Ashley Winn and the rest of the top Cazenovia girls track and field stars are making their way to Cicero-North Syracuse next weekend for the state championship meet.
First, though, the Lakers had to get through Thursday’s state qualifier, also held at C-NS’s Bragman Stadium, where high finishes in Division II (small schools) were a common occurrence.
As she has done all year, Winn took over in the sprints. First, in the 4×100 relay Winn, in the anchor spot, joined Jillian Vogl, Ashley Kenty and Anna Schultz as Cazenovia pulled away for a first-place time of 50.44 seconds, well clear of second-place West Canada Valley (52.16 seconds).
Moving on from that, Winn went to the 100-meter dash, where in 12.46 seconds she held off Vernon-Verona-Sherrill’s Lexi Kavanaugh (12.62 seconds), though both advanced to the state meet, as did Chelsea Beshures (Mexico) and Sarah Wiatr (West Canada).
Finally, in the 200-meter dash Winn dueled with Kavanaugh a second time, prevailing in 25.53 seconds to Kavanaugh’s 26.11, again both advancing to the state level. Vogl, in the 400-meter dash, finished second in 58.61 seconds, while Chittenango’s Courtney Dyer (1:01.59) was fourth.
Caroline Marshall added another Cazenovia victory in the Division II portion of the 1,500-meter run, where in a time of 4:48.17 she beat Tully’s Ashley Evans (4:54.70) by more than six seconds for the lone state meet berth.
Paige Biviano was part of a terrific duel in the Division II pentathlon with Altmar-Parish-Williamstown’s Kylie Bartlett. Trailing throughout the event despite a top shot put throw of 30 feet 11 ¼ inches, clearance of 5’1 ¾” in the high jump and a long jump of 16’3 ¾”, Biviano nearly caught up in the closing 800-meter run, finishing in 2:37.29 to Bartlett’s 2:43.20.
With a total of 2,962 points, Biviano still ended up in second place, 24 points behind Bartlett, though both of them easily qualified for the state meet, where they will be medal contenders. Jeanette Cudney finished fourth in the 2,000-meter steeplechase in 7:48.14, with Rae Tobey sixth.
In the boys pole vault state qualifier, Dylan Muller, the school record-holder in the event, cleared 12 feet 6 inches, tying for third place, though his efforts earlier in the season assured that he was already going to the state meet. Old Forge’s Connor Rockhill won with 13’10”.
Chittenango’s Jason Given, running in the Division II 400-meter dash, claimed third place in 52.30 seconds as DeRuyter’s T.J. Moade won in a meet-best 50.07 seconds.
