LEWISTON - Lewiston High School's philosophy for building its cache of distance runners sounds simple: Get faster by challenging yourself against fast people.

That's much easier said or written on a bulletin board than it is accomplished. Persuading high school juniors or seniors to make a six-mile training run every day usually goes over like pleading with a 4-year-old to eat his vegetables.

Nice for a coach, then, when two of the best runners in the state showed up on his doorstep after walking out of the woodwork with cross-trainers on.

Mohamed Noor and Toby Crispin won the boys' two-mile and girls' mile, respectively, for the Blue Devils during the indoor track and field season. They'll be favored to match or perhaps exceed that feat when their peers convene for the conference and state outdoor meets this spring.

Not bad for two relative rookies.

"Last spring was Toby's first time running track since sixth grade," said Lewiston boys' coach Ray Putnam. "Mohamed's only been running for eight months."

Noor, who never ran competitively after coming to Lewiston from Somalia until someone spotted his potential in a physical education class late in his junior year, has packed a career worth of accomplishments into one season.

His indoor finishes of second in the mile and first in the two-mile backed up a Class A individual championship in cross country. In his first-ever outdoor track meet on April 18, Noor swept the 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs.

"I like them all, but I like the two-mile best because I have the endurance," Noor said. "I have that kick."

Crispin showed flashes of potential as a first-time spring runner in 2007, although she didn't score any points at the state meet.

In a sport where improvement is traditionally celebrated in one-second increments, Crispin steadily gave the stopwatch less of a workout with every race in her inaugural winter campaign. No leap was bigger than Crispin's explosion in the state final, when she shaved nearly 13 seconds off her seeded time of 5:36 and edged Vicky Hewey of Sanford and Danielle Paul of Edward Little for the championship.

"No, I was not expecting that at all," Crispin said. "I basically got better every race I ran."

Distances have anchored Lewiston track since Putnam took over the resuscitated program nine years ago. The Blue Devils have captured at least one individual state title in every bracket except 100 and 200.

On the boys' side, Noor's dominance is not a detriment to his teammates. In fact, Putnam believes the second tier of runners pushes harder to keep pace.

"We've got four guys in the school who can run 16:30 for a 5K, so these guys can run with him," Putnam said. "Mohamed, fortunately for them, isn't a guy who kills himself in practice. He just makes sure he wins everything."

Putnam took a cautious approach with Noor over the winter, mostly holding him out of the 800 as his body adjusted to the new experience of running on an indoor loop.

Losing out to Riley Masters of Bangor by less than four seconds in the mile will provide ample motivation for the spring campaign. While Noor avenged that defeat with a brilliant performance in the two-mile, the rare experience of chasing a rival didn't sit well.

"I went out too hard on the (next-to-last) lap and I didn't have enough left. He got me," Noor said.

Crispin brings that same fierce approach to her three events: 800, 1,600 and the 4x400 relay.

Doubling up her state championship would be a nice exclamation point to her junior season, but scoring points for Lewiston in either of the accompanying events is an equally serious goal.

"It's hard to run the 800 and the mile in the same meet so close together, but I'd like to improve my time in the 800 by a lot," Crispin said.

In what might be bad news for the opposition, Crispin will be coached more closely this spring. After assisting Putnam during the winter season, Kevin Russell has taken over as the girls' head coach.

A sprinter himself, Russell said that a distance runner's mental approach is no different.

"Like with all the girls, it was a confidence thing," Russell said. "As the season went on, she got more confident. We told her, 'This is what you can do when you believe in yourself.' Just to make it to the state meet in her first season was a great accomplishment."

Considering the makeup of the two runners setting the tone, it's probably no mistake that the size of Lewiston's distance roster rivals what most schools field in sprints.

"There's a lot of kids that love to win, and that's great," said Putnam. "It's the kids who hate to lose that you want."