It's not always the team with the best runner that wins cross country meets. It's the team with the best pack of runners.

This point was made crystal clear Saturday morning at the Mountain Valley Conference Cross Country Championships. Hall-Dale High School's Wade Davis easily won the individual title, but Boothbay, which did not have a runner in the top five won the team title.

"This race was Davis and then the rest, and everyone is fine with that," Winthrop coach Jay Lindsey said. "Davis is still just one point."

Indeed.

Boothbay's first finisher was Nate Schwehm, who finished seventh, nearly two minutes behind Davis. But he started a run in which five of the next seven finishers were from Boothbay.

Winthrop finished second because its pack was nearly as good. Pat Romar (3rd) and Kevin Leavitt (5th) led the Ramblers, who also had the 10th-place finisher (Alex Cottrell) and the 19th-place finisher (Jake Gomberg).

Hall-Dale's next highest finisher after Davis, Dylan Sirois at 17th. The Bulldogs finished third.

The pack mentality also led the Lisbon girls to the team title over Monmouth. The Greyhounds placed all five of their runners in to the top 10 to beat the Mustangs by four points. Monmouth took the top two spots (Kerstin Grenier and Devon Ayers) but their next three finishers were sixth, 11th and 13th respectively. Very good, but not quite good enough Saturday because Lisbon's pack was so tight.