Multiple wins on the oval, highlighted by a clean sweep of the relays, helped push the Cazenovia girls indoor track team to victory during Tuesday night’s John DiMao Memorial Invitational at Colgate University’s Sanford Field House.
With 131 points, the Lakers pulled away from runner-up Rome Free Academy, who had 104 points, in the first meet of the season where individuals scored points in events, rather than two-person teams. Clinton, with 80.5 points, finished third.
Right from the first race, Cazenovia was out in front, as the 4×200 relay quartet of Clare Costello, Olivia McEntee, Molly Carges and Zoe Shephard prevailed in one minute, 54.04 seconds, just ahead of RFA (1:54.33) at the finish line.
McEntee didn’t stop there, moving on to help Samantha Gates, Megan Henderson and Sadie Coleman go exactly 4:27 to beat Oriskany (4:31.84) and the field in the 4×400 relay. Then, in the 4×800, Cazenovia completed its relay sweep by seeing Shephard, Grace Milmoe, Meggie Hart and Maddie Langey pull away for a first-place time of 10:41.75, with New Hartford (10:57.37) far back in second place.
Costello, who was sixth in the 55-meter dash, beat the field in the 300-meter dash in 45.92 seconds, with RFA’s Tekitha Posey-Barry (45.98 seconds) close behind and Shephard sixth.
Eighth-grader Clara Rowles went 5:05.87 to prevail in the 1,500-meter run over Canastota’s Rachel Bargabos (5:08.72), with Hart fourth in 5:19 flat. Moving to the 1,000-meter run, Rowles, in 3:14.45, was second, just behind Chittenango’s Anna Galbraith, who won in 3:14.30.
That was before Milmoe, in a clocking of 1:47.93, claimed the 600-meter run, edging out New Hartford’s Katie Mercurio (1:48.16), with Gates (1:48.61) and Henderson (1:53.11) third and fourth, respectively.
Ashley Kent again was victorious in the 55-meter hurdles, finishing in 9.73 seconds to hold off Clinton’s Alayna Lofrgen (9.82 seconds) as Carges, in 10.05 seconds, was fourth and Delaney Yates sixth.
Also, Kent had a third-place triple jump of 31 feet 10 inches, with Chittenango’s Krissy Roberts fifth (30’6 1/2″) as Kent took fifth in the long jump (14’9″), with Jessica Macheda (13’11”) sixth.
Sarah Haley was third (27’9 1/2″) and Joanna Seeley fourth (26’2 1/2″) in the shot put, with Haley adding a sixth-place effort in the weight throw. Tori Fischer topped 7 feet in the pole vault, tying teammate Jill Britton for third place as she also got fifth (4’8″) in the high jump.
Meanwhile, the Cazenovia boys indoor track notched its second runner-up finish in as many meets during its portion of the DiMao Invitational, earning 87.5 points, a number only RFA, with 104.5 points, could top as, again, Clinton (76 points) finished third.
Walker Nichols would go 8.51 seconds in the 55 hurdles to fend off RFA’s Mike Brognano (8.58 seconds) for the top spot. Then, in the long jump, Nichols’ top leap of 19’3 1/2″ distanced himself from West Canada Valley’s Anthony Scalise (18’5″) and the field, with the Lakers’ Alec Boone fifth (17’1 1/2″).
Ryan O’Herien, Casey Fenton, Alex Devine and Sam Langan worked together as Cazenovia went 1:38.33 to win the 4×200, leaving second-place Dolgeville (1:39.93) more than a second behind them.
Sean Satchwell, though not running in the top heat of the 600, still won the event when he posted 1:28.65 in his heat and no one in the main ran better than RFA’s Justin Houle (1:29.85). Fenton earned his victory in the triple jump, going 40’6″, again with Scalise (39’11”) taking second place.
Later, Satchwell got to sixth place (2:55.68) in the 1,000, while the Lakers were fifth in the 4×400 relay (3:56.96), just behind Chittenango’s fourth-place clocking of 3:56.19. A disqualification prevented the Lakers from a top-five finish in the 4×800.
Trevor O’Herien, in 7.06 seconds, was second to RFA’s Dylan Finley (7.01 seconds) in the 55 sprint, with Devine (7.15 seconds) claiming fourth place. Jimmy McPherson was eighth in the mile, while Langan took ninth in the 300.
Reed Lucas threw the shot put 38’11 to put himself in third place, beating out teammate Sawyer Hunt (37’8″) in fourth place. Dustin Hammond settled into seventh place (35’6″) in the weight throw.
