From left are Leila Fey, Kai McKinnon, Norah Francis, Maya Garrison, Jenna Fay, Holly Erenstone and Rose Wenzler. The Lake Placid girls cross country team won the Section VII, Class D title for the sixth season in a row on Nov. 8 at the Cobble Hill Golf Course in Elizabethtown. (Provided photo — Alicia Brandes)

ELIZABETHTOWN — The Lake Placid girls cross country team brought home another piece of hardware to its already dominant season, capturing the Section VII, Class D crown Friday, Nov. 8.

After winning the Champlain Valley Athletic Conference title last weekend, the Blue Bomber girls cruised to another team title at Cobble Hill Golf Course in the Section VII state qualifier meet after placing all seven of its runners in the top 11 in the Class D race. Lake Placid finished with a team score of 15 points, topping the Ticonderoga Sentinels with 44.

Meanwhile, Lake Placid’s Aidan Fay captured the Section VII, Class D boys individual title for the second year in a row. However, the boys team had to settle for second place after falling to the Sentinels. Ticonderoga won with 25 points while the Blue Bombers combined for 35.

Lake Placid’s Leila Fey, a seventh grader, won the Class D girls race Friday with a time of 19 minutes, 10.3 seconds. She also finished fourth overall in the Section VII girls race, and said she was happy with her time.

Fey was followed by teammates Kai McKinnon (19:21.4) in second, Norah Francis (19:35.4) in third, Maya Garrison (19:51.3) in fourth and Jenna Fay (21:21.7) in fifth to solidify the sectional crown.

Lake Placid’s Connor Mannion competes in the Section VII cross country championships on Nov. 8 in Elizabethtown. (News photo — Parker O’Brien)

“We just had to all try our best honestly,” Garrison said. “And do our own race, and focus on ourselves.”

The Sentinels’ top runner was Aubrey Hayes (22:09.5) in sixth place in Class D. Hayes’ teammate Haley Sutphen (22:17.0) was seventh.

Lake Placid was rounded out by Holly Erenstone (22:29.4) in eighth and Rose Wenzler (24:24.7) in 11th. All seven runners will compete in the NYSPHSAA Cross Country Championships at Queensbury High School on Saturday.

“We’re super excited to go to states and hopefully crush it,” McKinnon said.

The girls season has been nothing short of dominant. This year, along with the Section VII, Class title and the CVAC crown, the squad won the Division I Burnt Hills Invitational on Oct. 12, and the Division 2 race McQuaid Invitational race on Sept. 28, both were against some of the top teams in the state.

Lake Placid’s Colin Francis competes in the Section VII cross country championships on Nov. 8 at the Cobble Hill Golf Course in Elizabethtown. (News photo — Parker O’Brien)

“We’re really focusing on states, and we’re really excited that this means that we can now go because we’re currently ranked second in the state,” Erenstone said.

The last time the team won both the CVAC title and their respective sectional title, in 2021, the squad finished fourth overall in the state.

While the Blue Bomber boys did not win their sectional championship, the team will send a trio of runners in Aidan Fay, Colin Francis and Connor Mannion, to the state meet.

Fay took home the individual Class D title in 15:37.7, edging out Seton Catholic’s Colby Chase (15:58.2) who placed second overall. Lake Placid’s Colin Francis (16:30.8) was third.

The Sentinels had six runners cross the finish line after the top three to win the sectional title. Lake Placid’s Connor Mannion (18:06.5) placed 10th.

While Fay was happy, earning both a state qualifier spot and the Class D individual title, he was hoping to earn the Section VII overall title — something a Lake Placid boys runner has never done before. His plan was to either stay with the top pack of runners or slightly behind them.

“Then right after the downhill try to avoid them and kick up until the end,” he said.

However Fay couldn’t catch up to Saranac Lake’s Jake Kollmer (15:19.2) who won the overall title for the second year in a row. Beekmantown’s Nolan Laidman (15:24.3) was second and Sean Dormann (15:28.5) was third.

“I passed one of the guys — Jon Slick from Beekmantown — and I just did not have it to catch the rest of them,” Fay said. “I kind of half executed the plan.”

Fay has been dealing with a lot of sickness and different adversities this season, which likely didn’t help on Friday.

“Just that last half mile I could not punish and the finishing stretch I could not catch those guys like I wanted to today,” he said.

Lake Placid’s other two scorers, Jim Guglielmi (18:36.1) in 13th and Graham Scull (18:42.9) in 14th, just missed out on a state qualifying spot.

The team was rounded out by Jesse Carlson (18:45.3) in 15th; Nicholas O’Brien (20:37.8) in 19th; Robert Bowen (20:44.3) in 20th; and Calvin Branchaud (22:29.0) in 24th.

The NYSPHSAA Cross Country Championships Class D boys race will kickoff at 11:30 a.m., while the girls race is set for a 2 p.m. start.