MIDDLETOWN – Ethan Verbosky is a two-time state champion.

Less than 24 hours after claiming the Class C 800-meter title, Verbosky ran to victory in the 1,600 meters Saturday at Middletown High School.

“It’s definitely a symptom of him peaking at exactly the right time,” Maple Grove coach Brendan Green said. “He’s been great these last two weeks.”

Running out of the 13th position in the fastest of four heats, the Maple Grove junior finished in 4:15.62, nearly 2 seconds faster than his best time of the season.

Verbosky was seeded second in Class C behind Van Furman, but the Tri-Valley senior finished eighth Saturday in 4:23.30, nearly 12 seconds slower than his seed time.

“I think it took him a minute. He had to wait for his time to show up on the board,” Green said of Verbosky’s reaction. Runners are placed in heats based on their times, not classification, so Furman was the only other Class C runner in Verbosky’s heat. “He knew he beat the C kid in the heat. I think he had a pretty good idea.”

Overall, Verbosky was 11th out of 57 runners in the event, which was won by Owen Blaisdell, a senior out of Class A Saratoga Springs with a time of 4:11.65.

Trinity School junior Liam Luff was second in Class C at 4:18.49 while Remsen junior Ethan Karis was third at 4:18.80.

“There was something really kind of cool about it. We knew the best C time going into it and it was just Ethan and Van going into that heat,” Green said of the mixed-classification heats “It’s so cool to see him against that level of competition. A number of those guys are already DI commits and nationally ranked.”

Silver Creek/Forestville junior Nathan Mays just missed out on his quest for a Class C pentathlon title, finishing second with 3,260 points.

On Saturday, Mays reached 6.08 meters to accumulate 604 points in the long jump and finished up with a time of 4:41.29 in the 1,500 meters to pick up his final 672 points.

Beckett Holmes, a junior from Oneonta, won the Class C crown with 3,301 points, including 1,330 points in Saturday’s final two events.

Junior Nathaniel Johnson of Class A John Jay-East Fishkill won the overall pentathlon title with 3,737 points, 202 more than second-place Fernando Padilla of Connetquot. Siyir Price of Fowler was third with 3,324 points.

Frewsburg senior Cody Kent turned in a second-place Class C finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:36.51. Furman won the Class C and overall titles with a time of 9:10.41. Ithaca senior Noah Hilker won the Class A championship and was second overall with a time of 9:15.78 while Queensbury senior Liam Davidson took the Class B crown and third place overall with a time of 9:21.72. Kent’s time was good for 12th overall.

Verbosky started his day by anchoring the Maple Grove 1,600-meter relay to a fourth-place Class C finish in 3:28.52. Running out of Lane 2 in the fastest of three heats, Ty Kraft and Ty Oste raced out to a fifth-place showing in 1:45.98 for 800 meters. Rider Carlson improved the Red Dragons position by one with a 52.37 split before Verbosky finished in 50.17 seconds.

“Overall they were great. They got off to a really good start. All of the teams were seeded within a 1.5 seconds of each other,” Green said. “There was a lot of traffic which may have cost us a little bit of time. Overall they ran the best race they could.”

Geneseo won the Class C title in 3:27.06, followed by James I. O’Neill (3:28.09) and Berne-Knox-Westerlo (3:28.25).

Maple Grove will continue its season next weekend at the Nike Outdoor Nationals at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon.

“Next week is just another great opportunity for another time. Again, we get to do it with the other guys (Kraft, Oste and Carlson) completely fresh, which is something new going into these final weeks.”

“The big stage at states is great preparation for next week,” Maple Grove coach Bella Zuroski said.

“Hopefully it will be the cherry on top of their season,” added Red Dragons coach Jennifer Micek.

Jamestown took 16th out of 22 teams in the Class A 1,600-meter relay. Beckett Lumia, Cameron Burgess, Jarren Cotter and Brighton Lumia finished in 3:26.60, running out of Lane 4 in the first of three heats. Beckett Lumia and Burgess started with a 800-meter split of 1:44.74, followed by Cotter’s 51.47 and Brighton Lumia’s finishing split of 50.40.

Minisink Valley won the Class A title with a time of 3:16.29, followed by Washingtonville in second (3:16.55) and Suffern in third (3:18.33).

Dunkirk senior Jareese Gaines did not reach the starting height of 5 feet, 10 inches in the high jump.

Peru junior Oliver Lancto won the Class B high jump at 6 feet, 6 inches. CBA Albany sophomore Maxwell Kimball was second (6-6) and PIttsford Sutherland junior Beckham Taylor was third (6-6). Colonie junior Ryan Buskey won the overall and Class A titles at 6 feet, 10 inches.

“It’s very rare in your lifetime to have a weekend like this with athletes so successful on the state stage, but kids who are so special,” Zuroski said. “To stop and soak it in was just really special.”