The Blue Bomber girls cruised to the team title at Cobble Hill Golf Course in the Section VII state qualifier meet after placing all of its runners in the top 10 in the Class D race. Lake Placid finished with a team score of 21 points, topping the Seton Catholic Knights with 41 and the Moriah/Boquet Valley Griffins with 64.

Meanwhile, the Blue Bombers boys had a strong showing, but couldn’t overcome the Ticonderoga Sentinels, as they settled for second. Ticonderoga won the Class D title with 29 points while the Blue Bombers combined for 36. Seton Catholic placed third with 73 points.

Eighth-grader Leila Fey captured the Section VII, Class D girls individual title for the second year in a row, with a time of 17 minutes, 57.08 seconds. She also finished second overall in the Section VII girls race and qualified for a spot at the Federation Championships — against all public and private schools in the state; however, Fey didn’t think this was her best race.

“But I’m excited to have states and Federations to make up for it,” she said.

Lake Placid’s Leila Fey, right, and Saranac Central’s Sienna Boulds race side-by-side during Friday’s Section VII Championships at the Cobble Hill Golf Course in Elizabethtown. Fey took home the girls Class D individual title for the second year in a row as the Blue Bombers won their seventh straight team championship. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

Fey was followed by teammate Norah Francis (18:50.56) in second in Class D, while Seton Catholic’s Evelyn Palma (21:04.43) was third.

The Blue Bombers had strong finishes from Holly Erenstone (21:29.50), who placed fourth, and Ruth Mahaney (22:16.56), who earned fifth. Lake Placid’s final runner, Rose Wenzler (24:08.61), placed 10th to solidify the sectional crown. All five runners will compete in the NYSPHSAA Cross Country Championships at Queensbury High School on Saturday.

Francis said they’re all very excited to return to the state meet after last year’s squad placed second overall.

While the Blue Bombers have dominated Section VII’s Class D races for nearly a decade, this year’s chance sectional title was almost out of the question — and it was not for a lack of talent.

“At the beginning of the year, we didn’t really have a team,” Erenstone said. Lake Placid had spent most of this season racing with just four runners. However, teams need five to score points.

Lake Placid’s Graham Scull competes in Friday’s Section VII Championships at the Cobble Hill Golf Course in Elizabethtown. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

But late in the season, they found their answer.

“We got Ruth,” the squad said in unison. Mahaney, a seventh-grader, moved up to the varsity team and has immediately made an impact.

“It just feels amazing going from not really sure if we’d have a team to winning the sectional title again,” Erenstone said.

On the boys side, Graham Scull paced the Blue Bomber, placing fourth in 16:59.41, edging out teammates Jim (16:59.79) and Doug Gugliemi (17:11.48), who earned fifth and sixth place, respectively.

Seton Catholic’s Colby Chase won the Class D title in 15:35.88. Ticonderoga’s James DeFranco (16:36.93) and Noah Wells (16:39.38) placed second and third, respectively. The Sentinels had five runners crack the top 10 to secure the sectional title.

Jim Guglielmi said his team had one real question entering Friday’s sectional race: Could they beat Ticonderoga or not?

“We’ve been like within a couple of places of them, a couple spots them from winning this all season long and that’s kind of it’s been like that every year,” he said. “This year we’re really pushing for it and that was just kind of the mentality all throughout was just, you see purples and that’s how we just try and get up there.

“But unfortunately, we didn’t get them, which it’s all right, though,” Jim Guglielmi added. “Since we had the exact same lineup, we don’t have any seniors. So all of us are going to be there next year and we’re going to be them next year.”

The Blue Bombers also had strong finishes from their two other scorers, Jesse Carlson (17:54.69), who placed 10th and Connor Mannion (17:57.64), who took 11th. Nearly everyone on the squad posted a personal record, and Carlson said hyperfocusing on beating Ticonderoga was a pretty good motivator.

“If you’re just racing some normal person, you’re not going to think much of it,” he said. “But when you see the (Sentinel) purple, you kind of have a grudge to just try and beat them.”

Both Carlson and Jim Guglielmi were happy with their results, as they vastly improved on their times a season ago. Jim Guglielmi said last year was a battle.

“I had pneumonia and that really cut out my season,” he said. “This year was just about staying at the top of my level, really just pushing myself as hard as I could.”

Carlson also had some extra motivation, which helped him post one of his best times this season.

“There was also a kid from AuSable (Valley) who I wanted to beat because before the race, he was like, ‘I’m going to smoke you,'” he said. “So I just had to race fast, and I ended up getting fourth place (for Lake Placid), so pretty happy with that.”

While the Blue Bomber boys did not win their sectional championship, the team will send four runners, including Carlson and Scull, as well as Jim and Doug Gugliemi.

The team was rounded out by Will Preece (18:15.36) in 12th place, Sam Skutt 18:24.84) in 13th, Tyler Erenstone (18:39.59) in 15th and Asher Murray (23:55.53) in 26th.

The NYSPHSAA Cross Country Championships Class D girls race will kick off at 10:30 a.m., while the boys race is set for a 12:30 p.m. start.