BRUNSWICK — The high school cross country regular season has come to a close. The runners have worked through injuries, honed their craft, and are prepared as the postseason begins today and Saturday with conference championships on the line.

The Western Maine Conference kicks things off today at Saint Joseph’s College in Standish (3 p.m.), with Freeport among the schools in action.

On Saturday, the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference and Mountain Valley Conference titles will be on the line, with KVAC teams (Mt. Ararat, Brunswick, Morse) at Cony High School in Augusta at 11 a.m., while the MVC competition (Lisbon, Boothbay/Wiscasset, Richmond) is set to take place at the University of Maine-Augusta at 11 a.m.

Here is a look at the seven area schools vying for boys and girls titles:

KVAC

Mt. Ararat junior runner Lisandro Berry-Gaviria is the favorite heading into Saturday’s run.

He is the defending KVAC individual champion, and as a sophomore last year also won the Class A North Regional title and claimed the top spot in the State Class A meet.

Berry-Gaviria is joined by teammates Lucas Bergeron, Tyler Bernier, Andrew Chamberland, Nate Cohen, Josiah Langworthy and Grady Satterfield, a group of Eagles capable of bringing home a ton of hardware over the next three weeks.

“We will need a strong run from all seven, as we could end up anywhere from third to first place,” said longtime Mt. Ararat coach Diane Fournier.

The Eagle boys have dominated throughout the regular season, including coming off of a win at the Mt. Blue Relays in Farmington a week ago.

On the girls side, look for Mt. Ararat’s Caitlin Chambers, Camila Ciembroniewicz, Katie Lynch, Karli Leighton, Fay O’Donnell, Zoe Stevenson and Sara York to be in the mix.

Another KVAC team carrying momentum into the postseason has to be the Brunswick Dragon boys.

The squad picked up a ton of steam by winning the annual Festival of Champions race in Belfast recently. The event features teams from throughout Maine and New England, and the Dragons topped them all.

“I think that winning Festival of Champions certainly gave a boost to the confidence that the team has going forward,” Brunswick coach Dave DeLois said. “Having said that, the team realizes that winning at the upcoming meets will take the same amount of intensity and we will strive to do as well or better.”

Will Shaughnessy, Tyler Patterson, Cam Ashby, Joey Valliere, Andrew Chingos, Aiden Simmons, Dan Lyons and Chris Tucker are expected to compete for Brunswick, while the girls will feature Aela Hemberger, Margaret Chingos, Lillian Hatrick, Kaeden Green, Adeline Dolley, Malys Biot, Desiree Tanner and Chloe Brzozowski.

“I think that both teams should place well,” added DeLois. “The boys need to have a performance similar to FOC to win. Bangor, Hampden and Mt. Ararat will offer pretty good competition for the team.

“The girls are coming into their own. Their recent second-place finish to Camden at the Camden Invitational showed that they can keep up with the best of the KVAC.”

At Morse, Finn Thelan has been the top Shipbuilder runner this year according to head coach Dan Dwyer, who feels his “number two through our number six runners have run very close throughout the season, with our top runner from a year ago, Connor Freeman, finishing races in all positions, first through fifth, at some point during the current season.”

Dwyer features a pair of veteran runners on the girls side, as Sydney McCarren and Jenny Wilbraham look to end up in the top 10 among Class B KVAC squads.

“The team has weathered the cold virus and has all runners healthy and running at full strength for the upcoming championship meets,” said Dwyer. “Both teams look to give girls defending champion Maranacook and boys defending champion Lincoln Academy more of a challenge than a year ago, looking at building upon the results of the KVAC Championship meet into strong team performances at the Regional meet on October 20, leading to both teams qualifying for the state meet on October 27.”

WMC

At Freeport, the brother-sister duo of Lily and Martin Horne have been solid this season.

Lily Horne is the defending WMC individual champion and appears to be a favorite heading into today’s event.

“Lily looks strong to repeat but should be challenged this year,” said Freeport coach Brian Berkemeyer.

Elsa Blease, Katie Whittier, Jane Dawson, Allison Brown and Emma Abbott also run for the Falcon girls, while on the boys side look for Martin Horne, Alex Les, Paul Biberstein, Nick Mitch and Heath Cockburn to be in the mix.

“Both teams feel pretty good about WMCs,” Berkemeyer said. “If Yarmouth runs its top runners then we should get second for the girls. Fryeburg, Cape, Wells and York also look real good.

“On the boys side it looks like Greely should take it with ease if they run. After that it could be Wells or Freeport.”

Though Berkemeyer hopes for success today, he wants his squad to continue to get stronger, with the State Class B meet at Troy Howard Middle School in Belfast just two weeks away.

“As always we are preparing for states,” said the longtime Falcon leader. “On the boys side it will all come down to my fourth and fifth runners. It can be anyone of the last four to run. We head into states with solid teams. We have a front runner on each team in the Horne’s and solid packs.”

MVC

With programs seemingly becoming smaller and smaller, some schools have decided to become partners.

One such program is former longtime rivals and now a co-op — Boothbay/Wiscasset.

The team’s last regular-season meet was at Beaver Park in Lisbon with the Boothbay/Wiscasset boys finishing first and the girls second.

“As a combined team they are strong,” said Boothbay/Wiscasset co-coach Warren Cossette.

Faith and Glory Blethen of Boothbay finished 1-2 in Lisbon, while Wiscasset runners are Lily Yeaton, Maria West. Also from Boothbay are Grace Campbell and Zada Smith.

On the boys side, look for Will Perkins, Graham Harris, Fox Elder, Mason Erhard, Ryan Russell, Nathan Chatterton, Quinn Ranta and Nate Gilliam to be in the mix.

“I believe that they will all work hard to do their personal best in every competition,” Cossette said.

For the third straight season, Lisbon fields only a boys team.

The Greyhounds have performed well this year, finishing in the top three in several races.

David Schlotterbeck is the team’s top runner, with Aidan Laviolette, Kadrian Rugullies, Michael Ray, Geoffrey Shambarger, Max Boulet, Corbin Hall, Alex Cole and Dave Poulin filling out the squad.

“Our season has shown us that going into MVCs we have a great shot at making a run for a conference title for the boys,” said Lisbon coach Jeremy Williams. “We have run well all season and look to be in a tight field at the top. The field is close with us and Boothbay/Wiscasset going back and forth. The last couple meets we have gone back and forth with them separated by only a couple points in those matches. It’s going to come down to who has the better day.”

First-year Richmond coach Libby Ladner has a few individual runners that will run on Saturday in Augusta.

“My top two girls are Leah Wescott and Erica Dickey,” said Ladner. “They have both been pretty consistent with their race times. I am very proud of their efforts. They will both be competitors in the postseason meets.

“My top boys are Owen Stewart, Ford Strout and Spencer Soule. I expect our boys to have their best races in the postseason meets.”

The Class A North Regional runs will take place Oct. 20 in Belfast, while Class B and C South runners head to regionals at Twin Brook in Cumberland Oct. 20.

This year’s state championships return to Troy Howard Middle School on Oct. 27.

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