Saratoga County runners dominated last Saturday’s Suburban Council Cross Country Championships at Saratoga Spa State Park.
Sixteen out of the top 20 girls and 10 out of the top 11 boys runners in the varsity races hailed from Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake, Saratoga Springs and Shenendehowa high schools. That translated to team championships for the BH-BL girls and Shen boys.
BH-BL ended Saratoga’s reign as league champions by edging the Blue Streaks 37-41. Shen finished a close third with 50 points.
Shen’s Lizzie Predmore led the way by recording the only sub 17-minute time. The freshman finished the 3.04-mile course with a time of 16:58.09.
BH-BL used more of a pack mentality to earn the team title, as the Lady Spartans’ top three runners all finished behind Predmore. Sam Roecker placed second in a time of 17:29.41, less than three-tenths of a second ahead of teammate Molly Pezzulo, and Meaghan Gregory finished fourth in a time of 17:41.58.
Saratoga tried to overcome the deficit by placing five runners between fifth and 11th place, but Alyssa Drapeau’s 13th-place finish and Riley Wilk’s 15th-place performance gave BH-BL enough of a cushion to fend off the Blue Streaks.
Brianne Bellon led Saratoga with a fifth-place finish in a time of 17:47.28. Cassie Goutos was seventh in a time of 18:02.59, less than two seconds behind Shen’s Cara Janeczko (sixth place, 18:00.96). Keelin Hollowood finished eighth, Sydney King took 10th place and Amanda Borroughs was 11th for the Blue Streaks.
Gina Stalica (12th place, 18:09.38), Jordan Westcott (14th, 18:15.12) and Nicole Irving (17th, 18:43.77) rounded out Shen’s top five.
Ballston Spa finished 11th in the girls varsity division with 274 points. Becky Martin led the Scotties with a 33rd-place finish in a time of 19:34.83.
The boys varsity race came down to Shen and BH-BL. Both teams placed their first five runners in the top 20, but Shen packed its fourth and fifth runners closer together to pull out a 31-40 victory over BH-BL.
Alex Leuchanka garnered individual honors for Shen by winning the boys varsity race in a time of 15:04.20. Dan Harris took third place in a time of 15;12.13, while Mike Danaher finished sixth in a time of 15:36.52. Brian Trainor was 10th in a time of 15:43.08, and Jamie Glover placed 11th in a time of 15:46.27.
Otis Ubriaco led BH-BL with a second-place performance in a time of 15:08.59. He was followed by Scott Maughan (fourth place, 15:20.21), Sean Pezzulo (seventh, 15:37.31), Kent Harlow (eighth, 15:37.32) and Anthony Romeo (19th, 16:23.33).
Saratoga placed fifth in the boys team standings with 135 points, and Ballston Spa took eighth place with 207 points. Demetri Goutos led Saratoga with a fifth-place finish in a time of 15:28.44, and Ballston Spa’s Max Groves finished 18th in a time of 16:17.02.
BH-BL, Ballston Spa, Saratoga and Shen will be back at Saratoga Spa State Park for Friday’s Section II Cross Country Championships. The event kicks off at 10 a.m. with the girls class C race, with the Class AA girls race slated to start at 11 a.m. and the Class A girls race to follow at 11:30 a.m. The boys Class AA race starts at 1:30 p.m., and the boys Class A race begins at 2 p.m.`