The Ballston Spa track team achieved a first at its own Lions Invitational.
The Scotties swept the boys and girls team titles at the annual event last Saturday. The boys racked up 120 points to ease past runner-up Saratoga Springs by 30 points, while the girls surged past Queensbury 88.33 to 71.33 to take the team title.
The girls division wasn’t decided until the final event, the 1,600-meter relay. Cori Winslow took the lead from Schuylerville’s Rachel Wysocki in the final stretch to lead Ballston Spa to a first-place finish. The team of Winslow, Mikayla Gaspary, Laura Wanerka and Becky Martin finished with a time of 4:25.60.
The 1,600-meter relay victory was one of only two for Ballston Spa in girls events. The other title belonged to Kelcie LaRoche, who won the 100-meter high hurdles with a time of 17.54 seconds.
Most of Ballston Spa’s points came from runners who placed in the top six of their events. That group was led by Jennifer Stod-gell and Carrie Mansir, who finished a respective second and third in the 400-meter dash. Demi Feder (800-meter race), Rachel Hodnett (400-meter intermediate hurdles) and Amelia Gonzalez (discus) all added second-place finishes.
Saratoga had more wins than Ballston Spa in the boys division, but the Scotties had more top-three finishers than the Blue Streaks to pull out the win.
Tim Mount, Demetri Goutos and Alex King all won individual events for Saratoga. Mount took first place in the 400-meter dash with a time of 50.90 seconds, less than one second ahead of teammate Stefan Rafaniello, while Goutos cruised to a 6.78-second victory over Ballston Spa’s Devin Bennett in the 1,600-meter race. Goutos finished with a time of 4:23.22, while Bennett placed second in a time of 4:29.90.
King won the boys long jump with a distance of 21 feet, 8 inches. Ballston Spa’s Brian Yingling was second with a leap of 20 feet, 4 inches.
Saratoga also won the boys 1,600-meter relay in a time of 3:25.14. Ballston Spa was second with a time of 3:35.12.
Tim Schmitt had the lone individual victory for the Scotties. He won the high jump by clearing the bar at 6 feet in fewer attempts than Fonda’s Chris Jones.`