By Kurt Wheeler
The Cazenovia girls cross country team turned in a series of all-league performances at the Onondaga High School League Liberty Division Championship Meet last Wednesday afternoon.
Overall, the Lakers earned fifth place in the 13- team field. Cazenovia’s top five totaled 127 points with Christian Brothers Academy winning the title at 72 points. In the National division, Cazenovia had 57 points, just one behind runner-up Jordan-Elbridge as Skaneateles won with 42 points.
Finlay Stover led the Lakers, running her best race of the season to earn 20th place overall in 22 minutes, 40.8 seconds over the 5,000-meter course at Long Branch Park in Liverpool. The freshman runner moved up steadily in the field throughout the race for her highest team finish of the fall to earn first team all-league honors.
Captains Molly Hart (21st, 22:43.4) and Isla Stover (23rd, 22:47.9) were close behind, with eighth-grader Lauren McLean just a few seconds back at 23:04.5 (27th place). All three runners earned second team all-league honors with their efforts.
Sophomore Mary Williams capped the Lakers’ team scoring as she took the fifth-place position for the squad (36th, 23:48.8) to lead an impressive contingent of honorable mention all-league runners.
Claire Braaten (37th, 23:54.3) and Melanie Michael (39th, 24:07.3) were sixth and seventh for the team, displacing multiple opponents’ scorers. Mia Chesbrough (24:42.4) and Emma Steinberg (25:07.2) also earned honorable mention recognition as nine Lakers in total made the all-league roster.
Laura Fitzgerald (25:28.4), Grace Dolan (25:42.9), Eleanor Wester (26:19.1), Jenna Steinberg (26:54.1) and Maggie Rowles (27:07.5) also raced well for the Lakers as they fielded the most competitors among the Liberty Division teams.
The Lakers’ top 10 runners will continue to prepare for the Section III Class C Championship Meet, slated for next Saturday at 1:20 at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School, as it seeks to cap a successful 2019 campaign with a strong showing at sectionals.
