Scarborough senior Atticus Merriam won the boys race at the Maine XC Festival of Champions in Belfast on Saturday in 15:21.18, and Falmouth senior Georgia Moon won the girls race in 17:24.31. They are the fastest 5K times run by Maine runners this season in Analytics207's results: Merriam's is first of 3,975 boys times, Moon's first of 2,544 girls times.
Dirigo senior William Morris finished 0.15 seconds behind Merriam in 15:21.33. His best time this season before Saturday was 16:25.50, so he ran 64.2 seconds faster.
Faster than a year ago
Both winning times beat last year's. Freeport's Alex Gilbert won the 2025 boys race in 15:45.82, and Falmouth freshman Mateo Diaz ran 15:44.09 on Saturday to finish third. Portland sophomore Nora Schmidt, last year's girls champion in 17:47.78, ran 17:41.62 this time, 6.16 seconds faster, and finished third. The course records still stand: Portsmouth's Sean Gray ran 14:55.56 in 2024 and Orono's Ruth White ran 16:56.92 in 2023.
A day of season bests
Of the 810 Maine boys who had raced earlier this season, 603 ran a season best, 74 percent. Among the girls it was 357 of 522, 68 percent. Near the front, Kents Hill's Summit Woodcock ran 19:59.59 for 28th, 109 seconds under her previous best, and Madison's Leah Harper ran 19:27.04 for 15th, 102 seconds under hers. North Yarmouth Academy's James Vaillancourt ran 16:30.13, 61.9 seconds faster than he had this season.
Depth decides the girls team race
Glastonbury (Conn.) won the girls team title with 76 points. Hampden Academy was the top Maine team, second with 196, ahead of Falmouth (238) and Portland (276). Hampden's top five averaged 19:58.35, only 1.61 seconds faster than Falmouth's 19:59.96, but Hampden's five finished within 2:06.6 of each other while Falmouth's, led by Moon, spread across 4:28.0. The two finished 42 points apart in the team scoring.
Yarmouth won the boys team title with 114 points, ahead of East Greenwich (R.I.) at 139 and Portland at 156. Yarmouth's top five averaged 16:23.63, the fastest of any Maine team, and its first four scorers placed sixth, eighth, 13th and 17th in the team scoring. Among the top Maine teams, Portland ran the tightest pack: its top five finished within 43.3 seconds, from 16:21.24 to 17:04.53.
By a hundredth
Two finishes were decided by 0.01 seconds, which is as close as the clock reads. Portland's Kate Morrison edged Mount Desert Island's Kulani Granholm for 10th, 19:16.42 to 19:16.43, and Freeport teammates Maddy York and Stella Kryzak finished 17th and 18th in 19:34.48 and 19:34.49.
Freshmen up front
Diaz was one of two freshmen among the first 25 Maine boys, with Winthrop's Sawyer Wess in 25th. In the girls race, Maranacook's Reagan Mattson was seventh in 18:55.42, and Presque Isle's Lillian Johnson and Yarmouth's Caroline Weyenberg were 19th and 20th.
Six Maine boys broke 16 minutes and 34 broke 17. Two Maine girls broke 18 and 22 broke 20. Every Maine finisher's time, season and personal record is on the Cross Country meets page.