A strong regular season by the Skaneateles girls cross country team meant that the OHSL Liberty division title hinged on Thursday’s showdown with those other Lakers from Cazenovia in a three-way meet at Westhill.
Skaneateles got half the work done, edging past Westhill 28-31, but could not quite match the depth of Cazenovia as it lost to them by that same 28-31 margin. It marked Cazenovia’s first-ever girls cross country league championship.
Everyone in the race changed the Westhill duo of Betsy Black and Jessica Curry, a pair of Bishop Ludden transfers who tore through their home course in 19 minutes, 46 seconds.
Not far behind, Madeline Adams finished in 19:59, just behind Cazenovia’s Hollie Marcelle (19:57). The same fate met Morel Malcolom, who had a time of 20:09, just behind Cazenovia’s Rae Tobey (20:03).
All this left Skaneateles in a vulnerable spot, and when the Cazenovia trio of Jeanette Cudney, Malone Gabor and Michelle Karker finished ahead of the rest of the Skaneateles field, it secured the league crown. However, Sknaeateles did beat the other two Westhill runners to salvage the split and finish 6-1 in league meets.
Over in the boys race, Skaneateles earned another split, beating Cazenovia 25-34, but taking an 18-37 defeat to Westhill.
Though Cazenovia’s Pat Dermody took the individual race in 17:12, and three Warrior runners followed, Sam Kriever still ran well, giving Skaneateles a fifth-place time of 18:05. Danny Sakal finished seventh, in 18:29, while John Watt III got 10th place in 18:54.
