BELFAST – Same old, same old met a fresh face at the Class D state cross country championship race on Saturday.

Elan School of Poland captured its fourth title in eight years at Troy A. Howard Middle School, edging Madawaska by five points and Lee Academy by 10.

Meanwhile, in the girls’ race, Lee Academy became the first school other than Monmouth or Elan to win a Class D crown, boys or girls, since 1997.

The Buccaneers and Mustangs have combined to win the boys’ and girls’ Class D crowns 14 times in last eight years.

“It’s good to be on top again,” said Elan coach Peter E. Rowe of the boys’ win. “This year’s team is a tight team, both on the trail and off it. I told our No. 1 runner before the meet today that if was able to win the race, the team would win the title.”

Daniel Seltzer of Elan did in fact win the Class D boys’ race in 17:34, leading his team to a win.

“For these kids, this is nothing short of amazing,” said Rowe. “In these troubled times, these kids have found a piece of togetherness. I don;t know that another team or school goes through what these kids go through.”

In the girls’ race, Monmouth gutted out a second-place finish, 28 points behind Lee, despite two runners running with injuries.

“They ran with pure guts today,” said Monmouth coach Rick Amero. “They had nothing left in the tank at the end of the race.”

As the Monmouth runners crossed the line, most of them stopped short of the finish chute, collapsing into a heap next to an adjacent table. At one time, six different Monmouth runners sat dizzied and exhausted.

“Those that weren’t hurting tried to make it up for the ones that were,” said Amero. “What else can you ask of a group of runners like this?”

The Monmouth boys finished in sixth place.

Mt. Blue takes third

The Mt. Blue boys’ and girls’ teams finished a Class A state championship meet with their best combined total ever when both teams placed third in their respective races Saturday.

Adam Deveau led the boys with an eighth-place finish, followed by Joe Staples in 13th place, while Lily Hanstein (ninth) and Amanda Gunter (19th) led the girls.

“It was a good day, and we are happy,” said Mt. Blue coach Kelley Cullenberg. “I still wish we had had a chance to run with the Western teams a little bit to know what we were up against, but it turned out pretty well otherwise. It’s hard to go into a race like this cold.”

In the girls’ race, Mt. Ararat placed three runners in the top six, including a 1-2 finish from twins Jessie and Beth Wilcox and No. 6 finish by Krystal Douglas, to win by 36 points over Western champions Deering High School.

“This is the third year we run a team like this,” said Mt. Ararat coach Diane Fournier. “This is the first year we’ve been able to have everyone ready to go and healthy at this time of year.”

The Wilcox sisters and Rose Lebel, 23rd overall Saturday, are seniors.

In the boys’ race, Scarborough again left Belfast as the winning team, and this year it is likely to stand. Last year, the Red Storm won by the slimmest of margins and then were stripped of their title due to an ineligible runner. This year, they left little doubt, besting Bonny Eagle by 62 points to claim the title.

Mt. Blue finished a close third.

“We were kind of hoping for a top two there,” said Cullenberg. “We knew Scarborough had a good team and of course after what happened last year I am sure they were hungry, but Bonny Eagle, we really just didn’t know.”

Leavitt’s girls’ team finished in eighth place, while Edward Little finished 11th.

Individually, brothers Ayalew and Sintayehu Taye of Portland finished 1-2, with Ayalew Taye running the fastest time of the day regardless of class (15:39.58). Edward Little’s No. 1, freshman Nick Kazar, followed his win at the Eastern regional last weekend with a fifth-place finish Saturday, the best Eastern runner in the field. Leavitt High School’s top runner, Justin Fereshetian finished in 22nd place overall, while Lewiston’s Speedy Mohamed crossed in 49th overall, in 18:31.

A Class above

Those looking for the tightest and fastest races on Saturday were lucky to have been at the course early.

Class B runners stole the speed spotlight in both the boys’ and girls’ races, with Cassie Hintze of Old Town crossing in 17:52.6, less than three seconds ahead of Elise Moody-Roberts of Cape Elizabeth in the day’s most hyped race.

“It was great to run with her,” said Moody-Roberts. “It’s a totally different race to run with someone who’s faster than you. I haven’t done that all year. I knew I would have to run my best race of the year just to keep up. It wasn’t necessarily my style, to go out quick, but I was surprised to be as close as I was that late in the race.”

Moody-Roberts and Cape edged Hintze and Old Town on sixth-runner displacement for second in Class B, with Eastern champion John Bapst taking the crown.

In the boys’ race, Levi Miller of Belfast withstood his stiffest challenge of the season, from Miles Bartlett of Lake Region, to win in consecutive years on his home course. Miller’s time of 15:42 was 10 seconds better than Bartlett.

In the team competition, Greely outlasted Cape Elizabeth and Falmouth for the Class B crown.