LISBON FALLS — Meagan Thomas’ strength as a top-seven cross country runner in Class C for Lisbon the last two years has been making her move once the runners have settled in after the first mile.

“The tactic is to get them in the middle. (Coach Hank) Fuller always says at the second mile, because people typically go out a little too hard in the first,” Thomas said. “You pick it up in the second because chances are almost everybody slows down.”

If there are hills to help her make her move at that point, all the better.

Thomas excels on the hills. It is where her strength and endurance make the difference and allow her to overtake her faster competitors. As they begin to fade, Thomas is just picking up a head of steam.

“I like the challenge of a hill,” she said. “When I’m in a long, open stretch of field, I just start getting into a zone, like a comfort zone. Whereas I see a hill as more of a challenge.”

Thomas has challenged for every conference, state and regional title she has competed for the last two years. She finished in the top five in each of them, except last year’s Class C state meet, where she finished seventh after rolling an ankle in the first mile.

“She’s able to take the success that she’s had without a swelled head,” Fuller said. “She is a very hard-working, very coachable, very reliable athlete.”

This year, the state championships are at Twin Brook in Cumberland, Thomas’ favorite course. She finished third in the state there as a sophomore.

With her sights set on her first individual title in 2011, and also running in college in 2012, the senior has been fine tuning her form and feet.

“She has worked very hard to take advantage of the hills and develop her foot speed,” Fuller said. “That included working on her form, which is often very difficult to get high school kids to work on.”

“The form is key because of your arms when you get tired and bring them up,” Thomas said. “You’ve got to run on your toes because if you land on your heels it stops you up. Staying on your toes helps you flow better.”

It wasn’t hard for Fuller to convince Thomas to run on the balls of her feet more. After all, she does her best running on her toes anyway, because running up hills on flat feet isn’t just bad form, it’s dangerous.

To develop her foot speed, she has focused on a grueling workout the Greyhounds use in practice that Fuller calls “Kenyans,” a series of 400-meter sprints interspersed with various calisthenics.

“It’s the hardest workout,” said Thomas, who hopes to attend and run for the University of Southern Maine next year. “but what’s good about it is it’s short. And it gets you in shape just like that.”

It’s also entirely on flat land, outside of her comfort zone.

If it helps her develop into a more complete runner the way she and Fuller hope it will, Thomas’ opponents won’t be feeling very comfortable with her on any part of the course.

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