AUBURN — Winning is always important, but for the cross country coaches and runners, just being on the 3.1-mile course at Auburn Middle School on Thursday was a victory.

Edward Little, Lewiston and Messalonskee competed against the backdrop of a crystal blue sky and a warm sun, with the Red Eddies coming out on top in the girls competition with 25 points to beat the Eagles’ 30. Lewiston did not score.

In the boys competition, Messalonskee, which occupied four of the top five slots and prevailed, scored 20 points, followed by EL (48) and Lewiston (59).

EL sophomore Payton Bell sailed into the first-place position in the girls race with a winning time of 21:24.2. She said the course was fine, but the warm sun could take its toll on runners.

“But it was my home course so I tried to do my best,” Bell said. “I felt good all the way. I was struggling the second time coming up here, but felt good because I know on that last hill, it is just a downhill to the end.

“I guess the main motivation I had was just to keep going past the boys. I knew…I just wanted to keep passing boys as much as I can.”

“She is an outstanding runner,” Edward Little cross country coach Keith Weatherbie said. 

Weatherbie is trying to work around some key injuries.

“Three of my top four runners are injured. (But) my kids did a really good job,” Weatherbie said. “I was very pleased with them. I was just glad to have a meet. First one this year, but this could be our last. Who knows what is going to happen to Androscoggin County (on Friday).

“I was very pleased with Lewiston and Messalonskee. They came down and did a great job. We had a great day for it. I am happy we were able to get it in.” 

The Eagles’ Charlotte Wentworth (:22:54.8) owned second place, but the Red Eddies’ senior Lilly Vincent (22:56.1) and sophomore Emily Quinnell (:24:12.7) took third and fourth place, respectively. Messalonskee’s Rylee Spadea (:25:04.9) finished fifth. 

Lewiston’s only scorer, Paige Collins (:31:04.5), took 12th. Rounding out the top 10 were Messalonskee’s Kendall Arbour (sixth, :25:23.3) and Izabella Wallingford (seventh, 25:36.3 ), EL’s Kaelyn Langlois (eighth, 26:26.6) and Molly Vincent (ninth, :26:45.4) and the Eagles’ Grace Stocco (10th, :28:36.4).

“Collins is our front runner this year so I am excited to see her come back to train every week,” Lewiston coach Rebecca Dugan said. 

Messalonskee dominated the boys race, with six runners packing the top 10, including Junior Tieran Croft (first, 19:01), Zach Ross (third, 19:22), Evan Demott (fourth, 19:29), Caden Cote (fifth, 19:31), Owen Hargrove (seventh, 21:24) and Sam Segal (ninth, 21:33 ). EL freshman Ellis Slover finished second with a time of 19:17. Lewiston’s Adam Bilodeau (20:39) finished sixth and Feysal Abdirahaman (21:32) took eighth.

“I really didn’t feel that good coming into the race, but I guess that is partly due to nerves,” Croft said. “It was a really good race day. I am just glad we could come out here.”

Slover said it was a hard course, but that didn’t stop him from flashing a wide smile.

“There were two really strong (Messalonskee) runners and they just…you know…,” Slover said. “This is the best race ever (for me).”

Bilodeau said he just couldn’t turn it on at the finish line.

“The last part I just couldn’t push myself because I had such a bad cramp,” he said. “So hard to get through it, but it was worth it in the end.”

“Adam Bilodeau is great,” Dugan said. “He’s been working so hard this season. He ended up being one of our top finishers last season.”

Dugan added that she was impressed with her team’s performance and to see them persevere in their first meet.

“It feels great,” Dugan said. “It feels like a little bit of normalcy among the craziness, so it is exciting to see everybody out here competing.”

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