Saratoga Springs and Shenendehowa waged a battle for the girls Class AA team title at Friday’s Section II Cross Country Championships at Saratoga Spa State Park.
When the dust had settled, Saratoga managed to get its first five runners in the top 10 to defeat Shen 27-31.
Keelin Hollowood won the individual title with a time of 17:13.12, more than 12 seconds ahead of runner-up Lizzie Predmore of Shen. Nicole Irving finished third for the Plainsmen with a time of 17:31.98, while Saratoga’s Amanda Borroughs placed fourth with a time of 17:34.81.
Cassandra Goutos (sixth place, 17:37.10), Sydney King (seventh, 17:48.13) and Madison Carr (ninth, 17:58.40) rounded out Saratoga’s top five.
Predmore and Irving qualified as individuals for next weekend’s state meet in Plattsburgh, along with Shen’s Cara Janeczko (eighth, 17:54.97) and Alex Burtnick (13th, 18:22.58), as well as Columbia’s Kaylee Scott (10th, 18:12.28).
It was also a close battle on the boys’ side, as Shen edged Shaker 59-63 for the Class AA team title.
Shen’s Dan Harris led the pack by winning the individual title in a time of 15:16.68. Ian Dorset (ninth, 15:43.48) was next for the Plainsmen, followed by Mitch Todorov (12th, 15:55.00), Sam Kimmey (15th, 15:58.59) and Mark Unter (22nd, 16:16.88).
Shaker’s top five runners were more closely packed than Shen’s top five runners, but the Blue Bison were shuffled between eighth and 18th place by a group of talented runners from Colonie, Saratoga Springs, Ballston Spa and LaSalle. Mike Libruk (eighth, 15:39.97) led Shaker.
The five individual qualifiers for Sectionals are Saratoga’s Sam Place (second, 15:22.76) and Kyle Wegner (fourth, 15:26.54); Colonie’s Erich Voelker (third, 15:25.87); Ballston Spa’s Max Groves (fifth, 15:30.02); and LaSalle’s Denis Hurley (sixth, 15:33.41), a Delmar resident.
For more results, see next week’s edition of Spotlight Newspapers.`