CUMBERLAND — Sometimes, it’s best to leave things unspoken.

Mt. Blue cross country running coach Kelley Cullenberg knew this week that her girls’ squad had a chance to place in the top three at the Class A stste championship meet.

But she never mentioned it to the team.

“I have some girls who get really worked up, and I didn’t want that to happen,” Cullenberg said. “We had good workouts, but played it really low-key. Even at the line (Saturday), I told them I’d thought long and hard about what to say, and I pretty much decided not to say anything. I told them, ‘You’ve got good legs, you’ve had good workouts, just go out and do what you know how to do.'”

Silence, in this case, was bronze.

Led by Melody Lam’s ninth-place finish, the Cougars leaped over Mt. Ararat and finished third Saturday, the top Eastern Maine squad behind champion Cheverus and runner-up Massabesic.

“It was pretty much a given that (Cheverus) was going to walk away with it hands down,” Cullenberg said. “Our biggest thing was to try to be the top Eastern team. We’d been close with Mt. Ararat all season.”

And while Lam was the pace-setter for the team, No. 5 runner Louisa Stancioff ran her best race and helped the Cougars pull through.

“Brand new runner this year, she ran a lifetime best today,” Cullenberg said. “It’s not necessarily the course she might normally do this at.”

Stancioff was the 36th runner to cross the line, and the fourth from Mt. Blue. By time, she should have placed somewhere in the 60 to 65 range.

“Her motivating factor was that she’s ready for the season to be over,” Cullenberg said with a wry smile. “If we place well enough overall and go to New Englands, I’ll have to break it to her that we have another race to run.”

The Cougars eventually learned that they did finish among the top teams regardless of class, earning a berth in next week’s New England meet.

Lam, meanwhile, felt like she left a little bit out on the course, but was overall satisfied with her top-10 finish.

“I thought it would go out faster, but when I looked around to see who was near me, I was just trying to stay with a certain group of people, because I knew they’d be going a certain pace.”

As expected, the individual girls’ crown was a tight contest between Abbey Leonardi of Kennebunk and Emily Durgin of Cheverus. Durgin upended Leonardi last weekend at the Western Class A meet, the Kennebunk sophomore’s first loss.

She got her revenge Saturday, outlegging Durgin by more than 13 seconds.
Cheverus completed the team double in grand fashion Saturday, earning a 14-point team victory over Scarborough in the boys’ race. Top honors in that race went to Brunswick’s Will Geoghegan, who outkicked Nate Hathaway of Scarborough by ledd than three seconds.
Mt. Blue’s Kelton Cullenberg placed fourth overall in the boys’ race.

“Considering I’ve been sick and coughing lately, I felt like I did pretty good,” Kelton Cullenberg said. “I haven’t been able to stick with Will through the two-mile mark since Festival of Champions, I think, so that was one of my goals today.”

On the team front, Edward Little fell to seventh with top runner Saddam Abdi running through a leg injury.

“He gave it a game effort out there,” EL coach Ralph Fletcher said. “The kid’s tough, and he wasn’t going to drop out of the race, but it was tough today. Overall, the kids ran well, both the boys and the girls (11th place) ran hard and ran well.”

Lewiston slipped to 13th after Faisal Abdillahi rolled his ankle on the course and limped home. Another Lewiston runner bowed out early, too.

Class C

Meagan Thomas hugged Lisbon cross country coach Hank Fuller.

“I did just what you said,” Thomas said through a smile as wide as the field behind her.

“I kept thinking to myself, ‘Aggressive, aggressive,’ and it worked,” she said.

Thomas, a sophomore, set a new personal best at 21:35.97 and placed third at the Class C state championship meet Saturday.

“The second mile, I told myself I had to go,” Thomas said. “That’s where all my energy kicked in.”

“To follow her race, she was back in ninth or so early,” Fuller said. “By a mile and a half, she was up to maybe seventh, and at the two-mile, she was in third, but with a pack. She just pulled away at the end.”

The final challenge at the Twin Brook facility in Cumberland is a hill just before a long downhill stretch to the finish. Last week at the Western Class C regional race, and again Saturday, Thomas used that hill to her advantage.

“I just like hills, I don’t know why,” Thomas said. “I like this whole course, really.”

The two runners who placed above Thomas run for Waynflete. Their 1-2 finish lifted the Flyers to a one-point win over North Yarmouth Academy for the Class C team crown.

Kiera Berkemeyer paced Telstar with a 15th-place finish, Alyse Carney led St. Dom’s in 19th position, and Kayla Minkowsky was Monmouth’s top finisher in 36th.

On the boys’ side, Boothbay made sure the MVC retained the state title, edging Freeport by one point to capture the state crown. Fellow MVC competitor Monmouth placed fifth, with Lisbon taking sixth.

Individually, Alex Branson led all area runners in Class C with a sixth-place finish. Ben Lewiston of Telstar trotted home in ninth. Kameron Souza of Winthrop was his team’s top finisher in 19th position.

Class B

Maranacook’s Abby Mace likes to run away from the field.

She just wishes there was someone else in the field who could keep up, at least for a little while.

Mace, a sophomore, crossed the finish line in the Class B girls’ state championship race Saturday and could have made it to the snack bar and back with a hot dog before the next runner crossed the line behind her. Her time of 18:48.30 was 1:09 better than Emily Attwood of Cape Elizabeth.

“It’s tough, I’ve gotten kind of used to (running alone),” Mace said. “I try to push myself really hard, but I can definitely can run faster if I have people out there pushing me.”

Attwood’s consolation prize, though, was a dominant team performance. The Capers placed all five runners in the top 21 and defeated York by 64 points. MDI,

John Bapst and Ellsworth rounded out the top five, Maranacook and Poland were sixth and seventh respectively.

Kendra Lobley, a standout for the Knights all season, crossed the line in 20:35.43, good for seventh overall.

“I actually felt pretty bad today, I had a lot of cramps out there, but everyone here was really fast, too,” Lobley said.

In the boys’ Class B race, Greely ran away with the team crown. Silas Eastman of Fryeburg placed second to York’s Alex Moser to earn silver.

Mount Blue High School’s Kelton Cullenberg, right, and Morse High School’s Jason Kaake approach the finish line while competing for third place during the Class A state championship cross country meet in Cumberland on Saturday. Cullenberg placed fourth.

Mount Blue High School’s Addie Cullenberg, left, and Edward Little High School’s Abigail Hart compete during the Class A state championship cross country meet in Cumberland on Saturday. Cullenberg placed 24th and Hart came in 26th place.

Mount Blue High School’s Melody Lam, right, competes against Fiona Hendry of Cheverus during the Class A state championship cross country meet in Cumberland on Saturday. Lam placed ninth, one spot behind Hendry.

Edward Little High School’s John Neto-Barbosa, left, runs during the Class A state championship cross country meet in Cumberland on Saturday.

Lewiston High School’s Hussein Ibrahim leads Gorham High School’s Adam Hawkes during the Class A state championship cross country meet in Cumberland on Saturday. Ibrahim placed 17th.