On Friday at the Section VII Cross Country Championships at the Cobble Hill Golf Course. Kollmer ran to the fourth consecutive Red Storm boys overall title — Sam Ash, a 2023 graduate, won the race in 2022 and 2021. Kollmer’s efforts also secured him a spot at the NYSPHSAA Cross Country Championship meet this Saturday at Queensbury High School.

However, the Saranac Lake boys and girls cross country teams were unable to bring home a sectional banner Friday. Both teams placed second overall in their respective Section VII, Class C races despite solid showings.

The Beekmantown Eagles won the boys sectional title with 30 points, topping Saranac Lake with 61 and the Saranac Central Spartans with 66.

The Red Storm girls narrowly fell to the Spartans, which scored 41 team points. Saranac Lake had 48 to earn second, while Beekmantown was third with 54.

Kollmer won the boys race in a time of 15 minutes, 19.2 seconds, and before the race had even kicked off he attempted to plan out every situation that could happen.

“And not one of things that I planned happened,” Kollmer said.

After the first lap, Kollmer was “boxed-in” with a pack of runners, who were leading the race.

“It was a little nerve-racking,” he said. “But I set myself to get to the top of the hill on the second lap and spread it out from there.”

Once he broke free from the pack, he was unable to be caught. Beekmantown’s Nolan Laidman (15:24.3) placed second overall, while Saranac Central’s Sean Dormann (15:28.5) was third.

Kollmer, who will be the lone Red Storm boy at the state meet, said he was happy just to get the job done, after injuries and sickness plagued the start of his season.

“To be able to bounce back from being down and out, it’s very fulfilling,” he said.

Kollmer added that a big reason why both he and the Saranac Lake team has been successful is because of a lot of “good pressure.”

“Pressure is often looked down upon as being a little bit dangerous, and setting people up for failure,” he said. “But when I get the pressure that is put on me from my team and my team’s success it’s really powerful and uplifting.”

All five Red Storm scorers finished in the top 20, with Ebin Meissner (16:27.5) placing 11th, Keaton Daley (16:33.7) in 13th, Emmett VanBuskirk (16:57.9) in 17th and Liam Fletcher (17:04.0) in 19th.

The team was closed out by Alex Evans (17:14.8) in 21st; Jonah Seleni (17:56.5) in 29th; Colin Glasscock (19:07.3) in 43rd; and Wyatt Lamon (19:27.2) in 49th.

Cadence Kennedy was the first Saranac Lake girls runner to finish the race, placing fourth in the Class C race in 19:30.6. Teammate Asa Bruno (19:31.0) who finished in fifth overall, said they were impressed by their performance.

“Last race, I was behind some people and my goal today was to pass them,” Bruno said. “Not only did I do that, but I did so by much more than I expected.”

Saranac Lake’s Nora Daley (20:17.9) who finished in ninth place overall, missed a state qualifier spot by just a few seconds. Teammates Eloise Zobel (20:46.0) in 13th and Lila Zobel (21:10.2) in 17th had strong showings as well.

Saranac Central’s Sienna Boulds (18:11.6) was the overall winner of the girls race, while her teammate Laura Denial (18:11.8) was second. Beekmantown’s Olivia Drowne (19:13.3) was third.

Four other Red Storm runners cracked the top 30 with Clementine Guenette (21:12.0) placing 18th; Addison Ash (21:17.6) in 19th; Lizzie Harvey (21:20.9) in 21st; and Gwen Haney (21:41.6) in 24th.

Ash, a senior who raced for the final time Friday, said she went out attempting to do the best she could.

“I think the goal was to finish and I did,” she said. “In finishing, we kind of did well as a team, too.”

The team was rounded out by Lauryn Caldwell (22:15.6) in 32nd; Maggie Reed (23:08.9) in 38th; Abi Varner (24:00.7) in 41st; Zoe Carpenter (25:14.0) in 46th; Emily Bartiss (27:14.3) in 49th; and Alexis Sinclair (31:17.7) in 53rd.

The NYSPHSAA Cross Country Championships Class C girls race will kickoff at 1:30 p.m., while the boys race is set for a 11 a.m. start.