enlarge Doug Austin/Special to the Telegram

Emily Durgin of Cheverus was the fastest girl on a muddy course in Manchester, Conn., as she won the New England cross country championship Saturday.

MANCHESTER, Conn. — Ten minutes before the start of the 75th New England cross country championship meet Saturday morning, a heavy downpour drenched the 263 girls preparing to run 5,000 meters through hilly Wickham Park as the remnants of Hurricane Ida gurgled across central Connecticut.

Cheverus High sophomore Emily Durgin reached for her long ponytail and twisted it with both hands, wringing water from her hair.

"I felt like I was wearing a swimsuit," Durgin said. "The whole race, I was more worried about falling than winning."

Durgin remained upright and made it two championships in a row for Maine by splashing away from a New Hampshire runner in the final quarter mile to win the race in 18 minutes, 35 seconds.

Kelsey Smith of Exeter placed second, seven seconds behind.

A year ago in Manchester, N.H., Durgin was the New England runner-up to Abbey Leonardi of Kennebunk. After losing to Durgin in the Western Class A meet in late October, Leonardi reclaimed her state title last weekend but decided to pass up the New England race in order to rest for the Foot Locker Northeast Regional later this month.

"Abbey wasn't here, which was a little unfortunate, I thought," Durgin said, "because it was a big thing for Maine to have two up there (so high) last year. But Abby Mace (of Maranacook) finished (10th) and (Cheverus teammate) Fiona Hendry finished 13th, so we had a good group of people."

Cape Elizabeth senior Emily Attwood came in 23rd, giving Maine four runners with all-New England status for a finish among the top 25.

Amid a light drizzle in the boys' race an hour later, Brunswick senior Will Geoghegan placed third to lead a Maine contingent that included Nate Hathaway of Scarborough in fifth and Kelton Cullenberg of Mt. Blue in 10th.

"I got out well, up in that lead pack," said Geoghegan, whose time of 16:13 was 16 seconds behind race winner John Raneri of New Fairfield, Conn. "Once we got to about 800 meters left, I could hear people cheering for (two runners just behind him) so I just tried kicking as hard as I could."

Two other Maine boys achieved all-New England honors: Darik Frye of Hampden Academy was 18th and Jason Kaake of Morse was 20th.

York senior Alex Moser, who led the boys' field of 266 through the opening mile, just missed a medal in 26th place.

"Last year I didn't go out fast enough," Moser said, "so I didn't want to make that mistake again."

Led by Durgin and Hendry, Cheverus finished fifth among the 30 girls' teams, one place better than Cape Elizabeth in last year's New England meet. It was the best showing ever for a team of Maine girls.

"That's really icing on the cake at this point," said Cheverus Coach Valerie Guillet. "On a course like this when you feel like you're in a washing machine, banging left and right, there's a lot going on. So focusing on shirts of a certain color really isn't going to be your highest priority."

Cape Elizabeth Coach Mary Ann Doss, after seeing the toll on her team from winning a third straight state title, told her girls to simply enjoy themselves. They listened, finished 12th, then ditched their spikes and joined the Mt. Blue girls in flinging themselves down a hill in a series of impromptu mudslides.

"I was thinking during the race that I was having so much fun," said Rachel Nichols, who described runners leaping over fallen opponents, chatting about the ridiculous conditions and even pointing out areas of interest ("Ooh, an aviary!") within the park.

The top boys' team from Maine was Greely, the Class B state champion, which tied for ninth with Amity (Conn.). Scarborough, the Class A runner-up, finished 12th, one point ahead of state champ Cheverus, which tied for 13th with Canton (Conn.).

Bishop Hendricken of Rhode Island won the boys' meet by one point over Bishop Guertin of Nashua, N.H.

The other three Maine teams finished 18th (Gorham),...