CUMBERLAND — As Scarborough senior Nate Hathaway approached the end of the Western Maine Class A cross country championship race Saturday morning, he looked behind to see if anyone was threatening. Seeing no one, he slowed and jogged across the line, the apparent regional champion for the second year in a row.

Silly boy. The true danger lay not behind, but ahead.

What the well-trained legs of 105 competitors could not do, the searching eyes of a finish-line official accomplished. Hathaway was disqualified for the unpardonable sin of wearing a thin bracelet made of hemp on his right wrist, a violation of the No Jewelry Rule.

"It´s a good-luck thing," said Hathaway, who had been wearing the bracelet since some New Hampshire friends he met at a summer running camp made it for him.

Fortunately for Hathaway, his Scarborough teammates ran well enough at Twin Brook Recreation Area to qualify for the state championship meet next Saturday, so his season continues. Jack Terwilliger, a Cheverus junior who finished 14 seconds behind Hathaway, was declared individual champ, and the Stags easily won the team title, with 44 points to runner-up Massabesic´s 88.

Without Hathaway, Scarbor-ough dropped to third at 99 points, with Gorham (105), Windham (171), Marshwood (180), South Portland (184) and Deering (193) also advancing from the field of 15 teams.

"Honestly, I´m not going to let it bother me," said Hathaway, whose team would have been second by 29 points even with his score. "We train for one meet, and one meet only. That´s states."

York senior Alex Moser pulled away from impressive freshman Silas Eastman of Fryeburg Academy to win individual honors in Class B with a time of 16 minutes, 19.94 seconds -- fastest of the day, including the 16:35.41 of the villainous Hathaway.

Greely tucked its five scoring runners among the top 11 to easily outdistance the 13-team field, with 35 points to 74 for runner-up York. Falmouth (92), Cape Elizabeth (94), Yarmouth (132), Fryeburg Academy (142) and Maranacook (192) also qualified for the state meet.

In Class C, Madison sophomore Matt McClintock won comfortably in 17:03.97, and Freeport took team honors. Junior Griffin Day placed third and senior Henry Loughlin was fourth to lead the Falcons to a 68-97 victory over Merriconeag-Waldorf of New Gloucester, with Boothbay Region (107), North Yarmouth Academy (119), Monmouth Academy (130) and Lisbon (156) also advancing.

Terwilliger led a 1-2-3 finish for Cheverus, with seniors Taylor Dundas and Andrew Snyder also breaking 17 minutes. Tim Woods in eighth and Max Bulger in 30th completed the scoring.

While pleased with his performance after missing much of the season with an apparent recurrence of mononucleosis, Terwilliger wanted nothing to do with the individual title.

"(Hathaway) deserved to win," Terwilliger said. "Really, who cares if he wore a bracelet?"

Massabesic Coach Mark Crepeau, who remembers all too well the frustration of losing the 2007 Class A girls´ title because two Mustang runners were disqualified for holding hands at the finish, offered the runner-up plaque to Scarborough, but Coach Jim Harmon politely refused.

"We´ll advance, that´s the good news," Harmon said. "(Hathaway) ran a great race. It´s amazing you can wear a big, bulky watch, but ... "

Alas, not a string bracelet.

In Class B, Eastman stayed with Moser until the final stretch, finishing less than a second behind.

"Except for the Festival of Champions (in which Moser finished second to Hathaway), there´s been nobody to run with, to push hard," Moser said. "I like having somebody there. He´s definitely a very strong runner."

Mark McCauley (third), Sam Johnston (fifth) and Logan Price (sixth) led Greely´s winning effort, with Sam Humphries (10th) and Connor Regan (11th).

Staff Writer Glenn Jordan can be contacted at 791-6425 or at:

gjordan@pressherald.com