On fast conditions Monday morning at Mount Van Hoevenberg, 10 high schools gathered for what local coaches hope will become an annual Section VII Invitational. The varsity girls field had 38 racers, while the boys’ had 44. Saranac Lake coach Keith Kogut said that between varsity, JV and modified, there were probably more than 200 kids racing at the cross-country ski center outside of Lake Placid.

“My skis were fast and the course was nice,” Armstrong said.

“I fell on the downhill, but that’s just my amateur skiing, not the course,” she laughed. “It was more toward the end of the downhill, so I lost a little speed, but nothing to worry about.”

Armstrong pulled away early in her race, coming up the first hill on the 6-kilometer course a few paces ahead of the competition. Despite the spill on the first lap, Armstrong bested Queensbury’s Eliza Blood by almost 30 seconds, crossing the line in 20 minutes, 35.3 seconds. Blood finished in 21:03.3, while Shenendehowa’s Anna Wiedman rounded out the top three in 21:47.

Lake Placid’s Gabby Armstrong was the first finisher in the girls varsity race Monday at Mount Van Hoevenberg. (Enterprise photo — Justin A. Levine)

Lake Placid’s Marli Damp came in fourth and Saranac Lake’s Sylvie Linck finished sixth with a time of 22:34.5.

Despite the top finish for Armstrong, the Lake Placid team tied Queensbury in points with 14 apiece, and Queensbury won the tiebreaker with their fourth skier coming across the line ahead of the fourth Lake Placid skier.

In the boys race, McGrew had a solid win for the Blue Bombers, finishing two laps in 16:02.6. Queensbury again took second place when Brian Beyerbach came in 25 seconds behind McGrew. Saranac Lake’s Lauchlan Cheney-Seymour rounded out the top three with a time of 16:34.7.

“It was really fast and definitely well put-together,” McGrew said. “It was kind of nice for me especially because it was a lot of uphill. And then just straight up, straight down. It was a fun course.

“That was my goal, to have a little bit of a lead so I could have some fun out there.”

Saranac Lake’s Sylvie Linck pushes up the first hill on the first lap of the 6-kilometer course Monday morning at Mount Van Hoevenberg. (Enterprise photo — Justin A. Levine)

The team scoring went to Queensbury in the boys race, as three of its skiers finished in the top five. Saranac Lake’s Ethan Wood took sixth with a time of 17:32.6, and Lake Placid’s Jesse Izzo took seventh in 17:41.2.

Cheney-Seymour echoed McGrew’s assessment of the quickness of the course.

“It was really good conditions today, which is awesome they were able to pull that off with the warm weather we’ve been having,” he said. He also said that the hills he and McGrew powered up gave the local kids a bit of an advantage.

“It’s definitely the type of training we do. There’s a lot of hills up here so we’re really accustomed to doing hills, whereas they (Queensbury) really kill it on flatter courses,” he said. “But we both go back and forth. It’s nice to have the competition.”

Lake Placid and Saranac Lake recently performed well at the Queensbury Invitational at the Snow Bowl in North Creek. Queensbury won the meet, but Lake Placid coach Bill Frazer said big meets like this are a good way to gauge the competition.

“For us, we definitely know that the Queensbury boys and girls are our toughest competition,” he said. “I think it helps everyone.”

Frazer was pleased with the performances of Armstrong and McGrew.

“Those two skiers are just on a different level right now, and we’re fortunate to have them on the Lake Placid team,” he said. “I think the familiarity of the course helps, but when they’re that far ahead I don’t think it helps too much.”

“We haven’t been up here all year but the kids skied well and seemed to be excited coming up to Lake Placid,” Queensbury coach Paul Allison said. “That’s the great thing about it. It gets you outside of the section and gets you seeing other skiers from around the state.

“I think it’s just exposing the kids to what else is out there and who we’re gonna face down at the state meet. And that makes them ultimately better racers if we’re consistently competing against more and better competition.”

The Saranac Lake boys took third place in the team scoring, while the girls placed seventh.

“There are some very good teams in the state this year,” Saranac Lake coach Keith Kogut said. “It’s really good for our kids to race against them earlier in the season, because it shows us we still need to work hard and try to keep getting better.

“It’s very beneficial for our team to be here today.”