Lisbon hasn’t moved into Class A in cross country, despite the fact that recent results may make you wonder.

Earlier in the season, the Greyhounds finished in the top five at the Waterville Invitational surrounded by Class A programs. This past Saturday, Lisbon traveled south for the Scarborough Invitational and tied for first place with Class A Scarborough, which at the time was rated No. 4 in Maine by the coaches’ poll. Jared Cloutier won the race, and four Lisbon runners finished in the top 10.

“We’ve been running well lately,” said Lisbon coach Hank Fuller. “The kids have been really consistent.”

At the state level, North Yarmouth is the next target for Lisbon in Class C, while Telstar and Wiscasset remain the Greyhounds’ focus in the MVC.

Poll watching

Things haven’t changed much at the top of the 2003 high school cross country poll this week, nor have they for most of the season.

On the girls’ side, Mt. Ararat continues to steamroll its competition, and with the Eagles’ top three runners consistently in the top six of every meet they run, there is little doubt which team will be the team to beat at the East regional and again at the state meet. Mt. Ararat missed being the unanimous No. 1 by one vote.

On the boys’ side, Greely again is a unanimous No. 1 thanks largely to the best runner in the state, Ben True. MDI, Ellsworth and York remain tightly bunched behind Greely, while Edward Little slipped from sixth to seventh.

Pushover no more

Lewiston hasn’t been known as a cross country powerhouse in recent years, nor is it now. But, what once was an insignificant blip on the radar for most teams has started to flex its might.

On Friday, the Lewiston boys finished in a tie for second in a meet at Skowhegan with Maranacook at 60 points. The host Indians won the meet with 56.

Matt Cyr led the Blue Devils with an eighth-place finish in 19:16, while the rest of the team came in close behind. Jason Robustelli and Jon Lachance also finished under 20 minutes, followed by Nate Gosselin and George Foster.

The girls also finished well, finishing in third place behind Maranacook and Winslow. In that meet, Maranacook finished 1-2-3-4, with the fifth runner coming in at No. 17.

For Lewiston, Erica Lachance was the top finisher in fifth, while Tiffany Leblond placed seventh. Beth Flannery finished 16th, while Liz Stevens was 20th.

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