AUGUSTA – Kayla Moan and Jenn Caton set a lofty goal for themselves Saturday.

The two Lisbon seniors knew they had to finish very high to compensate the expected finishes of two of Monmouth’s top runners.

“Me and Jenn wanted to even out the top,” said Moan. “We wanted to get second and third to even out Kerstin (Grenier) and Devon (Ayer), but I think we had a bad day for that. All season long, it’s been Kerstin, me, Devon and Jenn. That’s how it’s been, but today, I don’t know what happened.”

Grenier won the race and the Mustangs got second from Ayer. Moan finished fourth overall while Caton took seventh. It wasn’t what the two seniors had hoped for, but the day wasn’t a complete loss. Lisbon still reached its overall goal, edging Monmouth for the MVC title.

“We’re really close to the Monmouth girls,” said Moan. “We like all their girls, but I’m so excited. This is the first time we’ve ever gotten MVC champs.”

With just three teams scoring, Lisbon took first with 29 points. Monmouth was second at 33 followed by Hall-Dale with 64.

“To have the honor to have unseated Monmouth, a classy program that is well-coached and always prepared, is a great accomplishment,” said Lisbon coach Hank Fuller, whose team has finished second in the MVC’s numerous times.

Because only three teams scored, that helped turn Moan’s and Caton’s finishes into third and fifth, scoring-wise. Moan finished in 23:12 while teammate Angelica Bulgin took fourth (sixth overall) in 23:40. Caton followed in fifth at 23:42 while Meagan Thomas placed seventh (ninth overall) in 23:57. Kali Lavers finished in 24:37 for 14th, scoring 10th.

“Our pack was 1:25,” said Fuller. “That’s better than it has been all season. It was truly a team effort today.”

Lavers is a sophomore while Bulgin and Thomas are both freshmen.

“We needed to pack,” said Fuller. “We had a couple of freshmen that ran very well for us.”

Winning the race was a goal that Grenier had set since finishing second last year. She won the race in 21:53 with Ayer close behind in 22:23.

“I’ve watched that kid run since she was in sixth grade,” said Monmouth coach Rick Amero. “It was wonderful to see her accomplish her goal.”

It was a tougher run than Grenier made it look. She got out early as she had hoped and had Ayer pushing her from behind. Winthrop’s Ann Doyle was third and teammate Molly Lindsey was fifth.

“The weather was cold, and I have asthma,” said Grenier. “It was kind of tough on me, but I kept thinking, ‘This is my chance. It’s the MVC.’ I knew I could do it. I just pushed as hard as I could. It’s the best feeling in the world.”

It was also a bit bittersweet. Monmouth had won six straight conference titles and losing by such a narrow margin was disappointing.

“Being Runner of the Year felt amazing, but I knew our girls wanted to win it for the seventh year in a row,” said Grenier. “We’re really proud of Lisbon. They really put the work in. It was really close.”

Monmouth also got a sixth from Stephanie Spencer (eighth overall) and 11th from Abby Szotkowski (16th overall). Vanessa Sirois scored in 13th after finishing 19th. Amero said, on paper, Lisbon might beat them by 20 points, but efforts from the likes of Spencer and Szotkowski closed that gap.

“We had two or three girls at the end push as hard as they could for us to get the points,” said Grenier. “At the end, they came up to me and were like “I did it for you.’ They did all they could. It was really close, but I know all the girls on my team gave it their best.”

In the boys’ meet, Boothbay won with 49 points. Winthrop took second with 61 followed by Hall-Dale with 79. Lisbon was fourth with 89 followed by Monmouth (91) and Telstar (130).

It was a meet in which numerous teams were expected to challenge for the conference title, but Boothbay lived up to its status as the favorite.

“Boothbay is clearly a step above us, but on any given day any one of these teams could step in,” said Fuller, whose team had won five years in a row. “Boothbay has such a tough pack, and they’re all interchangeable.”

Hall-Dale’s Wade Davis won the race in 16:47. Madison’s Matt McClintock was second in 17:45. Monmouth’s Matt McCollett took third in 17:52 followed by Winthrop’s Pat Romar in fourth in 17:55. Lisbon’s top runner was Ethan Masselli in fifth in 17:56.

Boothbay had four runners score in the top 11, Nate Schwehm (7th), Matt Forgues (8th), Zach Campbell (9th) and Chase Brown (11th).

In addition to Romar, Kevin Leavitt scored fifth for Winthrop while Alex Cottrell was 10th.

Lisbon added Nick Jones in 12th and Alex Branson in 13th.

“They ran well,” said Fuller. “The times were good. Our No. 4 runner sprained his ankle at the beginning of the race. That dropped us back a little bit. Nonetheless, had he run well, we still would have gotten beat by Boothbay today.”