xc09adirondackpre09

Underlined teams means I received at least one preview from the team. Information for teams that aren't underlined are mostly based on last year's team results.

The Adirondack League looks to be very tight this year. Most teams bring back almost everyone and some are strengthened by some modified runners from last year moving up. North Warren, with what is probably the biggest team in the league and a few more freshmen coming up than most teams, looks to have the slight edge over Corinth and Lake George. Defending league champion Corinth has the edge for second . Lake George comes in at third bolstered by the top two runners in the league. The scores look pretty tight with North Warren having a 25-30 win over Corinth and a 28-29 win over Lake George, and Corinth taking second by a 29-29 6th man tiebreaker over Lake George. Whitehall is not that far back in fourth as they return everyone from a team that won the league invitational title. Hadley-Luzerne looks to be fifth and Argyle, Johnsburg, and Fort Ann were all incomplete last year and I'm not sure of their status for this season.

Corinth looks to repeat as Adirondack League champions. They only had five runners last year but return four of them. They would've had all five but number two runner Ron Bovee decided to switch to football (1st week: Granville 14 Corinth 6), but they still have enough talent and new runners to repeat. The Tomahawks are led by seniors Chris Gipe and and Tim Ross with sophomore James Crist not too far behind. All three were between 18:30 and 19:05. What they need are their fourth and fifth runners to move up as their only other returning runner, junior Matt Young was just over 21 minutes last year. The will need newcomers, senior Sean Curtis and freshmen Davin LeClair and Tyler Ellis to step in and make an immediate impact.

Hadley Luzerne is the early favorite as they return more depth than any other team and that is what it will take to win this league. The team only loses Travis Monroe and return everyone else, plus have a bunch of new runners coming in. The Cougard are led by junior Alec Underwood, who ran in the low 18's at Saratoga and senior Jeff Bennett who was also under 19 minutes. Senior Martindale Novak and junior Zach Bessett with both running under 20 minutes last year. The rest of the team is up from grabs as junior Jon Gordon, and freshmen Anthony Sapienza and Christian VanNispan are looking to fill that roll.

Lake George also has the ability to win the title if they can get the right supporting cast to help out the top two runners in the league. Senior Steve Petramale and junior Willie Underwood easily went 1-2 in the league last year and should have no problems doing the same this year. Unfortunately Lake George has had a numbers problem and went incomplete a few times last year. Senior Jason Barnes is a strong third for the team as he ran in the mid 18 minutes at Saratoga last year. Frosh Dan Jardine should step into the fourth spot and could really help out their depth with sophomore Richard Jelley closing out their top five. If Jardine and Jelley can move up then the Warriors have a very good chance for the league title.

Whitehall is not a tem to sleep on though. The Railroaders bring back their entire top seven and edged out Corinth for the league invitational title last year. They are led by Senior Curt Thompson who finished third behind Lake George's top duo. He's followed by senior Mickey Bezio who was in the mid 18 minutes at Saratoga last year. Senior Travis Beayon follows but is the only other returnee that was under 20 minutes last year. Sophomore Tyler Perry was in the mid 20 minutes last year. After him they could be relying on some freshmen to step up for the number five spot.

Hadley-Luzerne return their entire top seven last year but need to have improvements in their times if they want to move up in the league. Junior Joe Legault leads the team but is the only runner that is under 20 minutes. They may be bolstered by some freshmen that ran for their modified team last year.

Argyle only had three runners last year but they all should return which helps their chances for a complete team this year, though they had no modified last year. Junior Josh Bala was under 19 minutes last year so he's a good start for the team.

Johnsburg only had two runners last year and no modified so they will need to work to improve on completing their team this year. Sophomore Matthew Hayden was under 19 minutes last year and is a good start to build the team up.

