SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Section VII cross-country teams, shut out of the state rankings, served notice on state pollsters Saturday with a stellar performance in the highly competitive Burnt Hills Invitational cross-country meet at Saratoga State Park. Area teams claimed one second, three thirds and a fifth place.

The Beekmantown boys placed second in the Varsity II race with 86 points behind Broadalbin-Perth, with 61. The Ticonderoga boys came in third in Varsity I with 122 points, behind Voorheesville, 61, and Hawthorne Valley, 83.

Meanwhile, the Seton Catholic boys, stepping up to Varsity III for large schools, came in a very respectable fifth out of 15 teams with 158 points. Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake came in first with 26, followed by Monroe-Woodbury, Jamesville-DeWitt, Greece Arcadia and Seton Catholic.

For the girls, Saranac Lake placed third out of 11 teams in Varsity II with 92 points, behind Broadalbin-Perth and Cobleskill-Richmondville. Saranac Lake was the only unranked team among the top five.

The Seton Catholic girls were third in Varsity I with 124 points, trailing only Millbrook, 49, and Voorheesville, 53.

There were several outstanding individual efforts by area runners.

Seton Catholic's Michael Champagne came in sixth in Boys' Varsity III while Brendan Courneene placed fourth and teammated Adam Shearer, 10th, in Boys' Varsity II. Jay Berube of Ticonderoga was the top Section VII finisher in Boys' Varsity I with a 14th place.

Andrea Maynard of Seton Catholic came in sixth in Girls' Varsity I while three Section VII runners cracked the top 10 in Girls' Varsity II -- Saranac Lake's Kendra Leonidas and Emily Kriwox, who finished seventh and eighth, and Beekmantown's Bailey Weightman, who was ninth.

The Seton Catholic girls did not enter a complete team. Genna Hartung, their No. 1 runner, placed 54th in the prestigious Eastern States Championship race at Van Cortlandt Park in New York City. Hartung finished the 2.5-mile run in 15:44.22. Melanie Thompson of Voorheesville won in 14:12.79.

Burnt Hills Invitational

Girls' Varsity II (11 teams scored)

1, Broadalbin-Perth, 37. 2, Cobleskill-Richmondville, 67. 3, Saranac Lake, 92. 4, Schuylerville, 111. 5, Lansingburgh, 145. 7, Northeastern Clinton, 193. 9, Saranac, 230. 10, Peru, 242.

Individuals

1. Samantha Watson, Schuylerville18:31

2. Gina Cristaldi, Broadalbin-Perth18:55