For the second straight year, Saranac Lake’s boys are the team champions of the historic Van Dusen Invitational Track and Field meet..

The Red Storm successfully defended their title Saturday in the invitational at Ogdensburg Free Academy, scoring 159 points to top the boys 13-team field. Franklin Academy of Malone finished runner-up with 121 points and Gouverneur was third with 78 points.

Saranac Lake grabbed first-place results in five of the meet’s 18 events, and also added points in 11 of those events with finishes ranging from second to sixth place, including a trio of runner-up performances and six third-place efforts.

“Our depth was the difference in the meet,” Red Storm boys head coach Cy Ellsworth said. “We took first in five events, but the meet was won by our student-athletes that don’t always have their names in the paper.”

Saranac Lake won both the 3,200 and 1,600 relays and posted individual wins in three events.

James Catania, Peter Fogarty, Andrew Fogarty and Micah McCulley teamed up to win the 3,200 in 8 minutes, 53.31 seconds. McCulley, Brooks Fletcher, Patrick Wamsganz and Nick Kelting won the 1,600 relay in 3:34.55.

Wamsganz, Patrick Alberga and Peter Fogarty grabbed individual victories for the Red Storm.

Wamsganz, a junior, led Saranac Lake to a one-two sweep in the 400, winning the race in :51.98 with Kelting placing second in :52.25. Alberga took first in the shot put with a 49-5 heave, and Fogarty won the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 10:18.81.

In two of the meet’s closet competitions, Saranac Lake placed second. In the 3,200 meters, Catania was runner-up with a time of 10:04.59, which after eight laps around the track, was a little more than two seconds off the winning time of Malone’s Dylan Perry.

The second nail biter came in the discus, as Saranac Lake’s Jonathan Hewitt placed second with a throw of 136-7, which was just 10 inches off the winning effort turned in by Luc LaFlair of Ogdensburg, who also took second in the shot put to win the boys outstanding thrower honors.

Placing third for Saranac Lake were: Catania in the 1,600 (4:41.33), Fletcher in the 400 hurdles (1:01.16), McCulley in the 800 (2:05), Anderson Gray in the 3,200 (10:24.94) and Wamsganz in the long jump (19-11) and the triple jump (40-9).

Potsdam took the girls team title.