SARANAC LAKE – Macy Fischer snagged back-to-back first-place finishes this week in a pair of races held at Whiteface Mountain and Mount Pisgah.

The Saranac Lake senior bested her closest competitor Tuesday at Whiteface by more than a second in the giant slalom, and carried that speed over to Wednesday’s slalom race at Mount Pisgah.

Students from 10 schools competed in the two races that took place prior to this weekend’s Empire State Winter Games.

Ryley Fischer and Aurelle Fogarty finished in the top 10 on the GS course for Saranac Lake, while Lake Placid’s Grace McGrew placed in the top 15.

Meanwhile, Placid’s Andrew VanSlyke took third in GS, finishing just one-tenth of a second behind second-place finisher Max Grahm of Immaculate Heart Central School in Watertown. Logan Purner, Andrew Fogarty and Peter Fogarty rounded out the men’s top 10 taking the eighth, ninth and 10th spots, respectively.

Wednesday’s slalom race at Mount Pisgah was dampened by a near-constant rain, but the course held up well even though snow on the rest of the hill was getting visibly thinner as the race went on.

“It’s definitely tricky when you have water flying up on your goggles every gate, but it’s awesome that we got to have it,” Macy Fischer said. “I woke up this morning definitely thinking that we weren’t going to have (the race).”

Carter Lawrence of Old Forge led the men’s race with a two-run combined time of 1:14:97. Grahm again took second in the slalom with a time of 1:18:80, while the Fogarty twins led the Saranac Lake team with Andrew pulling a 1:30:56 and Peter clocking in at 1:28:86. Logan Purner had a combined time of 1:32:17.

VanSlyke pulled a time of 1:21:08 and Forest Ledger recorded a 1:29:01.

Saranac Lake ski coach Linda Brousseau said that she is hopeful for the Saranac Lake girls to do well in the state championships. Saranac Lake won the championship last year, and Brousseau said that “I’ve got three out of the four girls that raced at states last year returning, so that’s good. Macy is skiing really well. I think the girls are feeling confident, and they’ll ski well.”

There were skiers from Saranac Lake, Lake Placid, Lowville, Old Forge, Holland Patent, South Lewis, Northwood School, Ausable Valley, Carthage and Immaculate Heart Central.