The Bobcat women won the event with 18 points, followed by Central Maine Community College with 48 points. Albany College of Pharmacy, which won the event last year, placed third with 72 points, followed by event host Hampshire College with 83 points. Paul Smith’s women won the YSCC and placed third at USCAA Nationals in 2022.

The Bobcat men’s team won with 31 points. Vermont Tech placed second with 62 points, Hampshire College was third with 68, followed by Albany Pharmacy with 81.

Freshman Lilly Rother led the Paul Smith’s women’s squad, which had five runners finish inside the top 10. Rother, of Lake Placid, placed second overall with a time of 26:44, followed by team captain Ellen Haas of Red Creek in 26:58.

Joanna Kerchner of Reading, Pennsylvania placed fifth in 27:19, Brooklynn Shumway of Bloomingdale took sixth in 28:14 and Olivia Bobbie of North Bangor was eighth in 29:01.

The Paul Smith’s College men’s cross country team poses with their conference title award. Pictured from left are Carson Wohlers, Josh Butkus, Ryan Chiari, Tyler Kirschbaum, Eliot Soderholm, coach Jim Tucker, Wesley Burkit, Aidan Minihan, Ian Montgomery-Gehrt, Nathan Shader, Dermot O’Connor and Logan Krahn.(Provided photo)

“It is so nice to see Lake Placid, Saranac Lake and Brushton-Moira High Schools represented,” PSC head coach Jim Tucker said. “For this trio of freshmen among the top eight in a collegiate championship is wonderful for Paul Smith’s and shows that our locally grown athletes can compete and do well collegiately.”

Amy Stults of York County Community College won the event with a time of 26:24. YCCC didn’t have five finishers to qualify for the team scoring.

Kershner, Shumway, Bobbie and senior Ellie Judice of Dayton, Maine established personal best performances at the 6K distance on Saturday. Kershner shed nearly 25 seconds off her previous best.

The Paul Smith’s men’s team was paced by a pair of first-year students who placed first and second in the 8K championship event. Eliot Soderholm of Reston, Virginia won the race in 28:41, followed by Tyler Kirschbaum of Webster in 29:56 for second place overall.

Wesley Burkit of Bath, Pennsylvania finished in eighth place in 31:20, Ryan Chiari of Braintree, Massachusetts was ninth in 32:00. Logan Krahn of Salem, New Hampshire rounded out the scoring five Bobcats with a time of 33:51.

“Despite missing Ethan Parrish, consistently one of our top performers, the team pulled together to dominate the championship event from top to bottom,” Tucker said. “We had 11 runners in the men’s race, and they have been so supportive of one another all season long. Training for cross country can be arduous, as they cover so many miles running through the woodland trails, being vigilant to avoid a rolled ankle or other obstacles and environmental challenges day after day. This year’s team has been a very pleasant crew to work with, and they push one another every day towards better performances on race day.”

The team’s seventh finisher, Ian Montgomery-Gehrt of Amherst, Massachussetts just completed his Adirondack 46ers. Earlier this fall, Montgomery-Gehrt and fellow teammate Ethan Parrish hiked the Saranac Lake 6ers in a single day. Several of the team members completed a half marathon as part of Family Weekend and a pair of runners raced another half marathon in October in Albany.

Following the conference championship, the Bobcats cross country teams will prepare for the United States Collegiate Athletic Association Nationals on Sunday in Uniontown, Pennsylvania at the Penn State-Fayette campus. The runners will depart the North Country Wednesday evening, and spend a day in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania before heading towards Uniontown.