When the Cazenovia girls cross country team began its work in the OHSL Liberty division, it wasted little time going to the front of the standings.
The Lakers ignored the wet weather and swept through last Wednesday’s three-way meet with Jordan-Elbridge and Hannibal, beating the Eagles 19-40 and the Warriors 15-51.
In all, Cazenovia had five of the top six individual finishers, led by eighth-grader Malone Gabor, who covered her home course in 21 minutes, 50 seconds to beat J-E’s Kim Foltz by 15 seconds.
Hollie Marcelle, in a third-place time of 22:11, led the next pack as Rae Tobey was fourth (22:13), two seconds behind Marcelle. Meaghan Liddell finished fifth (23:09), four seconds ahead of Alex Dolbear (23:13) in sixth place. Rachel Grimm (24:51) and Sarah Fellows (25:40) were ninth and 10th, respectively.
In the boys meet, Cazenovia lost to Hannibal 23-32 and J-E 20-41, despite a terrific effort from Pat Dermody.
Staying right on the heels of J-E stars Cody Stanton and Mike Marrero, Dermody finished in 17 minutes, 36 seconds, just six seconds behind Stanton (17:30) and four seconds behind Marrero. Dermody’s teammate, Dan Pati, was seventh in 18:39, the only other Cazenovia runner in the top 10.
The Cazenovia girls team appeared Saturday in the 58th Baldwinsville Invitational and finished seventh in the 19-team Small School division with 215 points. Maine-Endwell (Section IV) won with 92 points.
Gabor worked her way to 20th place (19:55) to lead the Laker attack. Marcelle finished 35th (20:37) as Tobey finished 40th in 20:43. Liddell was 55th, in a time of 21:08, as Dolbear (21:25) rounded out the scoring in 65th place.
Both Cazenovia teams are in action Wednesday in a three-way meet at Marcellus that also includes Phoenix.