	Team Predictions	W-L	Top Individuals (Alphabetical Order)
1	North Warren	7-0	Josh Bala	Argyle
2	Corinth	6-1	Jason Barnes	Lake George
3	Lake George	5-2	Mickey Bezio	Whitehall
4	Whitehall	4-3	James Crist	Corinth
5	Hadley-Luzerne	3-4	Chris Gipe	Corinth
6	Argyle	0-7	Steve Petramale	Lake George
6	Fort Ann	0-7	Alec Underwood	North Warren
6	Johnsburg	0-7	Willie Underwood	Lake George
			Curt Thompson	Whitehall

Projected Varsity: Chris Gipe-Sr., James Crist-So., Tim Ross-Sr., Sean Curtis-Sr., Matt Young-So., Davin LeClair-Jr., Tyler Ellis-Fr.

Projected Varsity: Joe Legault-Jr., Joe Roder-So., Harry Bala-So., Scott Combs-So., Justin Cook-So., Brandon Allen-So., Chris Holman-Jr., Cody Phillips-Fr., Kyle Baer-Fr.

Projected Varsity: Steve Petralmale-Sr., Willie Underwood-Jr., Jason Barnes-Sr., Richard Jelley-So., Corey Tomko-Jr.

Projected Varsity: Alec Underwood-Jr., Jeff Bennett-Sr., Martin Novak-Sr., Zach Bessett-Jr., Jon Gordon-Jr., Karl Brugger-So., Anthony Sapienza-Fr., Christian VanNispen-Fr.

Projected Varsity: Curt Thompson-Sr., Mickey Bezio-Sr., Travis Beayon-Sr., Tyler Perry-So., Dana McLaughlin-Sr., Tracy Toran-So, Trey LeClair-Jr., Tyler McDonald-Sr., Paxton Delorme-Fr.

The girls Adirondack league is looking a little thin this season as right now there are only three teams that have enough coming back to field complete teams. North Warren looks to be the favorite over Corinth as they have a tough top two and some more help coming up from last year's modified team. Corinth had a small team last year but returns everyone and also adds a few more to help their depth. Johnsburg should have six runners returning but need some improvement if they want to challenge the top two teams. All of the other team only have three or fewer runners returning and have not sent any information for me to go on for this season.

North Warren took the league title last year but were surprised by Lake George in the league invitational but are on a strong track to take the league again as they return their entire team for sectionals and also add some new and talented freshmen from last year's modified team. Leading the team will be sophomore Cassie Maday and senior Sarah Turcotte. Turcotte had been the top runner most of the year until Maday turned in her best performance of the year at sectionals to secure a spot in the state meet. Maday was in the low 21 minute range last yeah with Turcotte just over 22 minutes. Seniors Lindsey Maresca and Skyler Johnson were their 3rd and 4th runners last year an both were in the mid 24's last year. Where the Cougars need improvement are from their 3rd through 5th spots, especially if they are looking for a strong showing at sectionals. Freshman Megan Erickson can definitely help out that cause as she moves up to varsity after winning the league modified championship last year. Also look for freshmen Mallory Wolfe, Kianna Studler (great name), Cassandra Deffenback, Maggie Atkinson, Amber Frasier, and Mackenzie Meyer to try to break into the varsity lineup. The cougars will be very tough to beat with all of this depth that no other team in the league has.

Corinth brings everyone back plus adds some new runners to give them some needed depth. Whether they can make a move of North Warren will depend on what their 3rd through 5th runners can do. The Tomahawks are led by junior Jennifer Kelley and senior Jordan Madison. Kelley finished the year just over 21 minutes and Madison was just under 23 minutes. Freshmen Jenna Ackerley was third last year, just over 23 minutes and looks to be much improved. If she can be up with Kelley then that will make Corinth that much more competitive. Sophomores Ginger Williams and Sierra Schuyberg were their fourth and fifth runner last year as both were just over 25 minutes. Those times will need to drop if they want to help the team. Freshman Sharene Fedor, who is up from modified and newcomer, junior Jordan Butler may be able to help the team depth out. There are a lot of "what if's" that can materialize for this team and if they do then they can definitely take the league title this year.

