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CAPE ELIZABETH — Ruth White had just crossed the finish line, and her thoughts weren’t on her race, time or place.

She wasn’t even focused on herself.

“I’m really excited to see how my sister (Clara) comes in,” she said.

Her own finish, once again, was good enough for the state’s top prize. For the second time in three years, White was the top Maine women’s finisher at the Beach to Beacon 10K, finishing the 6.2-mile run in 34 minutes, 51 seconds.

Windham’s Cliodhna O’Malley, a former University of Maine runner from England, was second at 35:02, just ahead of Waterville’s Bethanie Brown (35:06). South Portland’s Aisling Cuffe (35:52) and Falmouth’s Karley Piers (36:05) rounded out the top five.

Clara White finished in 40:02.

Ruth White’s time was five seconds faster than her winning time from 2023. The former Orono High star finished third last year.

“It means a lot to have the opportunity to run this race with a lot of other women from Maine and represent Maine,” said White, 19, who was a second-team All-American in outdoor track as a freshman at the University of New Hampshire. “This is still a really big, prestigious event. You have pro athletes like Rachel Smith and Conner Mantz, the list goes on and on.”

White was the only Maine woman in the elite field. She also started with the elites in 2023, and said running with the pros can be a source of both nerves and competitive drive.

“With the elite women, it’s a little more pressure to feel like I should try to stay with them,” she said. “I think there’s pros and cons to both (groups).”

White got off to a fast start, but so did the rest of the field, and she found it tough to get out ahead of the pack.

“I was really nervous at the start,” she said. “But once the gun went off, a nice downhill, we got started pretty fast. I got behind pretty quick, but I just tried to do the best I could. … They were going a little too quick for what I could keep up with today, way too fast for what I could do today.”

White was ninth in the 10,000 meters at the NCAA championships with a time of 32:20.6, but said the Maine women’s record of 33:39 at Beach to Beacon, set by Michelle Lilienthal in 2014, wasn’t on her mind.

“I didn’t know what the Maine record was,” she said.

Her time was still fast enough to hold off her home state challengers, led by O’Malley, who ran track at UMaine from 2017-19.

O’Malley’s finish was somewhat unexpected, as she didn’t apply to be in the Regional Invited field, according to coordinator Matt Rand. Regional Invited status gives runners special conveniences and access on race day.

“I was really pleased. I didn’t expect it at all,” said O’Malley, who ran the 800, 1,500 and 1,600 relay while with the Black Bears. “I just kind of tried to run my own race and have some fun.”

O’Malley said her approach to the race was geared around avoiding pressure and late-race fatigue.

“I tried to put no expectation on myself. I just wanted to run as fast as I could,” she said. “I didn’t want to burn myself out too quickly, so I felt like I could finish strong. … It wasn’t too hot today. I don’t do well in the heat, so I think that helped.”

She edged Brown, a record-setting outdoor track star at Waterville High who went on to compete at Iowa State. After finishing her college career in 2017, Brown took eight years off from competitive racing before returning this year. She won the L.L. Bean 10K, then set a personal best for that distance on Saturday.

“I just missed being in shape. I just felt like there’s something in me that just wanted to try to get back to my college fitness,” she said. “I feel like I’ve had a lot of good momentum this spring. I just want to keep it up, because I think there’s more to come.”

Brown, a first-time Beach to Beacon competitor, didn’t have a sense for when the race was winding down.

“The hills got me near the end a little bit,” she said. “I had one girl that was right in front of me there, and I just kept my eye on her. I’ve never done this race, so I didn’t really know where the finish line was going to end. But I just figured ‘I’ve probably got to start kicking now, I’m probably going to run out of time.’

“I can’t believe I was that close to the other Maine finishers. That’s pretty awesome.”