BELFAST – As cool as Silas Eastman looked with his sunglasses and perfect hair, Nick Morris appeared just as offbeat with a haircut given by his teammates the night before.
But forget the style and look at the substance.
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Eastman, a Fryeburg Academy sophomore, completed his undefeated cross country season in Maine, winning the Class B state title Saturday at Troy Howard Middle School.
Eastman’s time of 16 minutes, 2.44 seconds over the 3.1-mile course was the second-fastest of the day.
Morris, a Scarborough High junior, won the Class A race in 16:25.15, leading the Red Storm to the team title — Scarborough’s fifth in seven years. Mt. Ararat, with runner-up Andy Reifman-Packett, was second.
North Yarmouth Academy, which won back-to-back Class C titles in 2001-02, collected another trophy, beating runner-up Freeport by 39 points.
In Class B, Caribou broke up the Western dominance, winning with 92 points ahead of Falmouth’s 100. It was the first Class B title by an Eastern team since Ellsworth in 1998.
The fastest time of the day belonged to Matt McClintock of Madison, who won Class C in 16:00.91. Merriconeag’s Jack Pierce finished fourth (16:45.27).
But no one caused more second looks than Morris, who retained his long hair in the back but had the top shaved, except for a strand that struck straight up and splayed like a palm tree.
“I grew my hair all year,” Morris said, anticipating the unique cut. What was not different was Morris’ strategy — “just like last week,” he said.
Like the Western regional he won, Morris hung back — 11th place at the mile — and slowly moved up. He jumped to second with 800 meters left, then caught Reifman-Packett with 150 meters to go.
“I expect Nick Morris to out-sprint me,” Reifman-Packett said. “I’m disappointed that I allowed him to get that close before I realized he was there.”
Still, Reifman-Packett beat his third-place regional time on this course by 29 seconds, running in 16:28.85.
Logan Marshall of Gorham was third (16:40.56) and Jack Terwilliger of Cheverus placed fourth (16:45.70). The early leader, Harlow Ladd of Messa-lonskee, dropped to eighth.
Scarborough won with 71 points, followed by Mt. Ararat (96) and Massabesic (123), which was led by Jakob Brooks (seventh) and Peter LePage (ninth).
“This one is obviously the one they wanted to peak for,” Scarborough Coach Jim Harmon said. “Nick Morris had a fantastic race. Same with the whole team. Still went out hard, but saved a little for the finish.”
After Morris, the Red Storm were led by Tom Hague (sixth), Robby Hall (19th), Zach Brown (22nd) and Wout Moulin (28th).
The Class B boys’ race was wide open, but Falmouth was hurt when John Lake, its No. 5 runner last week, was sidelined with a stress fracture discovered Friday.
Falmouth got its usual strong race from Tim Follo, who finished second in 16:21.30, but then a pack of Caribou runners came in, led by Christian Sleeper (fourth), Ethan Burke (12th) and D.J. Flynn (17th).
“Our seven guys ran as well as they could,” Falmouth Coach Jorma Kurry said. “But Caribou was outstanding today.”
Falmouth, paced by Follo, Conor McGrory (21st) and Henry Briggs (24th), finished eight points ahead of third-place Cape Elizabeth.
The Capers were led by Thomas Bottomley (eighth) and Leo Ledman (11th).
In Class C, North Yarmouth Academy held off an improving Freeport team.
“Freeport has been out to get us,” Cam Regan of NYA said. “We just tried to hold them off and stay in front of their pack.”
Regan (eighth), Evan Kendall (11th) and Rudy Guliani (14th) all finished before the Falcons came across with their bunch-together runners, led by Griffin Day (19th) and Bennet Wade (20th).
Elliot Daniels (22nd) and Grant McPherson (25th) completed the scoring for the Panthers.
Staff Writer Kevin Thomas can be contacted at 791-6411 or at: kthomas@pressherald.com
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