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FAIRBANKS — Almost two minutes after Heather Edic crossed the line in exhaustion Saturday, Lathrop teammate Kim Fitzgerald sprinted past a North Pole runner to snag 12th place by nine-tenths of a second.

That reversal may have seemed innocuous to the casual spectator, but it meant everything to the Lathrop Malemutes. It provided the final point they needed to claim their first Class 4A Region VI girls cross country championship since 1994.

“It’s such an accomplishment,” Fitzgerald said of dethroning West Valley, which had won nine straight regionals. “I’m just really happy. I just want to do it again and again.”

Fitzgerald didn’t realize the importance of her final push until well after the race. The sophomore had other thoughts on the 30-degree day that featured a few snow flakes.

“I was thinking, ‘I’m so cold. I just want to finish,’” she said.

Had Fitzgerald stayed in the 13th spot, Lathrop and West Valley would have tied with 33 points and the Wolfpack would have won the meet because their sixth-place runner was faster. Instead, the Malemutes eked out a one-point win. Both teams still qualified for the state meet Oct. 4 in Palmer.

A year ago, Lathrop didn’t even make the state meet, as it finished third at regionals behind West Valley and North Pole.

Before the standings were tabulated, Lathrop girls coach Liz Anderson feared the Malemutes might have come up just short.

“I just knew it was close. I thought (West Valley) probably had it because of the fact their sixth runner was in front of our fifth,” Anderson said.

The victory was a team effort, as each Lathrop girl was given a runner it needed to finish ahead of. And they did their jobs, as Heather Edic won the race ahead of North Pole’s Christi Schmitz; freshman Sydney Stone finished strong in fourth ahead of Marisa Rorabaugh and Kayla Teslow of West Valley; and freshmen Mikayla Hamlin (seventh) and Megan Edic (eighth) crossed before the Wolfpack’s Eliza Rorabaugh and Malia Simpson. For most of the race, West Valley held the overall edge before the Malemutes made several passes on the third and final lap.

“We were all assigned a person that we were supposed to stay with,” Heather Edic said. “I guess we all did our jobs.”

Edic’s effort was remarkable in itself. Last year at regionals, she gutted out a seventh-place finish while running with a stress fracture in her foot (she sat out the state championships the next week). On Saturday, the senior dueled once again with Schmitz, finally pulling away late to win in 20 minutes, 27 seconds. Schmitz was runner-up in 20:47 while Hannah Boyer of West Valley took third in 20:55.

Edic became the first Lathrop girl to win regionals since Kate Pearson in 1995.

“The second-to-last hill I kind of sped up ... and then I just kept that and made the gap bigger,” said Edic, who felt her legs cramping near the end and needed assistance standing in the finish chute.

“Its so exhausting overall, mind and body, that I just can’t hold anything in,” an emotional Edic said.

While elated with the result, Edic said there’s work yet to be done.

“If we can keep this up, we’ll finally place well on a state level next week,” she said.

Schmitz will be there, too, as North Pole’s only female representative. She had hoped to hang right behind Edic on Saturday and then kick past her at the end, but the weather contributed to a tough finish.

“I was all congested because it was so cold. I was having a hard time breathing,” she said.

In the boys race, Werner Hoefler led a dominating West Valley win as the Wolfpack took four of the top six spots.

On a hilly course where strength was as important as speed, Hoefler defended his region title in 17:10 but got a strong challenge from 2006 region champ David Norris of Lathrop (17:15).

Norris, an elite skier who hasn’t raced much this cross country season to protect a bum knee, stuck with the West Valley senior until the final downhill. That’s when Hoefler found another gear and opened a small gap that he held to the finish, though not without looking over his shoulder twice on the homestretch.

“I was a little surprised (by Norris’ effort). At the same time I knew I shouldn’t be surprised because he’s a good racer,” Hoefler said.

Said Norris, who wore a ski hat the entire race but said the cold was not an issue: “I thought I was racing within my comfort zone and that turned out to be with Werner. Once I was with him, It made it easier to hang on to him.”

Pat Nugent of Lathrop and West Valley’s Taylor Bearden and Jacob Remington rounded out the top five. North Pole’s Josh Ray (seventh) and Gavin DeWilde (eighth) also punched their tickets to the state meet.

West Valley scored 26 points and will be joined at the state meet by Lathrop (37 points).