Lake Placid’s Andrew Scanio, the 2022 NYSPHSAA individual Nordic ski state champion, came up just short of repeating his individual state title on Feb. 27. Scanio placed third overall in the 7.5K classic race in a time of 23 minutes, 6.6 seconds.

Ben Jenkin of Queensbury and Braden Bellizzi of Honeoye Falls were the only two skiers faster than Scanio on Monday. Jenkin won the state title in 22:15.5 while Bellizzi finished in second place in 22:53.9.

The Lake Placid duo of Colin Francis (27:21.3) and Aidan Fay (27:28.7) finished back-to-back. Francis finished in 22nd while Fay was 23rd.

On the girls’ side, Adirondack’s Cora Hinsdill was the overall winner in 26:23.7. Clara Avery of Glens Falls took second in 27:49.9 and Emelia Jordan of Brighton was third in 27:53.5.

Saranac Lake’s Tyler Burth was the top local finisher, taking seventh place with a time of 28:32.2. Lake Placid’s top finisher, Maya Garrison, was 10th in 29:30.3.

Following Garrison, were two more Blue Bomber skiers with Holly Erenstone (30:45.9) in 20th and Harley Cohen (31:32.2) in 25th.

Pia Morelli was the lone Keene skier at the state competition. Morelli placed 29th overall out of 48 racers in a time of 31:57.0. Jordanna Samburgh rounded out the Red Storm in 36th place in 33:59.1.

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Day two

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The Saranac Lake, Lake Placid and Keene Nordic ski teams competed in the second and final day of the NYSPHAA Skiing Championships on Feb. 28. The competition featured the 7.5-kilometer team relay event.

After starting the second day in fourth place, the Lake Placid girls team moved up one spot to finish in third place overall in the state.

The lone schools to edge out Lake Placid were the two-day state champions, Shenendehowa, with 78 points and Sutherland in second with 75. The Blue Bombers had 60 points.

“I’m very proud of the Lake Placid team,” Lake Placid coach Bill Frazer said in a statement. “I’m also proud that the combined Section VII team was able to show up and give the bigger sections a run for their money.”

In the girls’ team relay event, the Section VII-A team of Saranac Lake’s Burth (8:07.4) and Samburgh (8:35.2), along with Keene’s Morelli (8:24.7) were the top local team, finishing in fifth place in a time of 26:14.3.

The Lake Placid team of Garrison (8:39.1), Cohen (9:06.0) and Erenstone (8:29.2) took ninth place overall in 25:07.4. Shenendehowa won the girls’ title in a combined time of 24:19.2.

In the boys’ relay competition, Honeoye Falls won the state relay title in a combined time of 19:03. The Lake Placid trio of Fay (6:59.9), Scanio (5:54.1) and Francis (7:10.0), skiing as the Section VII B team finished in third place for a combined time of 20:04.1. The Section V-A team placed second in 19:30.3.

The Red Storm trio of Owen Keal (6:26.5), Sam Ash (6:53.5) and Morgan Martin (7:16.2) missed the podium by less than one minute in fourth place with a combined time of 20:36.3. The Saranac Lake boys placed second in the state.

The relay race portion of the championships consisted of a roughly 2.5K loop skied once by each team member. The skiers then tag off with each other for a total of 7.5K.