The bottom line concealed that Lewiston boys’ cross country standout Mohamed Barre had, well, pretty much fallen on his bottom line.

Somewhere between a blistering start and a furious finish Saturday, Barre stripped over a root on the course at Troy Howard Middle School, bruising his quadriceps muscle.

Barre brushed off the dirt, shook off the pain and sped away to a top-five finish in the Eastern Class A regional championship race, finishing in a time of 17 minutes, 13.76 seconds.

“Maybe if that hadn’t happened, he could have broken 17 minutes,” Lewiston coach T.J. Niles said. “He was limping noticeably after the race. He’s going to have soreness, but hopefully it goes away by Monday.”

Or at least by next Saturday. The Blue Devils will be needing him.

Both the Lewiston boys and girls qualified for the state meet in Cumberland.

The boys finished fourth with 122 points, only 31 behind regional champion Bangor. The girls had their own physical challenges — most notably an upset stomach that plagued No. 4 runner Taylor True over the final 200 meters — but still finished sixth and comfortably made the state cut.

By repeating last week’s effort of third in the KVAC championships, the Mt. Blue girls also advanced to the state level.

Barre chased winner Harlow Ladd of Messalonskee, Benson Worthington of Brunswick, Andy Reifman-Packett of Mt. Ararat and Justin Tracy of Mt. Blue across the line.

“Even after falIing down, he beat guys who beat him last week,” Niles said.

Awil, a junior who made the transition from soccer to cross country this year, was right behind Barre in sixth (17:25.31).

Both posted times among the combined top 10 in all three classes Saturday.

Despite Tracy’s strong showing, Mt. Blue fell six points shy of Brunswick for the final state qualifying position.

The top 50 percent of teams and the top 30 individual runners all automatically qualified for next week.

Joining Tracy as individual qualifiers were Sully Jackson of Mt. Blue (ninth), Justin LeClair of Edward Little (11th), and Jesse Newcomb (21st) and Jeremy Read (25th) of Oxford Hills.

Addie Cullenberg of Mt. Blue was third with a time of 20:37.98 in the girls’ race. The Cougars scored all five of their runners in the top 30.

Lewiston’s top performer was Faith Shaw in 17th. Niles credited the gritty effort by True and a personal record for Courtney Allen with giving the Devils’ team score a boost.

Mt. Ararat won the Class A girls title. Class B crowns went to Camden Hills girls and Caribou boys. Bangor Christian boys and Washburn girls ruled Class C.