CUMBERLAND — A year ago, Teanne Ewings was the second fastest girls’ cross country runner in all of New England.

But the home-schooled senior who competes for the Houlton/Greater Houlton Christian Academy co-op team had never won a cross country state championship, as she was always chasing Orono’s Ruth White, a three-time New England champion.

That changed Saturday. With White now in college, Ewings ran the fastest overall time and captured the Class C title in 18 minutes, 38.95 seconds on the challenging 3.1-mile course at Twin Brook Recreation Area.

Ewings took the lead and pushed the pace hard. The strategy had her well ahead at the mile mark, and by 2 miles she had her winning margin over runner-up Karen Higgins (19:01.29), a fast-improving sophomore from Boothbay, and South region champion Soren Stark-Chessa (19:08.82) of Maine Coast Waldorf.

“I didn’t want them hanging around with me the last mile or so,” Ewings said. “I felt comfortable just going out with Karen and letting her set the pace a little bit, and my goal was from there to just keep making separation between her and I.”

Ewings was thankful to finally get an opportunity to cross the finish line first at a cross country state meet.

“It definitely meant a lot. My senior year, my last time racing here, and to see my whole team here meant a lot,” Ewings said. “It was really great.”

Higgins was the runner-up to Stark-Chessa at the South regional. Saturday, while Stark-Chessa ran a time just a bit slower than at regionals, Higgins was 25 seconds faster. More impressive is Higgins’ year-over-year improvement. She was more than 2 minutes and 30 seconds quicker than when she placed 19th as a freshman on the faster Troy Howard course in Belfast.

“I tried to stick with Teanne and maybe maintain a better pace than I did last time,” Higgins said.

On a hard, dry course with near-ideal temperatures in the low-50s, repeat Class A champion Samantha Moore of Portland (18:48.63), Class B winner Zoe Carroll of York (18:49.84) and Class A runner-up Addison Elliott of Hampden (18:54.82) also broke 19 minutes.

Moore, like Ewings, didn’t wait around to get to the front, establishing a comfortable 10-second lead after a mile. Elliott, the North champion, came from further back to pass several runners in the second half of the race.

“Last time (at the regional meet), I took it out pretty early and I thought that worked really well, and I felt really good coming out so I did it again,” Moore said. “I really wanted to break 19 (minutes). I did it last year at regionals and I really wanted to do it again.”

In the Class B race, Carroll was running just a half-step behind Mount Desert island senior Amelia Vandongen as they emerged from the woods just past the 2-mile mark. By the finish, Carroll was 21 seconds in front – and 25 seconds faster than her regional championship time – while Vandongen (19:10.21) was laboring to stay ahead of third-place finisher Lucy Huggett of Freeport (19:14.53).

Carroll, a junior, is in her first season of cross country. She also played soccer this fall. Carroll said she’s still learning strategies and tactics on the trails. She already possesses plenty of grit.

“During the race, I wasn’t really sure I was going to be able to (beat Vandongen) because she was going really fast,” Carroll said. “But I knew if I wanted to win, I just needed to give it everything I had and just push as much as I possibly could.”

Team champions were Falmouth in Class A, Mount Desert Island in B and Waynflete in C.

It was Falmouth’s first team title since 2000, when it won in Class C. Falmouth finished with 61 points, while runner-up Portland had 80. Sophomores Georgia Moon (fourth, 19:21.05) and Parker Fox (seventh, 19:49.26) led the Navigators, who also scored with seniors Maeve Ginevan (11th) and Haley Barrett (34th) and sophomore Elle Foley (13th).

“It’s been a really cohesive group,” said Jorma Kurry, Falmouth’s co-coach with Danny Paul. “They work together. They run together. The seniors took charge. They set it up with summer training, and the sophomores came on great.”

Waynflete barely edged Houlton/GHCA, 57-60, in Class C. Six-time defending champion Orono did not field a full team this year. Waynflete was led by sophomore Paige Alexander (fourth) and her junior sister, Grace Alexander (10th), with scoring from Lucy Olson (13th), Skylar Harris (22nd) and Emma Vickery (24th).

The MDI girls beat South champion Freeport, 41-53, with freshmen Rebecca Rand (sixth) and Kulani Granholm (10th) joining Vandongen in the top 10.

For the top runners and teams, their efforts also earned invitations to the New England championships. The three state championship teams advance, along with the next three lowest scoring teams when all runners are combined. Freeport, Portland and Camden Hills got the extra team bids.

Similarly, the three individual champions and the next 22 fastest overall finishers qualified.