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Bombers just short of repeat

Lake Placid runners, from left, Trent White, Scott Schulz and Jesse Izzo pound it out during the final 100 meters of Saturday’s NYSPHSAA Class D race in Chenango Valley State Park. (Enterprise photo — Justin A. Levine)

CHENANGO FORKS — The Lake Placid boys cross country team fell just three points shy of repeating as the Class D state champions Saturday at Chenango Valley State Park.

The Blue Bombers totaled 61 points for the race, but Maple Grove managed to record 58 points to capture the NYSPHSAA title.

Lake Placid senior Henry McGrew placed 10th out of 122 runners with a time of 16 minutes, 44.6 seconds. Kyle Fulk of Norwood-Norfolk won the race in 16:01.4.

Scott Schulz and Trent White placed 22nd and 23rd, with respective times of 17:17.9 and 17:18.2. Sophomore Jesse Izzo was next across the line for the Blue Bombers, taking 26th in 17:20.4. Freshman James Flanigan ended up 29th with a time of 17:24.1.

Freshman Kai Frantz placed 71st, crossing the line in 18:25.8. Frantz was followed by Tupper Lake’s Ben Casagrain in 78th place with a time of 18:53.7. Tupper Lake junior Ryan Savage came in 10 spots behind Casagrain with a time of 19:20. Lake Placid eighth-grader Van Ledger was just nine seconds behind Casagrain with his 95th-place finish.

Lake Placid senior Henry McGrew competes in the Class D race Saturday in Chenango Forks. (Enterprise photo — Justin A. Levine)

Lake Placid coach Mel Frazer was disappointed that the boys didn’t repeat as state champs, but was still pretty pleased with the second-place finish.

“It’s very good. We came in projected not to get second,” Frazer said. “They ran hard, our compression was tight, I couldn’t have asked for them to run any better.

“I think they peaked right when they needed to. We’ve been training for this kind of course.”

Frazer said that with just two seniors on the squad, the outlook for the team going forward is good.

“I think they’ll definitely still be a top team to beat,” she said, even after the team loses seniors McGrew and White. “I’ve got some on modified too that are going to come up and be really good.”

Saranac Lake’s PJ Buck runs past the midway point in Saturday’s NYSPHSAA cross country championship at Chenango Valley State Park. (Enterprise photo — Justin A. Levine)

Lake Placid qualified as a team for the first time in school history in 2014, and took fifth that year. The Bombers won the school’s first state title last year.

Tupper Lake freshman Patrick Cote placed 106th with a time of 19:51.7, while sophomore Alex Dukette came across the line four spots later in 20:34. Tupper Lake’s Matt Whitmore, a sophomore, placed 117th in 22:17.4 and senior Matt Varden was next across the line two seconds later. Junior Ian Berg rounded out the field in 24:01.4 for 122nd place. Tupper Lake finished 10th out of 10 teams with 285 points.

In the Class C race, Saranac Lake finished eighth out of 11 teams with 209 points. Watkins Glen won the Class C team title with 21 points based on five of their runners placing in the top 10. Ryan Gallagher of Briarcliff won the race with a time of 15:40.7.

Saranac Lake sophomore Anderson Gray, who was competing in his third state meet, was the first across the finish line for the Red Storm, placing 51st out of 131 runners with a time of 17:36.6. Junior Tyler Martin placed 75th with a time of 18:02.8, while senior Adam Branch was two spots later in 18:04.5 and sophomore Adam Hesseltine finished 95th in 18:30.7.

Senior PJ Buck and junior Lauchlan Cheney-Seymour placed 104th and 105th, with times of 18:50.5 and 19:01.2, respectively. Sophomore Jacob Alberga rounded out the Saranac Lake contingent in 110th place with a time of 19:19.9.

Saranac Lake sophomore Anderson Gray, left, placed in the top half of the NYSPHSAA Class C championship on Saturday with a time of 17:36 on the 5,000-meter course. (Enterprise photo — Justin A. Levine)

Saranac Lake coach Joe Merrihew said he thought the boys placed about where he expected them to.

“Seeing how they looked physically shows that the work they’ve been putting in the last few weeks paid off,” he said. “They were able to pick away people as the race was going on, that was good to see. (They didn’t) let anyone pick them off; they finished strong and didn’t let anybody pick them off at the end.

“They showed their true colors and that was good. At the state meet, it’s really hard to say ‘your place was this, and that’s how well you did’ but really they’ve gotten this far and earned that shot. This year was a strong year for the Class C group, and we were right up in there, so that was cool that we were able to fight against these bigger schools.”

 

The Lake Placid boys cross country team was awarded the second-place plaque after Maple Grove captured the Class D state championship Saturday at Chenango Valley State Park. (Enterprise photo — Justin A. Levine)

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