Full results of the Festival of Champions!

BELFAST — When Osman Doorow made his move Saturday, he expected a few other runners to follow.

The Lewiston senior began to pull away from the pack only to realize he was on his own.

“I thought some other guys were going to go with me, but when I looked back no one was behind me,” Doorow said. “I was just pushing myself.”

By the finish, Doorow was a solitary figure as he crossed the line and claimed victory in the Maine Festival of Champions boys’ cross country race at the Troy Howard Middle School in Belfast.

The event is the largest cross country meet in the state, featuring 67 Maine schools as well as teams from all over New England and beyond. An estimated 1,700 athletes from 73 schools were competing in the 14th annual event.

Doorow won the boys’ race in 15:50.05. Hampden’s Paul  Casavant was second in 16:04.95 while Benjamin Drezek from Cumberland, Rhode Island was third in 16:12.25. Scarborough’s Andrew Sholl and Connor Doherty rounded out the top five respectively.

A year ago, Doorow finished 11th overall but wasn’t completely healthy. He’d been nursing an illness and it took much of the school year for him to return to normal.  This time around, Doorow felt great, and it showed.

“Last year,I was not healthy,” Doorow said. “What happened was I’d stay with the leaders, but I was not feeling energy. This year I’m 100 percent.”

Scarborough won the boys’ meet with 120 points. Cumberland, Rhode Island was second with 162. Falmouth was third at 187. Lewiston finished sixth overall with 255. Mt. Blue was 17th with 526.

On the girls’ side, La Salle Academy of Rhode Island was first with 30 points. La Salle was a late entry after a meet they were supposed to attend in North Carolina was scrubbed due to the threat of a hurricane.

Orono was second with 128, followed by Cumberland, Rhode Island with 141. Mt. Blue was the top local school at 15th while Lewiston was 20th.

Lewiston had a top finisher in the boys’ race last year when Isaiah Harris finished fifth. Doroow was the fifth seed coming into the race, but is unbeaten this fall and had won all of his races by more than a minute.

“I thought he would win,” Lewiston coach Kim Wettlaufer said. “We’ve been running on really hard courses all year, so he hasn’t had the opportunity to run a really fast time. I just felt he was ready. He’s been winning by so much.”

Doorow said he’d been thinking about and preparing for the race all week. With only two returning runners from last year’s top 10, the race was wide open and with more than 280 runners competing, it was a great challenge for any top runner.

“The whole week, I was feeling good and working and getting ready for this,” Doorow said. “Today, I was ready.”

Doorow didn’t get off to a fast start. He stayed with the leaders in the early going and chose to make his move later.

“Some other guys took the lead, and I just stayed with them,” Doorow said. “With a half mile to go, I took the lead. I was a little bit tired, but I saw my coach say, ‘You have to run a fast time.’ Then I picked it up a little.”

Wettlaufer said he was surprised how quickly Doroow was able to put the field behind him. Drezek was right there, but Doorow opened up a sizable lead down the stretch.

“He was way out front and Osman was back a little,” Wettlaufer said. “Then after the mile, Osman had already gapped him. Then he was on coast after that.

“He’s just looks great. He’s really running great. He’s a great kid. He deserves all the success he’s getting.”

Among other top local finishers, Edward Little’s Jacob Gamache finished 11th. Winthrop’s Jacob Hickey was 14th while Rambler teammate William Vance was 17th. Gray-New Gloucester’s Ben Garcia was 28th.

In the girls’ seeded race, it was no surprise that LaSalle dominated.  The team is currently ranked 10th in the nation and was supposed to race at the Great American Cross Country Festival in North Carolina. When that event was cancelled because the storm threat, La Salle was a late edition to the Festival of Champions.

Eliza Rego won the first race as La Salle took four of the top five spots. Rego won the race in 18:05.58. Teammates Karina Tavares was second in 18:29.27. Grace Connolly was third in 18:39.51. The only non-La Salle runner in the top five was Orono’s Tia Tardy in fourth. Emily Kane was fifth for La Salle.

Top local finishers in the seeded girls’ race were Mt. Blue’s Maggie Hickey in 35th and St. Dom’s Sydney Sirois in 43rd.

In the earlier races, Telstar’s Carla Boyle-Wight was second in the unseeded girls’ race. She finished with a time of 22:17.22. Katie Ferguson from Harwood Union in Vermont won the race in 22:11.76. Lewiston’s Kaitlyn True was ninth followed by Winthrop’s Rocio Vance in 10th. Lewiston also had Khadija Tawane finish 16th. Mountain Valley’s Emma Sommers was 24th followed by Oxford Hills’ Erin Childs in 25th.

In the girls’ freshmen race,  Mt. Blue’s Maeve Hickey finished 16th followed by Edward Little’s Jillian Richardson in 17th. Camden’s Augusta Stockman won the race.

Gray-New Gloucester’s Erica Schlichting was 23rd while Lewiston’s Zaid Teklu was 24th.

In the boys’ unseeded race, Oxford Hills’ Zane Dustin finished 17th. Monmouth’s Mark Greenwald was 21st. EL’s Sabin Oliver was 28th while Gray-NG’s Logan Nickerson was 30th.

Harwood Union, of Vermont, placed the top three runners in the race, including winner, Tristan Touchette.

In the boys’ freshmen race, Hampden’s Wyatt Lord was the winner. The top local runner was Gray-NG’s Keegan Delany in 30th.  Mt. Blue’s Jerry Mixangelo was 34th with teammate Sam Stinson taking 38th.

kmills@sunjournal.com