The Red Storm were represented by Mitchell Ellsworth and Liam Nobles, while the Lumberjacks sent Olivia Ellis. They competed against the best athletes in New York state, from public as well as private high schools.

Ellsworth, a senior, turned in the top result for the Red Storm in the boys’ shot put contest with a seventh-place finish out of 27 competitors. He threw the shot put 48 feet, 3.25 inches. Matthew Auble, a senior from Warsaw, was the boys’ shot put champion with a throw of 58-1.25.

“I think he’d be the first to tell you that he would have liked to perform a little bit better,” said Cy Ellsworth, Mitchell’s father and the coach of the Saranac Lake track and field team. “I’ve coached for well over 20 years and I still spend way too much time thinking about how I could have done things better from an outcome standpoint. For him, he’s so much better — at such a young age — than I am at saying, ‘OK what’s done is and it’s time to move on.'”

While Mitchell’s throw wasn’t a personal record, his seventh place marked his best performance at the indoor state meet.

“To not throw your best and to still finish with a medal around his neck as the seventh best thrower in New York state says a lot about him as an athlete,” Cy said.

Cy said that Mitchell has one of the best techniques among all of the shot put throwers in the state. He added that he needs to work on the mental side of things.

“When he can control the mental side of things, I have no doubt that he is going to shatter our school record in the outdoor season,” he said.

At his first-ever state meet, Nobles had a solid showing, competing in two events — the triple jump and the long jump. The sophomore placed 14th in a field of 31 in the triple jump with a jump of 42-3.25. Manhasset’s Paul Park was the overall winner with a jump of 46-11.25.

“I think (Nobles’) going to shatter our outdoor long jump record when the season starts, which has been up on that board since 1985,” Cy said. “We’re lucky to have a guy with so much athletic ability in our program at such a young age.”

In the long jump, Nobles finished in 16th out of 32 competitors with a jump of 20-6.50, which was the second-best result by a sophomore in that competition. Bashir Praileau of Albany Academy won the competition with a jump of 23-4.50.

Cy said the sky is the limit for Nobles. He added that with the outdoor season right around the corner and being just a sophomore, Nobles is going to have plenty of opportunities to showcase his talent.

“His big thing right now is ‘What are you doing when a coach isn’t always with you?'” Cy said. “We gain more people on our team during the outdoor season. I’m not going to always be there with him and coaches aren’t always going to be there with him. He needs to learn that to be that elite guy the motivation of ‘What am I doing when somebody isn’t watching?'”

Like Nobles, Ellis competed in two events — the high jump and the 55-meter hurdles. The Lumberjacks senior’s best finish came in the high jump where she tied for 16th place with a jump of 5-0.

The girls high jump event featured a field of 31 athletes. Webster Schroeder’s Camryn Cole was the top competitor in the girls’ high jump 5-9.

Ellis placed 27th overall in the 55-meter hurdles event after the preliminary round. She finished with a time of 9.80 seconds. Susan E. Wagner’s Jaice Dorsey won the event in the final round with a mark of 8.22.