Josiah Webber raced toward the finish line, and right before he crossed, raised his arms in triumph.
Victory. One the Lawrence junior wasn’t sure was coming, but one he knew was possible.
Webber raced to victory in the Class B North regional race at Belfast’s Troy Howard Middle School, finishing the Festival of Champions course in 17:06.36.
“I’m very happy. It was a great moment for me,” Webber said. “I have 100 percent confidence in myself, I totally believe in myself, but I didn’t really think about (winning) at all. I didn’t want to put any unnecessary pressure on myself.”
Mount Desert Island won the team title and the girls championship as well to pull off a Class B North sweep. The girls team placed five runners in the top 10 to cruise to a 37-107 victory over Medomak Valley, while the boys scored 39 points to fend off Caribou (67) and Hermon (70).
“We just talk about team culture, running for yourself, but also running for your team, doing your best for yourself for your team, and this year has been a total culture buy-in for both groups,” MDI coach Desiree Sirois said. “This is their legacy year.”
In Class A North, Lisandro Berry-Gaviria won his third straight regional boys title at 15:40.67, holding off Brunswick’s Will Shaughnessy (15:43.93), and he led Mt. Ararat to 36 points and the team championship over Brunswick (42) and Bangor (59). The Eagles also won the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference title last week.
“We felt it was important,” Mt. Ararat coach Diane Fournier said of her team’s approach to the regional meet. “If we’re going to do something next week (at states), we had to do it this week as well. It’s two down, one to go now. I think that’s a fun thing to think about.”
Bangor’s Lydia Gilmore won the A North girls race at 19:30.17, edging teammate Erin McCarthy (19:38.25), but it was Camden Hills that took its third straight team championship. The KVAC champions as well, the Windjammers had runners at seventh, eighth, 11th and 12th en route to totaling 57 points and beating Mt. Blue (91) and Bangor (98).
“I think it was a really big mental goal for everybody,” Camden Hills coach Helen Bonzi said. “They’ve been dealing with just a lot of nerves this year, so we’ve been trying to overcome that. I think they did pretty brilliantly today.”
Orono swept the Class C North titles, beating George Stevens 26-46 for the boys championship and Houlton 36-75 for the girls title. George Stevens’s Thea Crowley (19:39.86) won the C North girls race, while Orono’s Kyle McClellan won the boys event at 17:13.85.
In the B North boys race, Webber said he realized soon after the start that he was going to need to push himself a little more.
“I didn’t really know what the field was going to look like,” he said. “After (the first mile) I knew I had to pick it up if I wanted to get a good time. So I took the lead about 1,000 meters in, I held it from there and it was a really fun race.”
The B North girls race, the first event of the day, went to Presque Isle freshman Anna Jandreau (20:07.93), who made the three-hour-plus trip to Belfast a little more enjoyable by getting out in front early and never looking back.
“Once I got out ahead, I knew I had to keep that spot,” said Jandreau, who saw the track earlier at the Festival of Champions. “I love the course, because there are certain hills but it’s the perfect amount of incline for me. I like hills, and it didn’t hurt my muscles too much.”
Right behind her was Winslow’s Olivia Tiner, who followed up a KVAC Class B victory with a runner-up finish Saturday at 20:19.18.
“I just thought ‘KVACs were a surprise, let’s see what regionals is now,’ ” Tiner said. “(I thought) ‘I know that I can do it, I can do it, let’s go for it.’ I just pushed myself.”
There was no surprise in the Class A boys race, though one appeared to be brewing early. Berry-Gaviria hasn’t lost to a Maine runner since the 2017 New England regionals, but he was trailing Shaughnessy during the second mile before finding some extra speed to pass.
“I figured he wouldn’t be able to maintain the move for very long, but I just tried to stay with him for that little bit, and once I felt like I could, I took it back from him,” Berry-Gaviria said. “It was definitely tough today. I didn’t feel my best, just never really got into a rhythm.”
Gilmore had a difficult time as well in the A girls race. She struggled with her breathing rhythm during the race and fell behind Edward Little’s Payton Bell at one point, but the KVAC champion rallied with some help from her teammate.
“I’m so thankful for Erin, who came up behind me and said ‘Keep pushing, Lyd. Don’t stop. Do not stop, do what you know how to do,’ ” Gilmore said. “I know her, and I know she’s not going to hold back ever. … She was like ‘I’m going to try my best, and you need to try your best too.’ “
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