For the figure skating and short-track speedskating wrapups, see page A12. For a complete list of results, see empirestatewintergames.com/results.

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Cross-country skiing

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Lake Placid’s Andrew Scanio won cross-country ski gold in the 10-kilometer race in the U18 Junior division at Mount Van Hoevenberg Saturday, Feb. 4, topping a field of 12 racers amid frigid conditions when temperatures hovered around zero degrees.

Scanio’s time of 27 minutes, 8.3 seconds was a comfortable margin over silver medalist Benjamin Jenkin of Queensbury, who posted a time of 27:28.1 and bronze medalist Braden Bellizzi of Honeoye Falls, who finished in a time of 27:49.1.

In the girls’ U16 race, Cora Hinsdill of Remsen won gold in the day’s biggest division, posting a time of 15:0.5 to best the 18-skier field over the 5k course. Clifton Parks’ Raquelle Landa finished less than nine seconds behind Hinsdill in 15:09.2. Emma Murray of Gansevoort took bronze in a time of 15:28.4.

A total of 100 competitors in age-group races braved the cold to finish races in the second day of an Arctic blast that saw temperatures rise to near zero at race time. U14 and U16 skiers raced the 5k course, U18 and U20 raced a 10k and U23 and older raced the 20k distance.

Other results included Alivia Hopsicker of Old Forge, winning the U18 girls race in 33:54.6, beating silver medalist Emelia Jordan of Rochester, who posted a time of 35:37.3. Lake Placid’s Abigail Van Dorn took bronze in 35:44.6.

In the U16 boys 5k, New York’s Filippos Kogiantis won gold in a time of 13:22.9, defeating silver-medalist Pittsford’s Paul Pippin, who finished in 13:44.9 and bronze medalist Saranac Lake’s Mason Stoddard in 14:22.1.

In one of the largest outdoor events in the 2023 Empire State Winter Games, 104 cross-country skiers competed in the U8 through U20 age divisions at Mount Van Hoevenberg on Sunday, Feb. 5.

In the 5k U16 girls race, Cora Hinsdill, 14, of Remsen, won her second gold medal of the games, finishing with a time of 14 minutes, 12 seconds. Raquelle Landa, 15, of Clifton Park, and Tyler Burth, 15, of Saranac Lake, finished in second and third place, respectively. Landa clocked in with a time of 14:46, while Burth completed the course in 15:35. Maya Garrison, of Lake Placid, took fourth place in 15:50.2. Locals were rounded out by Lake Placid’s Holly Erenstone (16:37.7) in eighth place, Lake Placid’s Norah Galvin (19:09.1) in 11th and Saranac Lake’s Kelsi Buth (20:37.3) in 13th.

Out of the 12 competitors in the 7.5k U18 boys race, Braden Bellizzi, of Honeoye Falls, was the top finisher, winning the race in 18:07. Benjamin Jenkin, of Queensbury, took second place in 18:22 and Daven Linck, of Saranac Lake, placed third in 19:01. Andrew Scanio (19:03) was just a few seconds shy of the podium in fourth place. Owen Keal, of Saranac Lake, took fifth place in 19:28, Galen Halasz, also of Saranac Lake, was sixth in 21:04, and Lake Placid’s Aidan Fay finished in ninth place in 22:51.

On the girls’ side of the U18 race, Molly Heinzelman, of Pittsford, was the overall winner in 23:10. The podium was rounded out by Lake Placid’s Abigail Van Dorn in 23:14 and Old Forge’s Alivia Hopsicker in 23:36.

Saranac Lake native Sophia Kelting was the winner of the U20 girls race in 21:21.5 and Pittsford Maeve Bernhard won the U14 girls junior race in 15:52. Fellow Pittsford native Talia Goldstein (17:26) took second in the U14 race, while Saranac Lake’s Kaylee Holmes (19:50) was third.

