As one of the favorites for Saturday’s Onondaga High School League championship meet at Jamesville Beach Park, the Cazenovia girls cross country team boldly set out to claim the top spot.
And the Lakers beat everyone in the 20-team field – except Tully, whose total of 67 points topped Cazenovia, who settled for second place with 93 points.
Rae Tobey led the Lakers as she finished ninth in 20 minutes, 9.4 seconds. But three Black Knights runners – Ashley Evans (fifth), Katherine Ward (seventh) and Marietta Burt (10th) – also finished in the top 10, putting them in front to stay.
Behind Tobey, Hollie Marcelle took 12th place in 20:26.7, while Jeannette Cudney worked her way to 18th place in 20:51.7 ahead of Tully’s fourth and fifth runners. Malone Gabor ran to 30th place in 21:16.2 and Michelle Karker was 31st in 21:16.6, with Emma Wolsey (22:00.2) and Margaret Wolsey (22:02.3) in 45th and 46th, respectively.
Cazenovia will now try and grab the Section III Class B championship, which takes place next Saturday at Vernon-Verona Sherrill High School. The Class B race starts at noon.
The boys Lakers finished 18th in the 23-team field at the OHSL meet, with Pat Dermody leading the way as he ran to 13th place in a time of 17:07.4. Ben Langey (19:06.3) and Darien Smith (19:25.8) claimed the next two Cazenovia spots, well back in the pack.
Chittenango did better than that, getting 12th place with 317 points. Josiah Durfee earned 24th place in 17:41.1, with John Durfee notching 26th place in 17:45.9. Jason Ceresoli was 60th in 18:40.3.
The girls Bears finished 13th, well off Cazenovia’s pace. Jordan Donnelly had the best showing, as she ran to 39th place in a clocking of 21:42.4, with Shannon Bunce 52nd in 22:22.7.