BELFAST, Maine — Elizabeth Labun has experienced highs and lows while competing in the Eastern Maine Class A cross country championships over the last three years.
As a sophomore she placed fourth and helped Hampden Academy win the 2012 title by a scant two points over Mount Ararat of Topsham.
Then last year, Labun was third but Brunswick outlasted the Broncos when their 55-55 stalemate was decided by a tiebreaker involving the finishes of each team’s sixth-place runners.
But her senior season will conclude with one more happy memory of the quest for regional bragging rights, as her third-place effort Saturday on the Troy Howard Middle School course enabled the Hampden girls to win their second championship in three years and join the school’s boys squad in sweeping this year’s Eastern A crowns.
“In 2012 we won it and were very, very excited,” said Labun. “Last year we lost to Brunswick and that was definitely not too exciting. So we were really excited to be back this year and we practiced so hard and our girls just ran so well. I really love this team.”
Coach Richard Balentine’s squad had to withstand another challenge from Brunswick to regain those top honors, but Labun led five Broncos among the top 19 finishers.
That enabled Hampden to secure a 45-62 victory over the second-place Dragons — a fairly comfortable margin given last year’s race and last week’s KVAC championship meet that Hampden won by three points.
“We were coming in with that as the goal,” said Labun.
Sophomore Simone Withers placed sixth overall for the Broncos, while senior Stephanie Walker delivered one of her top performances of the fall to place ninth. Junior Bryanna Parker (14th) and senior Erin Murphy (19th) rounded out Hampden’s scoring contingent.
Brunswick placed three runners in the top eight, led by race winner Tessa Cassidy (19:29.93), but the Dragons couldn’t match Hampden’s depth. Tiffany Tanner finished fifth and Ruth Van Kampen seventh for Brunswick but were the team’s only other runners among the top 20.
Lewiston (113), Mt. Blue of Farmington (139), Mount Ararat (139) and Brewer (150) also qualified teams for next Saturday’s state meet to be run on the same course.
Senior Caleb Lord and sophomore Paul Casavant finished fifth and sixth as Hampden won a tight three-way battle for the boys title.
The Broncos finished with 70 points, compared to 76 for Mt. Blue and 78 for defending state champion Lewiston.
Casavant, for one, feels even better days are ahead for his team.
“I don’t think we had our best race today,” said Casavant, whose squad also won the KVAC championship a week ago. “I know I ran 30 seconds slower (than at the Maine Cross Country Festival of Champions held on the same course earlier in the month) and I was disappointed with that.
“I don’t think our team is happy with our finishes even though we won. I know we can do better next week.”
Sophomore Will Webb (16th) and seniors Spencer Canham (20th) and Justin St. Peter (23rd) also scored for Hampden.
“Our goal was to come in and win this,” said Lord. “We were just really focused on ourselves today and doing the best we could do.”
Mt. Blue was led by race winner Aaron Willingham (16:24.77) and third-place Dan Lesko, while Lewiston also had two top-six finishers in runner-up Isaiah Harris and fourth-place Osman Doorow.
Other teams advancing to states are Brewer (107), Messalonskee of Oakland (108), Brunswick (142) and Mount Ararat (144).