Johnsburg only had four runner at sectionals last year but had six running during the season so the possibility of having a complete team are very good but the times needs a big improvement if they want any chance of moving up. Senior Bridgette Crooms is their top runner from last year and was just over 23 minutes last year. Unfortunately, she is the only runner that was under 25 minutes. Junior Kendyl Morse, senior Morgan Wilson, and sophomore Stephanie Lawrence look to help the team out but will need some big drops in their time. Johnsburg is still a very young program and it takes baby steps to field a competitive team so as long as they are making those small steps, which it looks like that are, then they are pointing their program in the right direction.

Lake George was incomplete for parts of the season last year but put it all together at the end to win the league invitational championship. Unfortunately three of those five runners have graduated and they had no runners in the modified race so they may, once again, be spending time trying to fill their lineup for this season. Having the defending league champion is always a good start and that's exactly what the Warriors have with Junior Kacy O'Brien. She finished last year in the mid 20's at Saratoga, which is about 45 seconds faster than anyone else that's returning this season, so she looks to be a big favorite again this season. Junior Courtney Mastrodomenico is the only returning runner. She was just under 24 minutes last year and looks to improve.

Argyle had a full team last year but lost four of the seven to graduation and will need to rebuild. Senior Crystal Noble leads the team with a time in the mid 21 minute range and has been one of the top runners in the league for the past two year. Junior Krista Depew is second and was in the mid 23's last year. Sophomore Brittney O'Neil is the only other returning runner. She was just under 27 minutes and will need improvements to help the the team out. Argyle has usually had a full team so I wouldn't be surprised if they have a full team. I didn't include them as a complete team since they only had two modified runners last year and both of them were 7th graders.

Hadley-Luzerne only had two runners last year but both return and they also had a large modified team so the possibility of having a complete team is quite good though it would be a very inexperienced team. The Bala's, senior Brittany and sophomore Cheyenne are the returning runners. Brittany was just over 26 minutes last year and Cheyenne was just under 31 minutes so there is a lot of room for improvement.

Fort Ann only had one runner last year at sectionals. Junior Shannon Murphy was just over 26 minutes last year.

Whitehall sophomore Marion Gendron was the only runner they had last year but they also had a couple of 8th graders last year in modified which could get them one step closer to a complete team this season.

Hartford has four runners last year at sectionals. Unfortunately all four of them were seniors so they will need to rebuild this season.

	Team Predictions	W-L	Top Individuals (Alphabetical Order)
1	North Warren	8-0	Jenna Ackerley	Corinth
2	Corinth	7-1	Bridgette Crooms	Johnsburg
3	Johnsburg	6-2	Krista Depew	Lake George
4	Argyle	0-8	Marion Gendron	Whitehall
4	Fort Ann	0-8	Jennifer Kelley	Corinth
4	Hadley-Luzerne	0-8	Cassie Maday	North Warren
4	Hartford	0-8	Jordan Madison	Corinth
4	Lake George	0-8	Crystal Noble	Argyle
4	Whitehall	0-8	Kacey O'Brien	Lake George
			Sarah Turcotte	North Warren

Projected Varsity: Jennifer Kelley-Jr., Jordan Madison-Sr., Jenna Akerley-Fr., Ginger Williams-So., Sierra Schuyberg-So., Sharene Fedor-Fr., Rachel Lyford-Fr.

Projected Varsity: Bridgette Crooms-Sr., Kendyl Morse-Jr., Holly Osowiecki-Sr., Morgan Wilson-Sr., Stephanie Wilson-So., Brittney Allard-Sr.

Projected Varsity: Cassie Maday-So., Sarah Turcotte-Sr., Lindsay Maresca-Sr., Skyler Johnson-Fr., Ashley Maresca-So., Victoria Martis-Jr., Haleigh Simmons-So., Megan Erickson-Fr., Kate Johnson-Fr.