An overcast sky greeted runners at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School on Wednesday, but for the Warriors girls cross country team it was clear sailing toward the Dual County League championship.

Lincoln-Sudbury won the girls team championship with 52 points, with Concord-Carlisle in second with 73 points, and Weston third with 78 points, with its top three finishing an impressive fourth through sixth place.

"I'm happy with how the girls raced," said L-S coach Henry Phelan.

Seventy-nine runners from 12 schools (L-S, C-C, Weston, Acton-Boxborough, Newton South, Arlington, Westford, Tyngsborough, Bedford, Wayland, Boston Latin, Waltham) competed in the race, which featured unusally warm temperatures in 70s.

The course redesigned to extend the usual 2.75-mile course at L-S to 3 miles.

Coming out of the woods, L-S's Andrea Keklak and Newton South's Kathy O'Keefe led, with Acton-Boxborough's Christine Davis about 8 seconds behind.  Other runners had dropped off significantly.

"Running in a pack, it was hard to tell what pace we were going," Keklak said. "I just focused on the race to make sure I was in it at the end."

"It didn't bother me at all. I felt relaxed and pretty good," O'Keefe said. "I enjoy having other runners around."

For Keklak, it was her third DCL crown.

The other finishers for L-S were: Marika Crowe (ninth), Emily Knaul (12th), Katie LaScaleia (14th), Megan Broecker (16th), Sarah Mepham (27th), and Kathryn Coletti (36th).

In the boys race, 82 runners from 11 schools (A-B, Westford, C-C, L-S, Newton South, Weston, Arlington, Wayland, Bedford, Waltham and Tyngsborough) took part in the competition.

The race went out hard from the start.  After the first mile, most of the runners began to drop off, with Wayland's Brett Baker holding the lead, trailed closely by Newton South's David Melly, with A-B's James Sullivan and Curt Owen, C-C's Seamus Lawlor and L-S's Eli Hoenig (sixth place) not far behind. 

Coming out of the woods with about a mile to go, Melly had taken the lead from Baker. While most of the other runners maintained their places, L-S's Connor Daley made a late surge to pass a number of runners to move into seventh place. 

Melly finished first at 15:42 (5:02 mile pace).  In team scoring, A-B placed first with 46 points, Westford finished second with 70 points, and C-C placed third with 90 points.

"For the first mile, I was a bit stiff. Overall it was a tough race," Melly said. "When we came out of the woods, a coach yelled to me, 'No regrets,' so I gave it everything I had until the end."

The other finishers for L-S were: Matthew Barnes (18th), John Ruymann (30th), Stephen Hultin (32nd), Michael Quint (35th), and Greg Holdman (38th).