On Tuesday night, Saranac Lake and Lake Placid skiers took to the trails of Dewey Mountain to compete in the relay race portion of the Section VII nordic ski series. And Lake Placid came up big.

On the boys’ side, the Lake Placid trio of Scott Schulz, Henry McGrew and James Flanigan skied to a first place finish while Saranac Lake’s Ethan Wood, Lauchlan Cheney-Seymour and Witter Swanson placed second. Lake Placid also took the third spot with Kai Franz, Jesse Izzo and Joe Wilson rounding out the field.

The Lake Placid girls also had a strong showing, claiming the first and second slots with Gabby Armstrong, Marli Damp and Anya Morgan taking first. Sarah Rose-McCandlish, Grace McGrew and Bea Hollanden took second for the Blue Bombers, while Saranac Lake’s Sylvie Linck, Hannah Brogan and Maria Rothaupt were third.

“I thought it was really fast. We did just get that storm, (and) I thought it was going to make it slower but it seemed like it helped,” Flanigan said. “Today was a really good race for me. I feel like I went hard on the course. Hopefully if the snow is the same, I think I could ski really good at sectionals.” Flanigan tied Saranac Lake’s Wood for third overall in the race with a time of 9 minutes and 13 seconds on the 3-kilometer course.

Lake Placid’s Kai Franz skis through the first of his two laps during Tuesday night’s relay race at Dewey Mountain in Saranac Lake. (Enterprise photo — Justin A. Levine)

Tuesday’s race was the first of two, with the individual classic skiing competition happening this afternoon at 4 p.m. at Mount Van Hoevenberg.

Tuesday’s competition was the relay, where three racers each took a shot at the course and then tagged off to a teammate. It was a fast-paced scene as more than 40 varsity athletes from the two schools competed.

“Since we got a lot of snow the past couple of days it’s been pretty good,” Saranac Lake junior Hannah Brogan said. “There’s a couple of sketchy turns, but other than that it was pretty good.”

Lots of the skiers commented on the course conditions, which were helped by more than a foot of fresh snow on Monday.

“I thought it was pretty good. It was my first time on Killer Hill, so that was a little hard,” Rose-McCandlish said. “But other than that, the snow was perfect.”

Rose-McCandlish finished fifth overall with a time of 13:08 on her laps, but the combined times of her and her relay-mates led them to the second-place finish.

Henry McGrew had the fastest time of the night, finishing the course in just 8:36. Schulz was close on his heels time-wise, with a finish of 8:56. Franz rounded out the top five for the boys with a time of 9:17.

On the girls’ side, Armstrong crossed the line in 10:52, putting her atop the field. Damp was the second fastest girl with a time of 11:49. Linck was the fastest Saranac Lake girl, coming in third overall with a time of 12:13, while Morgan finished in 12:40.