Bloomingdale natives Cadence Kennedy (20:37) and Pepper Laxson (22:41) took fifth and seventh place, respectively. Saranac Lake’s Amelia Evans took eighth in 24:06.

Charles Hinsdill, of Remsen, claimed gold in the boys U14 race in a time of 17:03. Saranac Lake Liam Stoddard took the silver in 17:07 and Old Forge’s Brayden Palermo was third in 21:25.

In the 5k U16 boys classic race, Pittsford’s Paul Pippin won gold in a time of 13:22.9, defeating silver-medalist New York’s Filippos Kogiantis, who finished in 13:44.9. Saranac Lake’s Mason Stoddard took fourth place in 14:22.1. Saranac Lake’s Alex Evans (16:00) and Trey Mariano (18:51) finished in seventh and ninth place, respectively.

Among the day’s champions included Ryan Mannion, 9, of Lake Placid, who took gold in the 2.5k U10 boys race in 11:31. Will Scanio, also of Lake Placid, took second place in 12:15. Maya Lynch, of Saranac Lake, won the U10 girls junior race in 13:34.

In the U12 girls race, Grace Bartlett, 10, of Old Forge, was the overall winner in 10:50. Autumn Miller, of Raquette Lake, took second in 14:07, while Saranac Lake’s Elizabeth Henderson was third in 15:09.

Collin Bellizzi, of Honeoye Falls, was the winner of the boys U12 race, finishing in 8:03. Lake Placid’s Will Preece took second in 8:44, while Hayden Hopsicker, of Old Forge, claimed the bronze in 9:42. Tyler Erenstone, of Lake Placid, was fourth in 10:29, while Mark Fredenburg, of Saranac Lake, was sixth in 12:16.

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Adaptive skeleton

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Texans Mike Villagran of Houston and Lee Kuxhaus of Schertz, raced to gold and bronze medals, respectively, in the adaptive skeleton race at Mount Van Hoevenberg on Thursday, Feb. 2.

Villagran, who won last year’s title, conquered the one-mile-long icy course in a two-run time of one minute, 59.27 seconds. En route to the bronze medal, Kuxhaus completed his two race runs in 2:07.40.

Chris Tarte of Russellville, Arkansas, claimed the silver medal. He finished his two runs in 2:02.57.

Skeleton racing is a winter sport in which the sled features a pair of rounded steel runners, fastened to its bottom. The sled is driven headfirst in a prone position. The athlete steers the sled by shifting his or her position on the sled while reaching speeds of up to 80 mph. Skeleton competitions are typically held on the same courses used for bobsled and luge events.

Gary Weiland of Ponder, Texas, won the para-bobsled title. He finished in 2:22.09, while DJ Skelton, of Reston, Virginia, won silver with a combined time of 2:23.69.

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Alpine skiing

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Eighty skiers took to the slopes of Whiteface Mountain on Saturday, Feb. 4 to compete in the Alpine skiing races. The event resulted in a series of tight races with some finishers finishing mere thousandths of seconds apart.

Slalom participants completed two runs, and their final time was calculated as a combination of each.

Lake Placid’s Denny Sebek, of Northwood School, won the men’s division, finishing with a time of 1:33.00. Hudson Montgomery, of West Mountain Ski Club, finished in second place in 1:36.25 while Colin Cotter of Oak Mountain Ski Club was third in 1:37.00.

Cara Dempsey, also from Northwood School, took home the gold in the women’s division, clocking in with a combined time of 1:39.55. Following Dempsey was silver medalist Mary Catherine Mangan of HoliMont Ski Club in 1:40.06 and bronze medalist Alison Martin of Holiday Valley Ski Club in 1:40.89.

In the giant slalom competition on Sunday, Feb. 5, Northwood School students Sebek and Julianne Brochu raced to gold medals.

