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THE HIGHLIGHTS
WEEKEND OF NOV. 5 AND 6, 2022
Ash, Rother take top spots at CVACs BY PARKER O’BRIEN
Adirondack Daily Enterprise
LAKE PLACID — After finishing the regular season undefeated, the Saranac Lake boys cross country team’s spectacular season continued Oct. 29. The Red Storm boys captured the Champlain Valley Athletic Conference championship Saturday at Mount Van Hoevenberg. Saranac Lake won the boys’ event with a team score of 48, outscoring runner-up Peru with 68 points, Saranac Central with 88 points, Plattsburgh with 103 and Lake Placid with 137. Meanwhile, Saranac Central won the girls’ meet with 46 points. Peru took second with 62 points, followed by Saranac Lake in third with 80 and Lake Placid in fourth with 85. Saranac Lake senior Sam Ash won the boys’ race with a time of 17 minutes, 12.8 seconds. Ash’s individual title win marked the second year in a row winning the event and the fourth year in a row a Red Storm boys runner won the individual title. “It’s certainly a gift to have this team to train with,” Ash said. “I’ve got a lot of support from not even just my team, but just rivals. We’re all good friends, so it’s always fun to come out here and race against them. Running is just a really fun sport for me so I just like to run from the heart.” Ash’s fellow teammate Jake Kollmer, a sophomore, finished second place in 17:32.52. Ash said that having Kollmer compete with him for the top spot has helped make him a better runner. “There wasn’t really anybody there last year. To come back thinking, ‘oh senior year, I’m going to be faster.’ In reality, everybody else also gets faster, sometimes you overthink that,” Ash said. “Last year running on your own kind of sucked for workouts and stuff, but to have him right there with me just makes me that much better and him too. I help him and he helps me.” Right behind the Red Storm boys duo was a Lake Placid duo of Andrew Scanio (17:46.74) and Aidan Fay (17:52.62) in third and fourth place, respectively. Saranac Lake had four more runners finish in the top 25, including Aiden Hesseltine (18:46.22) in ninth, Sam Bickford (19:01.42) in 17th, Morgan Martin (19:30.64) in 22nd and Max Hall (19:44.54) in 25th. “We’re feeling really good. We’re coming into the championship phase of the season so we’re all feeling really sharp and fresh for these races,” Ash said. The Blue Bombers’ top six runners were rounded out by Colin Francis (19:47.21) in 26th place, Kenny Lawrence (21:59.23) in 67th, Ethan Cash (22:18.00) in 71st and Colton Kondrat (22:34.10) in 73rd. In a competitive girls’ race that came right down to the end, Lake Placid’s Lilly Rother edged out Peru’s Maddy Welc by less than six seconds to win the individual title. “I honestly don’t know how — it was really
PARKER O’BRIEN/ENTERPRISE PHOTO Runners take off at the start of the Champlain Valley Athletic Conference championship boys’ race at Mount Van Hoevenberg on Oct. 29. painful,” Rother said. “I just pushed myself harder than I have.” Rother finished the race in 20:41.37, while Welc took second in 20:47.41. “It was a difficult race,” Rother said. “I was surprised that the Saranac girls fell back because I’ve never beaten either of them.” Saranac Central’s Laura Denial finished third in 21:21.86, while her teammate Sienna Boulds took fourth in 21:28.84. Rother said she was not expecting to win and her goal was just to beat the two Saranac girls. Astacio Bruno was the first runner for the Saranac Lake girls to finish, placing sixth in 22:15.45. Phoebe Peer took 10th place overall in 22:47.44 and Addi Ash was 14th in 23:36.55. The Red Storm’s top six runners were rounded out by Brooklyn Shumway (25:09.51) in 25th place, Sabine Decknerberger (25:29.66) in 29th and Elle Dawson (29:24.92) in 48th. The Blue Bombers had two more runners finish in the top 20, including Kai McKinnon (22:39.26) in ninth place and Harley Cohen (23:40.63) in 16th. Lake Placid was rounded out by Jenna Fay (25:31.69) in 30th, Holly Erenstone (25:47.14) in 34th and Mya Marshall (28:38.72) in 45th. The Section VII teams will race again on Friday at the state qualifiers meet at Cobble Hill Golf Course in Elizabethtown. The boys’ race at 1:30 p.m., followed by the girls’ at 2:30 p.m.
PARKER O’BRIEN/ENTERPRISE PHOTO Lake Placid’s Lilly Rother nears the finish line during the Champlain Valley Athletic Conference championship meet at Mount Van Hoevenberg on Oct. 29.
