Saranac girls cross-country take fourth in states in Class C

Nov. 14—VERONA — The Saranac girls cross-country team put in a strong performance at the state championships Saturday, placing fourth in Class C.

"We ran really well and I am very pleased," Spartan Coach Matt Medieros said.

"We packed well in the mid group where we needed to and Sienna and Laura did their part up front."

Sophomore Sienna Boulds led the Spartans with a 15th place finish and Laura Denial, also a sophomore, came in 41st.

Boulds finished the 5K course in 20:08 and Denial ran it in 21:14.

Boulds was pleased with the result.

"I feel really good," she said after the finish.

"I feel we all put in the work for it and we deserved where we placed. We put in the work and achieved what we wanted to achieve."

Temperatures dipped below 40 degrees at race time, but it didn't bother Boulds.

"It was cold, very cold, she said.

"But I like running in the cold and I'm more of a cold runner so it didn't bother me as much as I thought it would, but it definitely was cold."

Boulds said running in big meets with large packs like the state championships gets her going.

"Honestly, it really motivates me," she said.

"When you hear that start you are thinking that you are part of a huge group of girls that put in the work to be here and I get really motivated by it."

Denial also felt good about the race.

"I felt pretty strong," she said.

"It's a tough course, with a lot of hills, but you just have to push off them."

Also for the Spartans, Nora Mesec finished 60th in 21:54; Gillian Miner in 87th in 22:48; Molly Denis in 99th in 23:22; Hannah Hammel came in 110th in 23:51 and Molly Thayer came in 118th in 24:22.

Medieros said the conditions turned out to be ideal.

"These were perfect conditions. The weather was absolutely beautiful and the course was immaculate," he said.

"It is one of the best state meets I've been to condition-wise. As coaches, we are going to be happy about this one."

Class C

Girls

While Saranac did finish in fourth place overall, in the girls race the best runner came from another school in Section VII.

Peru's Maddy Welc, as she has done all season, continued to lead the way for the section as she finished in 11th place with a time of 19:51.8.

As for the remainder of the individual finishers, Saranac Lake's Phoebe Peer was the next up finishing in 55th place at 21:39.7.

Beekmantown's Olivia Drowne was just behind Peer in 57th at 21:48.9. Nighthawk Ophelia Breen came in 67th place at 22:07.9.

The Red Storm's Asa Bruno wrapped up the remainder of the Section VII runners with a time of 24:40.7, which put her in 119th place.

Boys

With Beekmantown competing as a team, they finished in 11th place with a combined 220 points.

They were led by Jon Slick and Sam Page, who finished in 60th and 74th place, respectively.

Slick crossed the line at 18:09.6, while Page finished in 18:25.7.

Nolan Laidman came in 83rd and Maxime Page finished 10 places behind him in 93rd.

Hayden Miller-Whipple and Escher Hoffman rounded out the Eagles, finishing in 123rd and 129th place, respectively.

For the runners racing individually, Saranac Lake's Jake Kollmer led the way for Section VII finishing in 20th at 17:03.6.

Saranac's Sean Dorman and Andrew Denial finished with the same time of 17:37.6, which gave them 36th and 37th, respectively.

Plattsburgh's Connor Duda came in 77th at 18:29.7, while Peru's Michael Welc crossed the line at 18:53.1, good for 107th.

Class D

Girls

The Blue Bombers competed as a team in the Class D race, finishing in 8th place with 224 points.

Lake Placid was led by Kai McKinnon who finished in 46th place at 21:59.9. The next Blue Bomber was Holly Erenstone who finished in 81st place. Jenna Fay was just behind her finishing in 85th place at 24:33.6.

Harley Cohen and Clara Boutelle rounded out the Lake Placid team finishing in 93rd and 109th place, respectively.

Outside of Lake Placid, there were five additional runners representing the section.

They were paced by Ti's Avery Blanchard who finished in fourth place at 19:49.8.

Fellow Sentinel Hannah Porter was the next best finisher, crossing the line at 23:08.0, good for 67th. Seton Catholic's Isabella Spiegal came in 79th at 24:16.1.

Ti's Haley Sutphen came in 94th at 25:29.6 while the Knights' Taylor Durney finished in 97th at 25:49.1.

Boys

In the boys race, Ticonderoga finished in the middle of the pack at 150 points, good for sixth place.

They were paced by Garett Beebe, who finished 21st at 17:03.2. Teammate Christopher Facteau finished in 44th at 18:20.8

The next three Sentinel runners finished in a pack of runners.

Cooper Moore led the way coming in 79th place at 19:38.2. Brady Leerkes came in just two spots behind Moore at 19:50.8, with Edward Coffman coming in 84th place at 19:57.2.

Ollie Porter and Matthew Michalak rounded out the Ti racers, finishing in 99th and 104th place, respectively.

Outside of Ti's strong runners, were five runners who represented their schools well in the race.

Lake Placid's Aidan Fay finished just behind Beebe in 24th place with a time of 17:15.5.

AuSable Valley's Celton Dupuis concluded a strong season with a 50th place finish with a time of 18:32.2.

Blue Bomber Colin Francis and Knight Sam DeJordy finished neck-and-neck with Francis placing 53rd at 18:35.5, and DeJordy just behind him at 18:35.6.

Seton Catholic's Max Grafstein concluded his high school career in cross country, finishing in 69th place at 19:09.8.

E-mail: jlotemplio@pressrepublican.com

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