Sebek, a sophomore who skis for Northwood’s U16 team, powered his way through the Draper’s Drop trail and the course’s 40 gates with the day’s two best times and a two-heat total of 1:50.00. That was 0.96 seconds faster than Brantling Ski Racing’s Chase Walker, who won the silver medal. Jack Gerew of Bristol Mountain won bronze; he finished his two race runs in a combined time of 1:51.50.

Brochu, also a sophomore at Northwood and a member of the school’s girls U16 squad, raced past the 50-skier field, clocking race runs of 56.04 and 56.19 and winning the girls race in 1:52.23. Mia Kerl of the Kissing Bridge Ski Club claimed silver with a total time of 1:52.91 while Anja Robertson of West Mountain completed her two runs through the 40 gates in 1:53.51 and won bronze.

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Biathlon

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Forty-one racers competed in biathlon sprint on Saturday, Feb. 4 at Mount Van Hoevenberg.

The event featured a 6k course. Athletes of both speed and precision, the racers completed a mix of cross-country skiing and rifle shooting in the standing and prone positions. For each shot missed, racers completed a penalty loop.

Cedrick Wigger, 22, of Warden, Quebec, was the fastest finisher overall, clocking in with a time of 12:37.00, also winning the senior men’s category in which he was the lone contender.

In the master’s men’s age 50-59 class, Sean Halligan of Saratoga Springs finished in 16:28, taking first place in a field of 12 racers. Halligan missed just one standing shot. Eli Walker, 52, of Intervale, New Hampshire, and Daniel Kahn, 56, of Natick, Massachusetts, finished second and third, respectively. Walker finished with a time of 17:42 and missed five shots while Kahn finished in 19:23 with seven missed shots.

Out of the three competitors in the youth women’s category, Ella Niedre, 16, of Kars, Ontario, won gold, finishing with a time of 16:15. She missed one shot in each of the standing and prone laps. Rachel Lambley, 16, of Kanata, Ontario, took the silver with a time of 19:08, and Kerissa Dunn, 17, of Old Forge, won the bronze, clocking in at 27:42. Lambley and Dunn missed seven shots each.

In the super sprint mass start on Sunday, Wigger, the lone senior men entrant, posted a time of 21:49.0 for a second day the fastest overall time in the 37-skier field. William Ng, racing alone in the junior men’s division, had a time of 21:49.1, just one-tenth of a second behind Wigger over the 6.5k course that included four rounds of target shooting with a rifle from prone and standing positions.

The super sprint race was a modified mass start, where the field was split into two waves.

In the master’s men’s (50-59 age group), Halligan, Walker and Kahn duplicated Saturday’s sprint gold-silver-bronze order of finish on Sunday. Halligan was first with a time of 28:04.3, hitting 10 of 20 targets while topping the nine-skier division. Walker, 52, made 9 of 20 targets to finish second in 28:30.2, and Kahn, 56, won bronze in 30:54.4, hitting 11 targets.

Niedre won her second-straight gold in the three-skier youth women’s division, missing just eight targets, finishing in 26:17.5, more than two minutes faster than silver medalist Lambley in 28:55.2. Dunn took bronze in 42:53.2.

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Boys hockey

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A two-goal first period carried Skaneateles to a 4-1 win over Chazy in the championship game of the 14U girl’s hockey tournament on Sunday, Feb. 5. Chazy had topped Skaneateles 1-0 in their meeting on Friday, Feb. 3 and both teams finished with identical 4-1 records. Skaneateles outscored their opponents 18-2, while Chazy scored 17 goals and gave up just five.

In the boys’ 10U tournament, the Malone Junior Huskies defeated the Saugerties Mustangs 4-3 on Sunday at the Olympic Center’s USA Rink.

Sunday’s victory for the Junior Huskies follows another narrow (7-6) win versus the Mustangs, which came on Saturday at the Saranac Lake Civic Center. Malone posted a 4-0-1 record.

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Girls hockey

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In the U12 girls’ division championship on Sunday, Feb. 5, the Saugerties Fillies won gold against the Vermont Glades with a score of 4-0 on the Olympic Center’s USA Rink. The two teams faced off less than 24 hours earlier on Saturday during round-robin play with Saugerties winning that game 3-1.

