Harrison Knowlton had a solid race Saturday at the Class B state championship in Belfast, and placed fifth in the boys’ race.

But he was also eyeing a bigger race.

Knowlton will be among four local runners — Aaron Willingham and Dan Lesko of Mt. Blue and Osman Doorow of Lewiston are the others — who will compete among the Maine contingent at the 2014 New England Cross Country Championships at Wickham Park in Manchester, Conn., on Saturday.

Knowlton, who was the KVAC Class B runner of the year this season, is the first Leavitt runner to compete in the New England race since Justin Fereshetian in 2006.

“It was a great state meet, we had the last race of the day, so fortunately we knew what time he needed to get to qualify,” Leavitt coach Dustin Williamson said of Knowlton’s race last weekend. “Around a 16:30 was a guarantee and around a 16:40 was pushing it on the edge.”

Willingham, the KVAC Class A runner of the year, won the Class A race in Belfast last Saturday in a time of 16:00.62, the fastest time of the day. Lesko, his teammate, finished fifth in the race with a time of 16:22.87. Doorow finished eighth in 16:35.22. Knowlton finished fifth in the Class B race with a time of 16:43.34.

While the Class A and C runners had to wait around to see if they were among the 25 to qualify for the New Englands, Knowlton didn’t have to endure a wait. He was the first to know he qualified and shared the news with his teammates and Dustin Williamson.

“I was ecstatic, I was shouting and yelling, it was a great celebration,” Williamson said. “He was also very excited as well. It was a huge achievement (to go to New Englands). It’s an elite race, only the best in New England compete. Harrison is certainly one of the best.”

Williamson said it was a normal week of practice for Harrison. They spent time going over the course at Wickham Park, site of this year’s big race. Knowlton headed to Connecticut on Friday to spend the afternoon getting acquainted with the unfamiliar trail. His coach will join him Saturday morning.

Despite not knowing the course, Williamson expects Knowlton to be focused. He also wants Knowlton to enjoy the experience.

“It’s kind of hard to prepare for a course that you’ve never seen,” Williamson said. “A course map can only tell you so much. Harrison will preview it Friday afternoon. We will also look at previous times on that course. Looking at the course map, there doesn’t seem like many big hills, there are roads on pavement. It’s a different type of course than we are used to in Maine.”

The boys’ race starts at 11:30 a.m., with the girls’ race starting an hour later.

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