by Kurt Wheeler
HOMER – The Cazenovia girls track and field team got their regular season off to a fast start as it overwhelmed Homer 112-29 Wednesday afternoon, winning 13 of 17 events, including all three relays, and achieving 21 sectional qualifying performances en route to a decisive victory.
Senior captain Corinne Albicker led the team as she scored in four events and hit the sectional standard in each.
Albicker led a sweep by the Lakers in the 400-meter hurdles, posting a quick early season time of 1:14.9 to win, with Bonnie Pittman second and Meghan Mehlbaum third. She also ran a speedy 17.9 in the 100 hurdles and teamed with Pittman for second and third place there.
Then Albicker returned to lead another sweep in the long jump, hitting an outstanding 15 feet 2 inches for first with Alyssa Wardell (14’6”) and Susie Pittman (14’2 ¾”) also scoring.
Audie Spring was less than an inch behind with a 14’2” effort in her first varsity meet. Albicker (31’9”) and Pittman (31’8 ½”) both placed in the triple jump as well.
Susie Pittman scored two wins of her own as she cleared 8’6”to win the pole and 4’8” to win the high jump. Caitlyn Smithers matched her height of 8’6” to take second in the vault with Faith Wheeler third for a Cazenovia sweep while Meghan Mehlbaum took second in the high jump.
Maddy Rothfeld won the shot put with an exceptional throw of 29 feet with Karly Vaas second in a personal best 27’1 ½”. Olivia Morse won the discus at 70 feet with Rothfeld third at 66’6” to cap the Lakers’ 44-10 advantage in the field events.
Cazenovia was equally successful on the track as they won all three relays and amassed a 68-19 margin overall.
Grace Dolan paced the team with four scores as she led off two winning relays, won the 200 in an outstanding 27.3 seconds and took third in the 400 with a quick 1:03.3. Reid McMurtrie also ran 1:03.3, a career-best, to place second with Maura Phillips third in 1:05.1.
Izzy Stromer-Galley matched Dolan’s four scores as the duo combined with Smithers and Wardell to win the 4×100 meter relay in an exceptional 53.2 seconds and teamed up with Mehlbaum and Lily Kogut to triumph in the 4×400 in 4:37.6. Stromer-Galley also scored in the 200 (27.8 seconds) and the 100 (13.3), just a step behind Smithers (13.0).
Cazenovia’s distance runners dominated Homer as they piled up a 31-1 advantage in their events.
Wheeler led the charge, winning the 1,500 in 5:31.8 and the 800 in 2:43.6. Olivia Ruddy and Zoey Gagne backed up Wheeler in the 1,500 with Kogut second in the 800.
Dinah Gifford led a sweep in the 3000 with Gagne and Haylee Stearns close behind. Phillips led the 4×800 meter relay to victory with a 2:36.5 lead-off leg with Kogut, Gifford and Lauren McLean also contributing.
The Lakers (1-0) will be back in action on their home track against Chittenango (1-0) on Wednesday before travelling to Utica for the Cook-DeStefano Invitational two days later.
