The Messalonskee High School boys cross country team spent so much time training hard for the upcoming conference, regional and state championship meets, they approached the Mt. Blue Relays as a change up in the routine.

“They’re training hard. They’re working hard,” coach Sara Rushton said. “The Mt. Blue Relays was really wet and sloppy. It was just a fun workout.”

Messalonskee’s top three runners, Logan Moses, Emmitt Heath and Kyle Howard, are each running well, Rushton said. In a field of more than 775 runners, Moses placed 40th at the Festival of Champions race in Belfast on Sept. 29.

“They’re all dropping time, right on schedule,” Rushton said.

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For both the Maranacook Community School boys and girls cross country teams, the key all season has been consistency, coach Roselea Kimball said.

“We’re looking very strong,” Kimball said.

For the girls, senior Caroline Colan is having her best season. Colan had the best time for a girl at the Mt. Blue Relays, running her 2.03 mile leg in 13 minutes, 34 seconds.

“(Colan) trained harder than ever over the summer,” Kimball said. “She’s pretty determined and it’s showing in her performance. She’s setting all kinds of P.R.’s (personal records).”

Other top runners for the Maranacook girls include Hannah Despres, Sydney Green, Lexi Paradis and Jaycee Greely.

For the boys team, Jason Stevenson and Austin Landry, both juniors, have become co-No. 1 runners, Kimball said.

“They’ve been neck-and-neck the last few races,” Kimball said.

Kilton Webb, Luca DeAngelis and Ethan Harriman are also among the Black Bears top runners.

After the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference meet, the Black Bears will run in the Class B West regional.

“We’ll be competing against a lot of teams we haven’t seen yet, but we’ll see at states, which is good,” Kimball said.

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The Mt. Blue boys and the Mt. Ararat girls won the Mt. Blue Relays on Friday. The Mt. Blue boys turned in three of the four fastest times, with Justin Tracy taking first (11:26), Josh Horne third (11:39) and Sully Jackson (11:40) fourth.

Five runners each run 2.03 miles, for a 10.15 mile team time. The Mt. Ararat girls just edged Waterville for the team title, with a team time of 1:14.05 to Waterville’s 1:14.53.

Maranacook’s Caroline Colan had the best day for a girl by a large margin. Colan’s time of 13:34 was 15 seconds better than the 13:49 of Mt. Ararat’s Kelly Lynch.

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The KVAC meet will be Saturday at Cony High School in Augusta. The boys race is at 11 a.m., with the girls race at 11:45. The junior varsity races will follow.

Also Saturday, the Mountain Valley Conference will hold its championship meet at the University of Maine at Augusta. The meet begins at 10 a.m.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com