BELFAST — Led by standout sophomore Dan Curts of the Ellsworth Eagles, runners from five Hancock County high schools turned in strong performances at Saturday’s Eastern Maine Cross-country Championships.

Curts took top honors in the Class B boys’ race, leaving the rest of the field well behind with his winning time of 16 minutes and 41.90 seconds, the second best time of the day regardless of class.

With four runners among the top 15, the Eagle boys came up just short in the team competition, finishing as Class B runners-up, just four points behind the champion Caribou Vikings, with 59 points.

The Eagles got an 11th place finish from sophomore Robert Looker in 18:05.56 with junior Kody Holmes placing 14th in 18:17.44, senior Stephen Kirby 15th in 18:23.46 and sophomore Brayden Beardsley finishing 18th in 18:29.00.

Behind them came sophomore Frank King, 21st in 18:32.62, and senior Blake Pattengale, 24th in 18:45.55.

The Mount Desert Island Trojans missed the Class B girls’ title by the slimmest of margins, finishing just one point behind the Camden Hills Windjammers.

All five of MDI’s scoring runners placed among the top 15, but the Windjammers caught a break when their fourth and fifth runners, who placed 17th overall and 23rd overall, each moved up a spot in the point count. That was because Naomi Holzhauer’s 15th place finish for Oceanside didn’t count in the team scoring since Oceanside failed to field the mandatory five runners.

Freshman Caroline Driscoll led the way for the Trojans, placing seventh in 20:36.11. She was followed by sophomore Nora Hubbell, ninth in 20:53.43; sophomore Olivia Erickson, 11th in 21:09.57; sophomore Maggie Paijnter, 12th in 21:16.30; and sophomore Isabel Erickson, 13th in 21:18.83.

Behind them came junior Malia Demers, 19th in 21:35.99, and junior Rachel McMinnimy, 32nd in 22:19.42.

Freshman William Fletcher ran to sixth place in Class B with a time of 17:41.20, leading the MDI boys to a fourth place finish with 131 points.

Following Fletcher for the Trojans were senior Jon Sproule, 26th in 18:48.12; sophomore Ransom Burgess, 33rd in 19:10.31; senior Sam Sproule, 34th in 19:10.54; freshman Ralph Magnani, 36th in 19:18.30; freshman Ethan Craigo, 47th in 19:37.03; and sophomore Andy Gallup, 57th in 20:03.57.

Sophomore Aleta Looker placed fourth in 20:22.63, leading the Ellsworth Eagle girls to a sixth place team finish in Class B with a score of 137.

Following Looker were freshman Haley Lawrence, 24th in 22:06.26; senior Mallory Nightingale, 36th in 22:56.16; freshman Mariah Brown, 40th in 23:13.76; senior Jamie Ford, 44th in 23:20.94; junior Brooke Dunn, 47th in 23:27.32; and senior Lauren Barkhouse, 49th in 23:47.29.

In the girls’ Class C championship, Bucksport senior Nellie Winship had the race of her high school career, placing second only to Washburn standout sophomore Carsyn Koch with her time of 21:17.38.

Washburn took top team honors with 45 points with the Orono Red Riots as runners-up with 61 points.

Bucksport’s Golden Bucks were third with 81 points and the George Stevens Academy Eagles were fourth with 83.

Behind Winship for Bucksport were senior Olivia Ekelund, 11th in 23:27.28; senior Avalon Langevin, 24th in 24:30.11; sophomore Amber Hall, 34th in 25:30.60; sophomore Sam Boothby, 36th in 25:50.34; freshman Chloe Stubbs, 41st in 26:22.24; and sophomore Jade Darragh, 45th in 26:40.92.

Senior Nicole Bakeman led GSA, placing 12th in 23:39.73. She was followed by freshman Madison Cole, 17th in 24:05.67; senior Amanda Moir, 20th in 24:13.56; freshman Cedar Slagle, 21st in 24:18.16; senior Ramsay Williamson, 32nd in 25:09.88; senior Lakota Bowen, 38th in 26:05.20; and junior Lilly Cousins, 40th in 26:19.67.

For the boys in Class C, senior River Vogel of GSA was the top Hancock County runner, placing sixth in 18:07.87.

Also for the Eagles, who did not field a full team, junior Gavin Rodgers was 26th in 20:07.71 and junior Kurt Shao was 62nd in 24:12.62.

The Bangor Christian Patriots took top team honors in Class with 33 points and the Sumner Tigers were fourth with 127.

For Sumner, senior Taylor Lee led the way, placing 11th in 18:43.43. He was followed by junior Brandon Wade, 19th in 19:32.96; junior Kyle Jordan, 29th in 20:21.16; senior John Sandiego, 44th in 21:42.51; junior Braden Wentworth, 48th in 22:13.99; junior Jason Smith, 59th in 23:33.92; and sophomore Patrik Orcutt, 69th in 25:04.47.

For ninth-place Bucksport, sophomore Robin Doyle was 22nd in 19:59.57, sophomore Austin Sargent was 38th in 21:15.53, junior Alex Bourgon was 63rd in 24:34.44, freshman Nic Chouinard was 64th in 24:45.09, freshman Tyler Young was 76th in 26:12.71 and freshman Amaziah Jones was 81st in 28:22.76.

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