YARMOUTH – Jonny Wilson stuck to his internal game of catch-me-if-I-can. Sheri Piers started with her record best and built on it. Both plans worked to perfection in the Pat’s Pizza Clam Festival Classic 5-Mile road race in near perfect weather Saturday morning.

Wilson, 24, of Falmouth, blasted off the start line and defended his title with a finish of 24 minutes, 31 seconds. While shy of Ben True’s 2009 record of 23:27, Wilson easily caught himself, finishing 27 seconds faster than his winning time in 2011.

“Basically, I did the same thing as last year but I had the strength to sustain it,” said Wilson, who embraces the fast start many runners try to avoid. A year ago he had to ease up at Mile 3, recover a bit, then try to make up time over the last mile. “But that’s really hard to do in the park, with all the turns. This year, I felt really strong the whole way through.”

Wilson was the only runner in sight as he rounded the left turn off East Elm Street onto Main and down the one-third-mile hill to the finish at Cleaves Street.

Josh Zolla, 26, of Freeport fought through a foot injury for a time of 26:00 to finish second for the second straight year. Brunswick’s Chris Harmon (26:10) was third.

Piers, also of Falmouth, came in at 27:39 as the top female finisher and eighth overall. That shattered her course record 27:51, set in 2009.

Piers, 41, also topped her course record for female masters (28:15), set last year in a second-place finish to Erica Jesseman, 23, of Scarborough.

Jesseman (28:38) continued her season-long comeback from injuries over the winter to place second, 15th overall. Sarah Anderson of Newton, Mass., was third (30:24).

Piers credited both the weather and a crib sheet for her performance. With temperatures in the high 50s an hour before start time, Piers enjoyed the stark contrast to the hot, humid conditions earlier this week and her last race, the Peachtree 10K on July 4 in Atlanta.

Piers won the masters title in that race and figured weather in Maine “can’t get any worse than that. It was good to have run it though, because it makes this feel like nothing.”

And then there was that crib sheet. Piers had written on her hand her splits from her record run in 2009. On Saturday, she blocked out the runners and focused on the numbers.

“I was dead even after the first mile, gained a few seconds on the second, gained a few more on the third, so that really helped,” she said. “I’m exactly where I wanted to be.”

Jesseman said the same, not at all discouraged by the 59-second gap behind her friend and training partner.

“I have a kick again, so I’m feeling a lot stronger,” said Jesseman. “I did much, much better than I thought I would. I’ve prayed a lot, and God has helped me through.”

Runners say they generally cut 20 seconds off their Clam Festival finish to estimate their time at Mile 5 of the TD Bank Beach to Beacon 10K in Cape Elizabeth in two weeks.

Wilson figures his time Saturday puts him among the fastest Mainers entering that race, and “I’m definitely excited about that.”

Piers perhaps summed up how many of the 723 finishers may have felt walking away from the Main Street finish area.

“I feel happy, and I’m confident going into the Beach to Beacon,” she said. “But you never know what that day is going to bring.”