They were a team in the not-so traditional sense.

For starters, the group of cross country national champs -- yes, national champs -- didn't train together. They communicated mostly via e-mail and an Internet social networking site. And when the nine runners ventured to Mechanicsville, Va., for the annual USA Track & Field National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships, they mostly traveled alone.

But once together, a band of boys from Maine bested a 20-team national field to win the intermediate division championship. The division was open for runners born in 1992 or 93.

"It was pretty neat," said Mt. Blue High School junior Kelton Cullenberg, who finished second out of 213 runners with a time of 16 minutes, 8 seconds. "There was a whole bunch of good people there, and all you could do was hope to do your best and fit in."

The team, named the Lakers, did more than just fit in.

They dominated. The Lakers finished with 53 points to easily outdistance the West Coast Gazelle, who had 95.

"It was great," said Cony junior Luke Fontaine, who finished 35th (16 minutes, 58 seconds). "We got to do a bunch of stuff. All of us got to go up on the podium and get our national championship medals."

The Lakers also featured the following runners: Liam Cassidy and Will Geoghegan of Brunswick; Logan Price of Greely; Alex Moser of York; Jack Terwilliger of Cheverus; Charlie Jones of Fox Islands; and Briar Beede of Cony.

Abby Mace of Maranacook finished sixth overall in the girls youth division. Kelby Mace finished 11th overall in the bantam division.

"We didn't train together because we were all from around Maine," said Beede, who finished 167th. "That was the hard part. We can't have our high school coaches, so we had Geoghegan's mom be the coach. She pretty much worked it out and sent e-mails. We all got on a training routine and had workouts."

So how did the team form?

"We basically asked over the Internet who was interested in running on the team," Fontaine said, "and we got a team together."

Added Cullenberg: "A few guys we didn't end up getting, but it worked out all right."

Cullenberg, along with Geoghegan and Cassidy, was part of a Lakers team that finished second at the same meet last season.

He said that experience provided ample motivation to not only return, but win the meet this year.

"Last year we had no clue how we would do," he said. "We were like, 'Oh shoot, if we had known we were that good we would've tried a little harder.' This year we were definitely going down to win it."

Fontaine, Beede and Cullenberg said the experience also helped forge new friendships.

"I got to know them after this," Beede said. "We'll be able to say 'hi' during the high school season. It's really cool. It was definitely a cool experience getting to know everyone."

Added Cullenberg: "They are all pretty much my main competition, so knowing them personally makes it more fun. It's almost like racing your own teammates."

Bill Stewart -- 623-3811, ext. 515

bstewart@centralmaine.com