In the U14 girls’ tournament, a two-goal first period carried Skaneateles to a 4-1 win over Chazy in the championship game on Sunday in Lake Placid. Chazy had topped Skaneateles 1-0 in their meeting on Friday and both teams finished with identical 4-1 records. Skaneateles outscored their opponents 18-2, while Chazy scored 17 goals and gave up just five.

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Sled hockey

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The Central New York Flyers came from behind for the first time in the tournament to defend their sled hockey gold medal in the 43rd Empire State Winter Games at the Tupper Lake Civic Center on Sunday, Feb. 5.

The Flyers defeated the Fort Drum Mountain Warriors, 2-1, to top a field of four teams in a repeat of last year’s final, won by a 1-0 margin. Stride Capital District Sled Warriors defeated the Vermont Ice Vets, 7-3, for bronze.

Games’ sled hockey teams are composed of adaptive athletes, some of whom are combat veterans injured during military service. Players sit on sleds with skate blades underneath, and propel themselves with hockey sticks fixed with spikes on one end.

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Ski orienteering

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Chris Burnham, 31, of Stowe, Vermont, won his third gold in three days in ski orienteering at the Empire State Winter Games, winning his men’s 21 age group division at Paul Smith’s College Visitor Interpretive Center on Sunday, Feb. 5.

Ski orienteering combines cross-country ski racing and map navigation.

On Sunday, a total 67 competitors completed the courses of varying lengths by age group, from 4.5 to 15 kilometers in the long-distance event.

Burnham, 31 finished the 15k long-distance course in a time of one hour, 24 minutes, 2 seconds, best among 12 finishers in his age group. Ari Ofsevit of Cambridge, Massachusetts, won silver in 1:27:46 and bronze medalist Adrian Owens, 55, of Craftsbury Commons, Vermont, posted a time of 1:28:40.

Paul Lefebvre of Dunrobin, Ontario won the 10-competitor men’s 60-plus category, completing the 8.3k course in a time of 1:08:09. Ottawa, Ontario’s Randy Kemp took silver with a time of 1:13:06 and Darrell Rikert of Greenfield Center won bronze in a time of 1:13:33.

In the women’s 50-plus division, Marketa Graham of Ottawa again won gold with a time of 1:17:3 over Pam James of Windsor, Nova Scotia, who had a time of 1:21:03. Dagmar Merkova of Silver Spring, Maryland won bronze in a time of 1:40:59 in the seven-competitor field.

On Saturday, the ski orienteering events were held at Dewey Mountain Recreation Center in Saranac Lake.

That’s when Burnham won his second gold in two days, topping the men’s 21-plus age group division and the entire 67-racer field of age-groupers ranging in age from 14 to 80-plus. Burnham finished the 2.6k middle-distance course in a time of 43 minutes, 14 seconds, best among 11 finishers. Adrian Owens, 55, of Craftsbury Commons, Vermont, took his second-straight silver to Burnham, posting a time of 49:05. Ari Ofsevit of Cambridge, Massachusetts, won bronze in 54:05.

Paul Lefebvre of Dunrobin, Ontario won the nine-competitor men’s 60-plus category with a time of 57:01, with Stefan Bergstrom of Carp, Ontario, taking the silver medal in one hour, 4 minutes and 22 seconds. Stow, Massachusetts racer Aims Coney won bronze in 1:05:55. In the women’s 50-plus division, Marketa Graham of Ottawa won gold with a time of 58:06, besting Pam James of Windsor, Nova Scotia with a time of 1:05:45 and South Plainfield, New Jersey’s Albina Zakrevski, the bronze medalist, in 1:25:59.

On Friday, Burnham won his first gold medal in the 3.5k race for the men’s 21-plus age group division. Adrian Owens won silver, and James Connell got the bronze.