Edward Little High School shouldn’t be able to sneak up on anybody at Saturday’s Eastern Maine Regional cross country championship meet in Belfast.

Then again, it boggles the mind that the Red Eddies have been able to get away with the underdog label for this long.

Somebody should have anointed EL a prime contender for regional and state titles after the Eddies initially tied for second behind Scarborough in the Festival of Champions, held Oct. 3 across the same Troy Howard Middle School trails where the Eastern Class A title run will be contested.

That’s before Faisal Noor’s run was disallowed, dropping the Eddies to a highly deceptive 12th in the team sweepstakes.

“We’ve been dealing with some eligibility questions,” EL coach Dan Campbell said in the days after that race, “but we’ve tried to stay focused on the task at hand.”

Noor was reinstated prior to last weekend’s Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference championship race at the University of Maine at Augusta. That’s where EL let any remaining secrets out of the bag.

Sadam Abdi, Noor and Omar Abdi all placed in the top 13. Hussein Mohamed was solid, and John Barbosa-Neto turned in the best 5-kilometer run of his life to grant EL the league crown by 19 points over Brunswick and 24 over Cony.

Wondering how those results translate to the regional meet? No translation is necessary.

The thought that you never get a second chance to make a first impression doesn’t hold true in this case, because the same dozen schools are represented at both the KVAC and Eastern A meets.

“I’ve felt since the start of the season that if we could develop a fifth runner, we would have a chance to be a top-three team at the conference, regional and state level,” said Campbell, whose team appears a lock to end a two-year drought of not qualifying for states.

It wouldn’t be a shock if any member of EL’s top trio pulled off the individual race victory. Sadam Abdi (fourth) was the top EL finisher at the KVACs. 

Prior to his transfer across the river, Abdi helped Lewiston to multiple league and sectional titles.

“Those three guys have been able to challenge and push each other all year,” Campbell said.

Will Geoghegan of Brunswick was the KVAC individual champ.

Defending champion Lewiston is a longshot to reclaim the top spot after finishing fifth last weekend, but Hussein Ibrahim and Faisal Abdillahi each were less than 90 seconds off Geoghegan’s winning pace.

Dayib Noor also has been a pleasant surprise for the Blue Devils this fall.

Kelton Cullenberg of Mt. Blue is a contender for the boys’ title. He finished third behind Geoghegan and Jason Kaake of Morse in the conference showdown.

Mt. Blue’s Melody Lam is the defending individual champion on the girls’ side. Her Cougars also carry some unfinished business into the meet after finishing six points behind Brewer at last year’s regional and nine points off Mt. Ararat’s winning total at KVACs.

Junior Gwen Beacham and sophomore Addie Cullenberg look to back up their top-10 conference finishes. Regional title hopes may hinge on the Cougars’ 4-5 tandem of Shelby Aseltine and Louisa Stancioff.

Kate Spies and Emma Wood anchor Mt. Ararat’s hopes. Spies was the KVAC champion. Kathleen McMahon of Brunswick also is a threat for the individual title along with Lam and Oxford Hills’ Sorrel Dunn.

Stephanie Elwell and Audrey Bennett are the top runners for EL, which finished fifth at UMA. Nicole Court-Menendez and Ali Butler lead a young Lewiston squad. 

In Class B, Allison Fereshetian leads Leavitt’s aim of expanding upon its fifth-place girls’ showing at the KVAC meet. Timothy Enos and Cody Cyr head the Leavitt boys.

The Class A race is scheduled first, with the girls at 11 a.m. and boys at 11:35 a.m., an ominous weather forecast permitting. Class B girls are at 12:10 p.m., followed by the boys at 12:45 p.m.