Abby Mace will try to defend her crown, while Matt McClintock and Sam Seekins will attempt to win their first state titles.

Mace, a sophomore at Maranacook, is the favorite to defend her Class B girls cross country title, while Seekins of Erskine will compete for the Class B boys title and McClintock of Madison is in the mix to win the Class C boys race.

The state championship meets will be held today at Twin Brooks Recreation Area in Cumberland. The event starts with the Class A girls race at 11 a.m. It will be followed by the Class A boys race at 11:45 a.m., the Class B girls at 12:30 p.m., the Class B boys at 1:15 p.m., the Class C girls at 2 p.m. and the Class C boys at 2:45 p.m.

Mace won the Western B title at Twin Brooks last week with a time of 18 minutes, 54.16 seconds. Emily Atwood of Cape Elizabeth, who finished second to Mace at the Class B race last fall, was also second at the regional last week with a time of 20:04.09.

Seekins won the Eastern B title last week and will compete with defending Class B champ Alex Moser of Yarmouth for the state title today. Moser is familiar with the Twin Brooks course. He won the Western B title there last Saturday.

"He certainly has run there plenty of times," Seekins said. "Some people say that is a disadvantage, some say it's an advantage. You can overanalyze the course.

"It will definitely come down to how well you race."

Seekins won the Eastern B title at the Troy Howard Middle School course in Belfast with a time of 16:30.72.

"I've been toning down my training and I fell well rested," Seekins said. "I feel pretty good."

McClintock, a sophomore, finished second to Hall-Dale's Wade Davis in the conference, regional and state championship meets last fall. Davis graduated and McClintock has already won both the Mountain Valley Conference and Western Maine Class C titles.

The Class A boys meet should be one of the most competitive of the day. Defending Class A champion Will Geoghegan of Brunswick has separated himself a bit from the pack, winning the Eastern A title last week with a time of 15:42.02. Nate Hathaway of Scarborough finished second last season and was the first finisher in the Western A meet last week, but was disqualified for a jewelry violation.

Cony High School's Luke Fontaine finished fifth at the Eastern A meet last week and was third at the state meet last fall. He'll compete with Geoghegan, Hathaway, Jason Kaake of Morse and Kelton Cullenberg of Mt. Blue for the title.

"I'm feeling pretty confident," Fontaine said. "The course is pretty flat, which favors me. The ending is flat, so if I'm there at the end, I think I can win."

Fontaine beat Geoghegan at the Scot Laliberte Invitational at the beginning of the season by outkicking him at the end of the race.

"That is normally my strategy," Fontaine said. "In track it is easier to do that, but when it comes to cross country you have to push through the hills and everything. You can't lose focus. (Today) there is no losing focus."

A number of local teams qualified to compete in the championships today, including: Mt. Blue and Messalonskee in Class A girls; Mt. Blue and Cony in Class A boys; Winslow and Maranacook in Class B girls and Class B boys; and Hall-Dale in Class C boys.

Scott Martin -- 621-5618

smartin@centralmaine.com