(From right to left) Lake Placid boys Andrew Scanio, Max Flanigan, and Jack Lawrence take off from the start line in Saturday's meet against Saranac Central. Photo — Rachel Sharples

CADYVILLE– Two meets and two victories.

On Saturday Oct. 17 at the Cadyville Recreation Park, the Lake Placid boys won their second cross country meet in as many starts, and they got the job done by the slimest of margins.

In a tight matchup between the Blue Bombers and Saranac Central varsity boys squads the Blue Bombers came through with a 27-28 win. The girls’ race saw a higher point differential, with Saranac Central pulling ahead for an 18-44 victory.

The win was the second straight for the Blue Bombers boys, who improved to 2-0 with three meets remaining on their Section VII slate.

Saranac Central took the top spots for both boys and girls in the meet. Molly Denis led the girls with a time of 23 minutes, 9 seconds. Andrew Woodruff topped the boys with a time of 18:04, which was a little less than 5 seconds ahead of Lake Placid’s runner-up Andrew Scanio. 

The other leading finishers for the girls were Angelena Fay of Saranac Central (24:04), Annie Rose-McCandlish of Lake Placid (24:12), Gillian Miner of Saranac Central (24:26), and Mackenzie Converse of Saranac Central (24:29). 

Besides Woodruff and Scanio, top performers for the boys included Joe Johnson of Saranac Central (19:55), Jack Lawrence of Lake Placid (20:34), and Max Flanigan of Lake Placid (20:39). 

The meet was the first on the road for the Blue Bombers, who faced Boquet Valley-Moriah at home on Oct. 10 at Mount Van Hoevenberg.

Lake Placid coach Mel Frazer noted that it was much easier coaching this meet, because as host in Lake Placid’s season-opener, it meant much of her attention was focused on keeping spectators and competitors in line with the extra COVID precautions. 

“It definitely adds a layer,” she said.

For Saturday’s meet at Cadyville Recreation Park, Saranac Central Director of Athletics Brent Davis checked in all the spectators, and tape and small cones were used to keep spectators in certain areas.

Despite the added difficulties of maintaining sports in the midst of a pandemic, Frazer observed it was just good for the team to be back out running and added her runners still enjoyed themselves. 

“It makes all the extra things kind of go away,” she added.

Although not all of Lake Plaicd’s runnners were able to participate Saturday, Frazer felt her team did well and will continue to do well as the season progresses. 

“[The team members] are all such hard workers, so I can’t really ask for anything else,” she said.

The next meet for Lake Placid is Saturday, Oct. 24 at 11 a.m. against Seton Catholic at Mount Van Hoevenberg.