The Saranac Lake and Lake Placid cross country teams kept their seasons going strong during the Section VII Invitational meet Saturday in Cadyville Recreation Park.

The defending state champion Lake Placid boys placed five runners in the top 14 overall to win the meet with 36 points. Saranac Lake was second with 63, Seton Catholic was third with 93 and AuSable Valley was fourth with 107.

Saranac won the girls meet with 44 team points, followed by Seton Catholic (59), Saranac Lake (88), Peru (97) and Lake Placid (118).

Saranac Lake senior Brittany Shumway took first place in the girls race, establishing herself as the fastest girl in the section with a time of 19 minutes, 10 seconds.

“Brittany has only run the 5k distance three times before and has already secured herself as the best in the league,” Red Storm coach Joe Merrihew said in an email.

Madison Grimone was the second finisher for the Red Storm girls, crossing the line 15th in 21:44.

“The girls team ran a strong race in the sun and heat,” Merrihew said.

Ellen Goralski, who in her senior year ran her first 5k ever, was the third Red Storm finisher. Sierra O’Mahoney and Emma Peer shored up the scoring for the Red Storm with 22nd and 29th-place finishes.

Shumway battled with Rachael Woodruff of Saranac for the top spot. Woodruff had to settle for second in 19:15 and Lake Placid’s Marli Damp was third in 19:59. Seton Catholic occupied the next four spots, led by Lea DeJordy in fourth with a time of 20:13.

Sara Rose-McCandlish placed 18th for Lake Placid with a time of 21:57, while Anya Martin finished 19th in 22:19.

In the boys race, Seton Catholic’s Caleb Moore had another spectacular performance with his first-place finish in 16:09. Lake Placid’s Henry McGrew took second overall with a time of 16:55.

The final scores for the boys meet saw Lake Placid win with 36 team points. Saranac Lake was second with 63, followed by Seton Catholic (93), AuSable Valley (107), Saranac (119), Peru (130), Plattsburgh (161) and Beekmantown (181).

“In a field of 56 runners and nine teams, the Storm boys put in all seven runners in the the top 26 spots,” Merrihew said.

Anderson Gray led the Storm boys with a third-place finish (17:04), followed by Lauchlan Cheney-Seymour in seventh place (17:53) overall and Adam Branch in 12th place (18:09).

“The boys ran fantastic today,” Merrihew said. “They did everything we asked them to do. Tyler Martin, our fourth scorer for the team, led the charge to bring the remaining pack of our guys across the line as the rest of the boys in the fifth, sixth, and seventh scoring positions came in across the line within 12 seconds of Tyler.”

Scott Schulz took fifth overall for Lake Placid and teammate Trent White was sixth, crossing the line less than a minute after McGrew. Kai Frantz crossed the finish line for the 15th spot with a time of 18:32.

“Lake Placid is the strongest team in the league amongst all the schools big and small. Lake Placid has a very strong chance at repeating as state champs,” Merrihew said. “For the Red Storm boys to run as hard as they did against Lake Placid was great to see.”