VOORHEESVILLE — A great, but surprising section ending was in store Friday for the Voorheesville girls’ cross-country team.

The Lady Blackbirds reached their peak with a win in the Class C Section II race at Queensbury High School.
"I don’t know the last time it happened," said Voorheesville’s first-year coach Kelly McHale. "I’ve been asking around. I don’t think the girls’ team has won it. I think the boys have."

The Lady Blackbirds will be competing in the state championship that will also take place in Queensbury on Saturday.
"It was great," McHale said. "I didn’t know we won until they put up the results. The girls were ecstatic. They did it as a team."

Macky Lloyd of the boys’ team at Voorheesville will be joining the girls’ team in Queensbury on Saturday. He finished fifth overall and was the second finisher not from the winning team — Fonda-Fultonville. The top five runners who are not on the winning team advance to the state meet.
"We’ve run at Queensbury three times this year," McHale said. "The fourth time will be states. That should help our finish."

Voorheesville finished fifth as a team in the sectional meet.

The top finishers for the girls’ team was Hillary Edmunds, who came in sixth, and Chantel Little, who finished eighth.

Though the pair paced the Blackbirds, other runners were key to the victory, too.

Allison Vogelien, Lizzie Dawson, Zoe Edmunds, and Kali Votrow all came up with big performances to aid in securing the sectional title, McHale said.
"They were the key to our success," the coach said. "Our top two did well, but, if we were going to win, the last few had to come in well. And they did very well and were very successful."

The Lady Blackbirds had performed well at the Troy meet a week before the sectionals, so they had confidence and were on a roll.

Little and Edmunds have been the top runners on the team all season.
"Chantel and Hillary have done well all year," McHale said. "They pulled through for us."

There were 10 runners on the varsity this fall. Theresa McTague, Stacy Mosher-Glenski, and Courtney Bourque contributed to the team this year.
"They had some good times this year," McHale said. "I’ve never seen any team as cohesive. They really pull through as a team."

McHale said that she sensed the team could make a run at the title.
"I was coming into sectionals hoping for the best," she said. "The team got together and saw they had great potential. We were ranked number-one at one time during the season. At a couple of races, we had some people missing and we lost that ranking. A lot of people did not expect us to win. But deep down, as we prepared, we said, ‘We can do it.’"

Boys are champs, too

The boys’ team accomplished something the girls’ team could not not do. They won the Colonial Council championship. Though it doesn’t lead to the state meet, it was still a big accomplishment. The boys won the regular season title, but finished third at the league meet.

They also finished fifth in the sectional meet at Queensbury.
"It was a very difficult race," McHale said. "Fonda was very quick. We did well. A lot of our guys got personal records over past years."

Lloyd was the top runner for the Blackbirds all season but Ryan Allison was also a top contributor.
"He had a great year," McHale said. "He was very instrumental in our winning the Colonial Council."

The boys’ team had 10 varsity runners.

Dylan Perrillo, Ian Powell, Tommy Pasquali, Kyle Jacobs, Josh O’Brien, Anthony Maddaloni, Billy Corbett, and Nathan Bub all had great years, McHale said.
"I’m so proud of them, the whole team," the coach said. "The modified was great, also. They went undefeated."

Only Corbett and O’Brien are seniors. All the top runners will return for the girls’ team as well.

Runner for life

McHale was an assistant with the Voorheesville team last year. She had help this year from Joseph Sullivan, who will also be coaching track at The College of Saint Rose in the spring. Steve Relyea, who coaches track at Voorheesville, also helped out during the season.
"They have a lot of experience," McHale said. "This year, the team has been wonderful to coach. I helped out a lot last year. It was my first year here. I’ve learned a lot the past year, especially with workouts. We want them to get more out of it."

McHale is a runner herself. She also competes in triathlons.

McHale did not run cross-country in high school but did run track. She is a biology teacher at the high school and a graduate of Binghamton University, where she was an athletic trainer.

The Voorheesville program had 43 runners come out — which is one of the biggest teams the school has had — and McHale hopes that they appreciate the sport for a long time.
"For me, it would be great to teach them to be runners for life and not just for high school," she said. "I want them to become life-long runners. That’s the ultimate goal."

Winning a sectional title makes for a great moment in her first year of coaching.
"It was exciting," McHale said. "I didn’t expect it with this team just because it was my first year."