The Lewiston boys’ cross country team has journeyed a long way since August.
At a preseason meet in Augusta, only three Blue Devils completed the 3.1 mile course. For scoring purposes the team was given a pair of “ghost” runners.
At that point, no one could have predicted they’d be crowned Eastern Maine champions less than two months later.
“When I got up to the first meet,” says first-year coach Ray Putnam, “Jason Robustelli was our number one, Matt Driscoll was number two, and George Foster was our third. Then we went to the next meet at Edward Little, and we could only finish four kids.”
The lack of a complete team finishing wasn’t due to runners being out of shape. Some of them were nursing injuries after rigorous off-season and preseason running programs. Speedy Mohamed, last year’s top runner on the team, has battled injuries all season, and Putnam has been conservative in holding the walking wounded back throughout the fall.
Two weeks later, the Blue Devils showed a glimpse of better things to come.
“We went over to Edward Little and beat them for the first time in 10 years,” remembers Putnam. “(The kids) started to focus on (defending regional champion) Mt. Blue at that point.”
In 2004, the Blue Devils just missed out on a chance to compete in the state meet after losing a tie breaker by going to the sixth runner in the regional meet.
“Last year was a struggling year,” says senior Bashir Mohamed, who finished third in last week’s regional race at Belfast. “I remember sitting on the bleachers that day saying, This wasn’t going to happen next year.'”
Enter coach Putnam.
Putnam has been the indoor and outdoor track coach for the Blue Devils and has kept close tabs on the cross country scene as an official. He also filled in for one week last fall to run the team’s practices.
He was named head coach in the spring and came in prepared.
“Coach Putnam came in with a plan and we stuck to it,” says Mohamed. “He came with a lot of vibe and energy.”
“He’s given us different training tactics,” adds Robustelli. “We repeat three miles after doing 200 repeats, and that’s given us endurance. We also do hill work with the resources at our school.”
Driscoll and fellow freshman Robbie Leeman have been surprises. Leeman was encouraged to come out for cross country by former Blue Devil Tyson Morgan for the purpose of getting himself into shape for the ice hockey season.
Leeman, Mohamed and Jeff Lucier now take turns finishing in the top three spots.
“Robbie’s a warrior,” says Mohamed, who along with Robustelli, is one of the leaders on the team. “He’s fearless, but he starts out too fast. I’m always yelling to him, Robbie, slow down, run smart.'”
According to Putnam, Lewiston hasn’t won a regional title since 1995 and have only two overall. The 95 squad was also the last to qualify for the state meet.
“We want to be state champions,” says Bashir Mohamed. “I think we can do it. We’re underdogs right now, the same as in regionals.”
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