FALMOUTH — Silas Eastman learned a valuable lesson last week.
French fries and running don’t mix.

The sensational Fryeburg Academy sophomore opened a comfortable lead early at last Thursday’s Western Maine Conference cross country championships held at Falmouth Community Park. However, the second half of the race proved to be challenging as Eastman started to get cramps and fought off a late push by Waynflete’s Abshir Horor, who finished in 16:25.

Eastman broke the tape in 16 minutes, 18.80 seconds over the three-mile course to claim the WMC title.

“My plan was to take it out fast,” Eastman said in a post-race interview. “I just relaxed after the mile, and tried to hold a steady pace.”

Eastman’s time moved him up into fifth all-time at the Community Park. Last year, he ran it in 16:37. Other local notable runners on the all-time record list include: Miles Bartlett of Lake Region, second at 16:10, set in 2005; Tim Even of Fryeburg Academy, 16:48, good for 16th, set in 2006. The record holder is Alex Moser of York at 16:08, set last October.

Fryeburg’s Logan Gerchman was 28th overall in 18:23 followed by Dillon Knudsen of Lake Region in 30th at 18:26.

“We ran within ourselves. I was very pleased with our effort and competitiveness,” LR Coach Dan Dors said of both the boys and girls’ squads. “All of our boys bettered their times from the Falmouth meet two weeks ago.”

Other local finishers in the 92-runner field were:

38. Mark MacDougall, LR, 18:38
44. Seth Eastman, FA, 18:45
55. Chris Solter, FA, 19:06
56. TJ Leach, LR, 19:10
70. David Tucci, LR, 20:34
75. Andrew Carlson, LR, 20:50
77. Greg Locke, LR, 21:06
80. Tyler O’Keefe, FA, 21:22
85. Yutara Katayama, LR, 22:18
88. David Fulton, FA, 23:21

As for team standings, Falmouth won Division 1 with an overall time of 1:28.08, while the Lakers were seventh at 1:37.38. The Raiders were fourth in Division II at 1:33.54. Yarmouth was first in 1:31.17.

In the junior varsity race, which featured 135 boys, Sam Hodgdon of Falmouth set the winning time in 18:41.6. Lake Region finishers were: 46. Tucker Irish 21:15; 60. Mason Kluge-Edwards 21:55; 88. RJ Legere 23:15; 100. Ben Roy 23:43; 105. Michael Brasile 24:00; 130. Alex Hall 27:36.

Girls’ recap

Heather Evans of York won the girls’ three-miler in 20:10. Hannah Plowden and Laura Pulito of Fryeburg Academy placed 27th and 34th respectively with times of 22:42 and 23:19.

Marissa DiMaria was the highest Laker finisher in 52nd at 24:19.

Here’s how other runners fared in the 84-girl field:

50. Corrin Bedell, FA, 24:17
64. Maude Meeker, LR, 25:07
65. Kari Eldridge, LR, 25:10
67. Brianna Gallinari, LR, 25:24
71. Maggie Knudsen, LR, 25:56
73. Danielle Keller, LR, 26:36
82. Jenny Prince, FA, 29:49
83. Thu Hoang, FA, 30:02
84. Jamie Miller, FA, 30:52.
The Lakers were eight in Division I with a total time of 2:05.56. Cape Elizabeth was first at 1:45.55.
Fryeburg was third in Division II in 2:10.09. Yarmouth was first in 1:15.58.
In the JV race, which featured 69 girls, Jena Mannett of Falmouth was first in 22:27. Local runners were:
36. Amina Meziani, LR, 26:26
41. Julia Carlson, LR, 27:07
45. Christine Thiessen, LR, 27:43
48. Hannah Flagg, LR, 28:06
52. Leah Bennett, LR, 29:09
59. Mackenzie McHatton, LR, 29:55
64. Galina Niemy, LR, 30:17
65. Stella Fillmore-Patrick, LR, 31:00.

LR was fifth in 2:18.31. Falmouth was first in 1:57.47.

Up next: Lake Region travels to Gray-New Gloucester this Friday, Oct. 15. Boys at 4:30 p.m. and girls at 5 p.m.

Fryeburg Academy heads to Cape Elizabeth Friday, starting time 4 p.m.

Regionals will be held on Saturday, Oct. 23 at Twin Brooks in Cumberland. The State Meet is in Belfast on Oct. 30.