LAKE PLACID – Despite a lack of snow, Saranac Lake and Lake Placid battled each other Thursday afternoon in their bi-weekly cross-country skiing races at Mount Van Hoevenberg. But with more than 50 kids taking part in the races, there is no lack of competition.

The two schools are the only ones that field cross country teams in Section VII, and regularly take each other on either at Mount Van Hoevenberg or Dewey Mountain in Saranac Lake. The races are listed as official dual meets.

Bryce Hartman took home the win Thursday for Saranac Lake with a time of 16 minutes, 42 seconds on the 5.2-kilometer course. Lake Placid’s Henry McGrew followed Hartman over the finish line at 17:04.

The two schools alternated the next four slots, with Placid’s Patrick Broderick and Kai Frantz coming in third and fifth, respectively. Saranac Lake’s Ethan Wood and Adam Branch grabbed fourth and sixth.

Saranac Lake rounded out the top 10 varsity boys with Witter Swanson, Jacob Alberga, Silas Swanson and Sawyer Chase all finishing the course under 22 minutes.

The varsity girls race saw Lake Placid’s Gabby Armstrong and Red Storm skier Jackie Garso slide over the finish line together in just 21:15. Saranac Lake’s Hannah Brogan, Abbie Wolff and Natalie Dewey rounded out the top five.

Among the two teams, there are several favorites to reach the podium at the state championships in February. Garso “has a real shot at the state title, as long as she stays healthy,” Saranac Lake head coach Keith Kogut said.

However, Armstrong, a junior, won’t be among them.

Armstrong was recently selected to head to Europe for a month to compete in Nordic combined and ski jumping.

“I’m going to Norway for a youth cup competition for women’s nordic combined,” Armstrong said. “The fact that they’re having a younger youth cup is pretty exciting.”

Women’s nordic combined is not an Olympic sport, but Armstrong hopes that it will be in the future.

“I’ve never been in a big nordic combined competition before, so I’ll definitely be able to take my experience here (with me) there,” Armstrong said.

After the nordic combined event, Armstrong will travel with the US women’s ski jumping team to Romania for the jumping competition.

“She is a great kid,” Lake Placid coach Bill Frazer said. “We’ll definitely miss her in February but she’s gotta move on in ski jumping and nordic combined. It’s great that she’s still racing some high school.”

Kogut said that there’s around 50 kids in the Saranac Lake ski program.

“So when everyone’s out here, we’ll have 70 kids between the two schools, which means that even though there’s only two schools, we’re as big as some of the sections that have eight or 10 schools. It’s pretty awesome,” Kogut said. “We’ve seen a steady growth over the last decade.”