BY KEVIN ROUSSEAU

Correspondent

Hall-Dale senior Wade Davis and the Monmouth Academy girls will attempt to defend Mountain Valley Conference titles, while the Winthrop boys finally hope to break through and win their own.

The Maranacook girls, meanwhile, return a good group of talent in their quest to repeat as Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B champions, and the Mt. Blue girls will be without one of the state's best runners from a year ago.

The 2008 season should be extremely competitive both for teams and individuals in the central Maine area.

The Winthrop boys won the Class C state title last fall, breaking Lisbon's four-year hold on the crown. They graduated their top two runners, Danny Soltan and Tor O'Brien, but return three runners, seniors Alex Cottrell, Kevin Leavitt and Pat Romar, from their state championship team.

"We had been knocking on Lisbon's door for three years. It was nice to finally break through," Winthrop coach Jay Lindsey said.

Even as defending state champions, Winthrop has a piece of unfinished business. One of the Ramblers' goals is to end their 25-year drought and win the MVC title for the first time since 1983.

Hall-Dale returns one of the state's top runners in Wade Davis. Last fall, Davis won both the MVC and Class C state titles. As a sophomore, he finished eighth at the state meet and realized he needed to improve his foot speed. In the offseason he focused on his speed work and cashed in because of it.

Teammates Alex Colon and Ben Garant will help Davis lift Hall-Dale into contention for the MVC title.

Defending Class A individual champ Silver Hunt did not return to the Mt. Blue girls this fall. The Cougars still have a talented squad, led by junior Melody Lam, who finished second at the Eastern A regional meet.

"We will obviously miss (Hunt) but I don't think it will affect where we finish," Mt. Blue coach Kelley Cullenberg said. "We are going to have a little bit more depth than we did last year."

Senior Marjorie Hardy and Hannah West both return to give Mt. Blue a solid group of runners.

For six years, the Mountain Valley Conference title has belonged to the Monmouth Academy girls. This fall, the Mustangs return Kerstin Grenier, who finished eighth at the state championship meet, as well as Kristin Freeman (20th at states) in their quest to make it seven straight.

The Mustangs will have to fend off Hall-Dale and Madison, who return strong runners as well. Hall-Dale lost 2007 Kennebec Journal Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year Magen Ellis to graduation, but returns senior Katie-Jo Styczynski, who finished 17th at the Class C championship last fall. Sophomore Gabby Savage will lead Madison.

The Maranacook girls won the KVAC B title last year, but struggled against the tough Western B teams at the regionals and failed to make the state championship, finishing seventh.

"It's frustrating because there are teams that go on to states (from Eastern B) that we have beaten," said Maranacook coach Rosalea Kimball.

Maranacook seniors Taylor Burr and Emily Harriman provide a solid foundation for the Black Bears to defend their KVAC title. Both runners finished in the top 10 at the conference championship last October.

Meanwhile, the Cony boys return one of the top junior runners in the state in Luke Fontaine, who finished 10th at the Class A state meet last fall. The Cony girls are led by junior Morgan Beede, who finished fifth at the KVAC A meet and 12th at the Eastern A championship a year ago.