Fleet-footed Miles Bartlett set his fourth consecutive course record last Friday, winning the Western Maine Conference championship meet and helping his Lake Region team to fourth place overall.

Despite the wet and sometimes muddy route at Falmouth Community Park, the Lakers senior covered the three miles in 16:10, ahead of John Forcella (16:29) and Ethan Shaw (16:30), both of Falmouth, and Cape Elizabeth’s Graham Egan (16:34).

Cape (46) won the boys league title ahead of Falmouth (63) and York (81). LRHS totaled 129 points.

“We finished fourth overall, which was our goal coming in,” said coach Dan Dors. “You’ve got Cape and York and Falmouth, who are among the top teams in the state. We finished behind them with a young team.”

Dors noted that Bartlett had set course records at Cape Elizabeth, Gray-New Gloucester and on his home course in recent weeks.

“I knew it was going to be wet so I wanted to take it easy and pick it up toward the end,” said Bartlett. When he saw some runners narrowing the gap, he exerted himself in strategic bursts. “Those three pushes really just opened up the lead so much that I could relax for the rest of the race and take it easy without cramping up.”

Teammate Kevin Floster (17:18) finished 12th, while Keegan Eldridge (18:34) was 32nd in the field of 99 runners.

In the girls race, freshman Tabitha Titzer (20:15) came in sixth for Lake Region, while her sister Jessica (23:01) was 42nd and Moriah Borsetti (23:17) finished 44th.

“Tabitha Titzer had a tremendous run,” said Dors, “and Moriah had her best race of the year.”

Cape (58) also won the girls team crown, while the Lakers (236) were 10th in the 12-team field.

“The hills were really muddy and steep and it was pretty bad,” Jessica Titzer said. “I kept on twisting my ankle, and my sister fell down and scraped her leg.”

The western regional meet will be held Saturday at Twin Brooks in Cumberland and the state meet follows on Oct. 29 at Leavitt.

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