Three Saratoga County cross country teams received bids to this year’s Nike Team Nationals in Portland, Ore.
The Clifton Park Track Club (Shenendehowa) boys earned an automatic berth by winning the team title at last Saturday’s New York regional at Bowdoin State Park, while Kinetic (Saratoga Springs) and Burnt Hills Track Club received bids to the girls team race following their top-three finishes.
Clifton Park placed four runners in the top 20 to claim the boys team title with 62 points, eight points ahead of runner-up Manlius Cross Country (Syracuse region). Deluge Cross Country (Burnt Hills) finished fifth with 109 points.
Alex Leuchanka led Clifton Park with an eighth-place finish in a time of 16:19.1. He was followed by Dan Harris (11th place, 16:23.5), Mike Danaher (16th, 16:31.4), Jamie Glover (20th, 16:40.2) and Brian Trainor (32nd, 16:58.2).
Otis Ubriaco was Deluge’s top runner with a 12th-place performance in a time of 16:26.1. Scott Maughan (18th, 16:33.5), Kent Harlow (31st, 16:57.6) and Sean Pezzulo (43rd, 17:23.1) also placed in the top 50.
Kinetic grabbed second place behind defending national champion Manlius in the girls race. Manlius took first with 25 points, while Kinetic finished second with 63 points. Burnt Hills placed third with 71 points to earn its at-large bid.
Burnt Hills’ Sam Roecker was the top county runner with a second-place finish in a time of 18:22.3, 21.5 seconds behind individual champion Danielle Winslow of Adirondack (Queensbury). Molly Pezzulo (ninth, 18:51.2) also finished in the top 10, as did Kinetic’s Keelin Hollowood (10th, 18:56.2).
Sydney King (12th, 19:00.3), Madison Carr (15th, 19:14.8), Amanda Borroughs (16th, 19:15.2) and Cassie Goutos (19th, 19:17.3) rounded out Kinetic’s top five runners.
Meaghan Gregory (21st, 19:18.5), Riley Wilk (23rd, 19:24.1) and Alyssa Drapeau (34th, 19:49.5) placed in the top 40 for Burnt Hills.
The Clifton Park Track Club girls team finished fifth with 107 points, but qualified two individuals for the Nike Team Nationals. Lizzie Predmore finished 11th overall with a time of 19:00.0, and Danika Simonson placed 13th in a time of 19:08.5.
The Nike Team Nationals take place Saturday.`