Going into every season, no matter the sport, each team looks to its senior players for leadership. The Class of 2019 did not disappoint as he athletes led their teams into sectional play or even into state competition.

Guilderland and Voorheesville track-and-field athletes ran and jumped with the best at the New York State Public High School Athletic Association state competition at Middletown High School in Middletown last Friday and Saturday.

The track-and-field teams of Berne-Knox-Westerlo, Guilderland, and Voorheesville competed in a two-day Section II state-qualifier event at Shenendehowa High School last Thursday and Friday, hoping to qualify for the state competition this coming Friday and Saturday in Middletown.

The Guilderland baseball and softball teams along with Voorheesville baseball took to their respective diamonds to battle for sectional titles this past week with mixed results.

The second season for Voorheesville and Guilderland lacrosse teams started last week — and ended this week.

A quick shower passed through Voorheesville during the Blackbirds’ only home meet of the season; other planned meets had been nixed due to weather. Tuesday was Senior Night, as the Blackbirds faced off against Ichabod Crane and Watervliet.

The diamond was cold and windy last Thursday when the Voorheesville Blackbirds played a non-league game against Mohonasen at home. The Birds kept it close for four innings, being tied 1 to 1, but the Warriors flexed their muscles and downed the young Birds, 9 to 1.

On Tuesday morning at the Appel Inn in Guilderland. The YMCA held a breakfast to honor the students of five school districts on their volunteerism along with a few educators as well.

Getting off on the right foot: Both the Guilderland girls and Voorheesville boys won lacrosse games this week. The Dutch faced Columbia at home on Tuesday afternoon and won a barn burner, 14-to-12, while the Blackbirds, also at home, on Monday easily beat Cambridge, 11 to 6.

Even when temperatures plummeted, the athletes from Guilderland, Berne-Knox-Westerlo, and Voorheesville made sure they brought the heat to their opponents in sectional and state competition this winter sports season.