BELFAST — It was the kind of race that just about any other runner might have been thrilled with Saturday.
Telstar’s Josef Holt-Andrews finished third overall with a time of 15:59 in the boys’ 5K seeded race at the Maine Cross Country Festival of Champions in Belfast. The junior was happy with his result but also wishes he could have done better.
“I wanted to win,” said Holt-Andrews. “I went out pretty good, but as soon as I left, I just couldn’t turn it over any more.”
He finished behind two good runners. Mike Tate, from Nova Scotia, won the race and set a new meet and course record. Trevor Crawley, from Cumberland, R.I., was second.
“I’m alright with third,” said Holt-Andrews. “It means a lot. Hopefully, I can come back and win it next year.”
In the girls’ seeded race, Waterville’s Bethanie Brown also set a new record with the win. Jillian Forsey, of Newfoundland, was second followed by Lawrence’s Erzsebet Nagy.
The 11th Annual Festival of Champions is the largest high school cross country meet in the state. Saturday’s races included 68 Maine teams among the total of 72. There were also teams from throughout New England and Canada. There were an estimated 694 girls and 930 boys’ participating.
Cumberland (Rhode Island) won the boys’ events wtih scored of 195, and Lewiston took second at 196. Falmouth took third at 203. Mt. Blue took 10th and Monmouth and Edward Little each cracked the top 30. 29th with 995.
In the girls’ team scores, MDI finished with 125 with Bonny Eagle close behind with 129.
The top local team was Mt. Blue, which finished 22nd.
Holt-Andrews had done well at this meet in previous years. He won the freshman race his first year. He finished eighth last year.
“I’ve been training a lot,” he said. “So I was hoping to do better.”
He faced some tough competition. Tate won the race in 15:26.64. That beat the meet and course record of 15:33.00 held by Brunswick’s Will Geoghegan in 2009. Crawley finished in 15:37.16. Holt-Andrews finished with a time of 15:59.89.
“I went out how I wanted to,” said Holt-Andrews. “I pushed the pace a little bit. Then those two guys kind of picked it up even more. I couldn’t quite hang with them the whole time.”
Lewiston’s Mohamed Barre was eighth in 16:37.36. Mt. Blue’s tandem of Justin Tracy and Josh Horne finished 14th and 15th respectively. The Blue Devils had two more in the top 20. Mohamed Mohamed took 16th and Isaiah Harris was 19th. Edward Little’s Lucas Bourget finished 26th.
In the girls’ seeded race, Brown had heard all along the course that she was within reach of a new record. Cassie Hintz of Old Town set the course record of 17:52.60 in 2004. Kennebunk’s Abbey Leonardi broke the meet record in 2010 in 17:58.35.
“People kept telling me I was right there,” said Brown, a senior. “They were like, ‘You’re under 18. You can do it. Get the record.’ I was just trying to keep going because I went out very fast. I knew I just needed to keep the pace going.”
Brown admitted she wondered if she should go harder to chase the record, but stuck with her plan. As she got closer to the finish, the cheers grew louder.
“I could see it,” said Brown of the finish line clock. “So I was like ‘I’m going to get it, and I just ran. I saw the clock and I got really excited.”
Brown finished in 17:56.69, beating Leonardi’s meet record.
For Dirigo’s Natalie Bolduc, she wasn’t sure what to expect in the race. She was seeded 53rd overall but was the top local finisher in the girls’ race.
“I was looking to just get my best time ever,” said Bolduc, who is also an all-state soccer player for the Cougars. “I didn’t really know what to expect. I’d never done this with this many people.”
She found it a challenge at first, but put together a pretty good race.
“I had to sprint ahead in the beginning because it’s really hard to weave through people,” said Bolduc, who also runs track and was a member of the Dirigo regional championship softball team.
Bolduc finished in 20:28.83 to finish 35th, well above her original seed.
“I didn’t think I’d be way under 21,” said Bolduc. “That makes me really happy. That’s my best 5K ever.”
The only other local in the top 50 was Leavitt’s Maddie Wiegman in 47th.
In the unseeded boys’ 5K race in the morning, Scarborough’s Will Fowler was the winner. The top local was Lisbon’s Cote Brauneis in ninth. Fellow Greyhound Jeff Willey finished 16th while Dirigo’s Thomas Barnett was 33rd.
In the freshman race, Bangor’s Colin Glencross was the winner. The top local was Lisbon’s Nicholas Harriman in seventh. Monmouth’s Luke Thoms finished 28th while Lisbon’s Jordan Cole was 35th.
In the girls’ unseeded 5K, Portland’s Katherine Miller was the winner. Edward Little’s Crystal Labonte finished seventh. Briana Connell of Oxford Hills took 14th while teammate Gema Wheatley was 17th. Leavitt’s Brooke Varney was 18th while fellow Hornet Olivia Mallar finished 25th.
In the girls’ freshman race, Amy Laverty of Cumberland, Rhode Island was the winner. Winthrop’s Kaitlin Souza and Angel Abbott finished 14th and 15th respectively. Lisbon’s Bree Sauter was 16th while Dirigo’s Sabrina Daoud was 18th.
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