By Kurt Wheeler
The Cazenovia girls track and field team capped their successful 2018 campaign with a series of peak performances at the sectional championship and state qualifier meets. The Lakers fell short of earning another sectional title, finishing second to a strong Clinton Squad, but achieved multiple season and career bests at both meets.
Senior Captain Jamie Joseph concluded her storied athletic career with an exclamation point as she led the Lakers in both meets. Her four-event performance at sectionals was highlighted by a school-record performance in the 800 (2:20.17) to finish second. She also won a sectional title the shot put with a career best effort of 34-3, set a career best of 1:00.3 in the 400 as she anchored the 4×4 to its fastest time of the year and helped the 4×100 to a Qualifier-eligible time of 53.32.
Maddy Gavitt earned an individual sectional title in the triple jump with a leap of 35-8 and also scored in the long jump and high jump. Claire Edwards won her first sectional title with a career best throw of 94-4 in the discus while Lily Gavitt also brought home a championship medal as she won the Pentathlon with winning total of 2029 points.
Paige Hunt fell just short of an individual title but earned second place finishes in two events, highlighted by a career best of 5-0 in the high jump. She also took second in the pole vault (8-6) and helped the 4×100. Senior Captain Katie Robbins had a career best effort in the triple jump (32-1.25), scored in the pole vault and competed in the long jump for Cazenovia as she completed her illustrious track and field career. Sophomore sensation Chloe Smith competed in four events for the Lakers, scoring in the long jump (15-3), anchoring the successful 4×100 and contesting the 100 and 200 meter dashes.
Senior Captain Meggie Hart fought off illness to score in both the 1,500 and 3,000 for the Lakers while Clara Rowles led the team in the 2,000-meter steeplechase with a career best time of 8:01.36 for fifth place and also scored in the 1,500 for Cazenovia.
Senior Captain Julia Barrett scored in three events as she led off all of the Lakers’ relays and helped them to season best times in two of them. Cavy Monahan had a career best in the 400 (1:06.03) and contributed to two relays with Molly Hart, Kelly Frost also boosting the 4×800 and Peyton Basic helping in the 4×400.
The Lakers advanced 10 girls to the State Championship Qualifier Meet on May 31. The versatile Joseph once again led the team with bids in three wide-ranging events as competed in the shot put, improved on her own school record to take third in the 800 (2:20.12) and helped the 4×100 relay of Barrett, Hunt and Smith to a season best of 51.81 to finish third in the section.
Hunt was another triple qualifier, also competing in the high jump and pole vault. Meggie Hart concluded her legendary track and cross country career with a fifth place finish in the 1500. Maddy Gavitt came within inches of earning her second bid to the state championships as she finished third in 35-10.25, a quarter inch from her own school record and just short of the state standard of 36-1.5.
The superb post-season performances were a fitting capstone to the Lakers’ undefeated regular season which saw them earn their seventh league title in the past nine years, raising their dual meet record to 58-3 during that span. The girls also won the OHSL Liberty Championship Meet for the fifth time since 2010.
