BELFAST – Sam Fletcher sprinted out to an early lead in the Eastern Maine Class A cross country championships Saturday, but he paid no heed to Satchel Paige’s warning about not looking back because someone might be gaining on him.

“I wanted to pick it up from the start and run real hard,” said Fletcher, who flew through the first mile in 4:50. “Then with about a mile left the cold had set in and I thought they were going to catch me. Then, I took a wrong turn (with about a half-mile left). I thought I might be in trouble.”

As it turned out, it was no trouble at all. Fletcher regrouped and stayed on course the rest of the way to breeze to the finish line in 16:26.3, 13 seconds ahead of Mt. Blue’s Matt Dunlap to earn first place in his first Eastern Maine regional.

“Sam’s run against Matt for a number of years and he knows how to run against him,” said Edward Little coach Dan Campbell. “He knows if he goes out fast, Matt doesn’t have that type of leg turnover. Matt’s a strong runner, but he doesn’t have the speed Sam does, so he knew he had to go out hard from the first mile-and-a-half, and then hang on.”

“Sam always starts out fast,” said Dunlap, who finished in 16:39.7. “If I want to have a chance (at the state championship) next week, I’m going to have to stay with him.”

Christopher Filteau of Waterville, Riley Bergeron of Edward Little and Kevin Roy of Morse rounded out the rest of the top five, but Mt. Blue placed five runners in the top 25 to squeak by Edward Little, 75 to 77, in a tight finish that echoed last week’s KVAC meet.

“We knew we had a chance coming in. We were only down by two points in KVACs,” Dunlap said. “A couple of us had an Edward Little guy right ahead of us, and we knew that if we could step it up and pass them we could do it.”

Freshman Adam Deveau (ninth), sophomore Joe Staples (19th) and seniors Wesley Hines and Aaron Whitten (22nd and 23rd) pushed the Cougars over the top. EL, competing in its first Eastern Maine regional, enjoyed strong performances from Gerald Pound (15th) and Gregor Noack (20th).

“We definitely wanted to make a statement. We came here to win,” Campbell said. “We knew Mt. Blue was strong and Morse was strong last week (at KVACs). You can’t make any mistakes when the competition is that close, and we didn’t make any mistakes. We just didn’t have our best possible race.”

“It’s very nice that Edward Little is here because now we know what we’re going to have to worry about (next week at the state meet),” said Mt. Blue coach Kelley Cullenberg. “Certainly having this win today is going to help us go in with a lot of enthusiasm. We realize now that it’s an achievable thing.”

Morse, Cony and Brewer rounded out the top five, while Brunswick, Mt. Ararat and Messalonskee also saw their team’s qualify for next week’s meet. Other local runners who finished in the top 25 were Leavitt’s Steve McCarthy (eighth) and Oxford Hills’ Chris Gatchell (21st)

In the girls’ race, Mt. Ararat’s Jesse Wilcox set a new couse record (19:18.9) and twin sister Beth finished third to power the Eagles to the regional title. Mt. Ararat topped the standings with 67 points, followed by Bangor (90), Waterville (92), and Mt. Blue (107). Brunswick, Edward Little and Leavitt also qualified for the state meet.

“Things didn’t really go the way we had planned for the girls,” Cullenberg said. “There were still some really good performances. It would have been great to win here today, but the bottom line is who advances to states. The big race is next week and we’re going to have to turn it around.”

Mt. Blue’s Lily Hanstein (20:10.4) led the Cougars by finishing fifth, behind the Wilcox sisters and Bangor’s Jolene Belanger (second) and Casey Dunn (fourth).

“Usually we have a big pack out front, and I was surprised with how broken up it got,” Hanstein said. “It made me really nervous in the first mile-and-a-half. I couldn’t stay with the top three girls at all. I wasn’t as fast as I hoped I’d be but I can’t really complain.”

Edward Little’s Sarah Gardner and Lauren LaRoche finished sixth and seventh respectively, while Mandy Ivey of Oxford Hills placed ninth. Carolyn Large of EL (23rd) Leavitt’s Vanessa Fereshetian (19th) and Julia Crosby (22nd) and Mt. Blue’s Jessie Smith (21st) and Jordan Daniel (24th) placed in the top 25.

Mount Desert Island won boys’ Class B, while Ellsworth won the girls’ race. In Class C, Sumner swept the boys’ and girls’ crowns. Shead won the girls’ Class D title, Madawaska the boys’.

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