Without a doubt, the Cazenovia girls cross country team had the necessary depth to make it back-to-back Onondaga High School League Liberty division regular-season titles.
However, the Lakers’ lack of a top-flight star would burn them in last Wednesday’s meet against Westhill/Bishop Ludden at the Sean Goggin Sports Complex, as the combined entry beat Cazenovia 25-30, though the Lakers did defeat Solvay 15-48 to keep itself 5-1 against league foes.
Michelle Karker led a group of five consecutive Cazenovia finishers as she covered 3.1 miles in 19 minutes, 21 seconds. The only problem was that it left her in fourth place, as Westhill/Ludden swept the top three spots. Jessica Curry won in 18:37, with Betsy Black second (18:51) and Emily Washburn third in 19:06.
Just behind Karker, Jeannette Cudney worked her way to fifth place in 19:50. Megan Stanford was sixth, in 20:04, with Malone Gabor seventh (20:12) and Margaret Wolsey eighth in 20:37.
To hold on, Westhill/Ludden needed the next two spots in the top 10, and got them from Erin Morrell (20:52) and Erin Christensen (21:02) to hold Cazenovia off.
Three days earlier, amid summer-like warmth in New York City, Cazenovia took its turn at the annual Manhattan Invitational.
On the Van Cortlandt Park course in the Bronx (which covered 2.5 miles, instead of the normal 3.1 miles), Jeannette Cudney finished 20th in the Varsity E race in 16 minutes, 42.8 seconds.
Margaret Wolsey, with a time of 17:16.4, landed in 35th place, just ahead of teammates Michelle Karker (17:20.2) and Megan Stanford (17:21.1), who were 37th and 38th, respectively. Rae Tobey was 61st in 17:53.7, two spots ahead of Malone Gabor (17:57.0), while Emma Wolsey finished in 19:13 flat.
Chittenango’s girls competed in the Class A race, with Kendall McGee in 45th place in a time of 17:26.7. Shannon Bunce was 90th (18:26.0), followed by Anna Galbraith (18:44.5) and Kaleigh Johnson (19:25.9), in that order.
Following that, the Bears returned to the OHSL Freedom division and beat Mexico 27-30. McGee won the race in 21:39, with Bunce second in 21:48. That, plus Johnson’s fourth-place time of 23:15, helped fend off the Tigers as Kaitlin Alongi gained eighth place in 24:21.
Meanwhile, the Chittenango boys team fell to Mexico 19-37, watching the Tigers sweep the top four spots, led by James Gowans, who won in 18:27.
Jason Given gave the Bears a fifth-place clocking of 19:06, with Kenny Galbraith sixth in 19:32. Lucas Rogers (19:54) and Isaac Czarnecki (19:58) closely followed in seventh and eighth, respectively.
