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CUMBERLAND — If Nora Schmidt wanted to see her competition at any point in the Class A South cross country championship race, the Portland freshman had to look over her shoulder.

With a comfortable lead about a third of the way into the 5-kilometer race Saturday, she realized there was no need to keep looking back on the Twin Brook Recreation Area course. Schmidt led wire-to-wire and crossed the finish line in 18 minutes and 28.64 seconds.

“I’m really happy with the race,” Schmidt said. “It went really good, and my team did super good. … I was kind of thinking about the team (when I was) trying to really pull away, because I know that if I leave it to too late, I could get outkicked. So, I was trying to build a lead.”

Falmouth junior Georgia Moon (18:50.57) came in second, followed by Cheverus junior Allie Schmitt (18:54.69).

Schmidt gave Portland its third straight girls regional title (Samantha Moore won in 2023 and 2024), and she’s the first freshman girl to win Class A South since Falmouth’s Sofie Matson in 2017. Two years later, Matson set the still-standing course record (17:51.74).

The Portland scored 68 points to edge out Falmouth (74). The Portland boys won their fifth-straight team title with 75 points, beating Gorham (113) and Scarborough (115).

Marshwood senior Henri Rivard won his first individual title in 16:13.74, despite his right shoe being untied the entire race. Deering senior Ellis Wood placed second (16:26.70) and Scarborough junior Atticus Merriam finished in third (16:56.26).

Rivard was third last year. He lowered his time by nearly 21 seconds.

“It just comes down to mental strength and stuff like that,” Rivard said. “My fitness is relatively the same, I’ve just dialed in the small parts of running, which we all know, the mental side is definitely one of the hardest to dial in on.”

The Class B girls race was the closest of the day, as Greely’s Rowan Barry, Lincoln Academy’s Karen Higgins and Freeport’s Lucy Huggett were within a couple strides of one another at the 2-mile mark.

Barry (19:02.22) eventually used the home-course knowledge to her advantage as she broke away for her first career win at Twin Brook. Higgins (19:15.19) and Huggett (19:32.85) placed second and third.

“I think it was really helpful today,” Barry said. “Because I know where the hills are going to be, where the flats are, and (I’m) able to strategize where in the race I want to push.”

With five finishers in the top 11, Freeport repeated as the girls team champion, scoring 38 points to easily defeat York (84) and Cape Elizabeth (92).

Freeport senior Alex Gilbert (16:16.11) was the boys individual winner after overtaking Morse senior Levi Riggs (second, 16:35.81) about a quarter mile into the race and slowly gaining separation throughout.

“I’ve raced against him for so long,” Gilbert said. “And I just kind of went into this race knowing that he’s super fast, and he’s gonna put that pressure on. He won’t let me settle in at all.”

Jackie Chalmers (third, 16:50.81) helped lead Yarmouth (45 points) to the team title, beating Freeport (87) and Lincoln Academy (110).

Madison senior Bryanna Hagopian dealt with a pelvis and IT band injury throughout the season, so she was elated to cross the finish line in under 20 minutes and win the Class C girls race in 19:59.60.

Dirigo junior William Morris enjoyed the drizzling start of the boys race and cruised to a comfortable win in at 16:37.98.

The Waynflete girls won their fourth consecutive regional championship with 52 points, beating Maine Coast Waldorf (71) and North Yarmouth Academy (89). The Winthrop boys (39) had a wide margin over Lisbon (83) and Maranacook (128).