the weather, but still had enough to finish third in the Class A scoring to help her team to a second place finish behind Mt. Ararat. The Eagles won by a 54-63 score.

"(Melody) fought her way through it," said Mt. Blue coach Kelley Cullenberg. "I'm glad to have five girls in the top 25 and there's room for improvement. That's what next week is for."
Maranacook (77 points) finished runner up to Medomak (54) for the girls' Class B title.