SACO — To quote former New York Yankee catcher Yogi Berra, it was “deja vu all over again,” at the 2009 Southwestern Maine Activities Association Cross Country Relays yesterday.

Abbey Leonardi of Kennebunk High School and Nate Hathaway of Scarborough High School defended their title of best male and female cross country runners against opponents from all 11 of the SMAA schools at yesterday’s meet, which was held at Thornton Academy’s Dr. Paul S. Hill Stadium.

Leonardi ran the 1.6 mile course in 8:51, twelve seconds better than second place finisher Emily Durgin of Bonny Eagle. Leonardi also ran the fastest time last year at the SMAA relays, running a time of 8:46, which broke the course record.

Leonardi, who placed first at the Maine Cross Country Championships and New England Championships last year, said one of her goals is to improve her times this season.

“I want to repeat hopefully what I did last year,” Leonardi said. “I definitely want to qualify for the Foot Locker Nationals.”

Leonardi said the SMAA Relays gives her an idea of what to work on for the season.

“Yeah, just to know where I am from last year and to get excited for the season,” she said.

While Leonardi dominated the individual competition, Cheverus High School torched all other schools in team scores, as they placed first with an overall time of 49:36, almost three minutes faster than Scarborough High School, who placed second. The Stags were helped by the individual efforts of Fiona Hendry and Liana Rubinski, who placed third and fifth on the individual level, respectively.

Massabesic finished in third place with a time of 52:59, with Thornton Academy finishing fourth and Catherine McAuley High School finishing fifth.

After the race, Rubinski said she expects the Stags to have an excellent season.

“We look really strong,” Rubinski said. “I think we have a solid top seven. We have one girl injured who will be a main player as soon as she gets back. I think we’re going to look really strong and I’m excited.”

On the boys side, Hathaway bested last year’s efforts, finishing in first place by running a blistering 7:43, thirteen seconds better than when he won last year at 7:53.

In his individual race, Hathaway had a football field-sized lead over Andrew Snyder, his closest opponent.

“He was right with me about half a mile,” Hathaway said. “I picked it up a little bit [near the stadium fence] and I think that’s where I started the gap.”

Jack Terwilliger of Cheverus finished second, running at 7:58, with Taylor Dundas of Cheverus finishing third, Snyder finishing fourth and Jonathan Clement of South Portland coming in fifth place.

While Cheverus had three runners place in the top five overall, Scarborough had enough runners throughout the relay place high enough to beat Cheverus in the team results, finishing with an overall time of 59:30, while the Stags finished with 61:19.

Even more impressive for the Red Storm, they won the relays on only two days rest, as they had participated and won the Chandler Relays hosted by Greely High School on Tuesday.

Hathaway said the Red Storm have a strong chance to unseat the Stags this season as the top cross country team in Class A.

“Cheverus has been getting the spotlight this whole summer and beginning of the season,” he said. “Everyone thinks they’re going to win states, but we’re definitely going to try to beat them. I think it’s a sweeter victory to come from behind, so I don’t mind that they’re getting the spotlight.”

— Contact Dave Dyer at 282-1535, ext. 317.