As OHSL Liberty division competition started, the Cazenovia girls cross country team knew it needed some early success before its key early-October showdown with Skaneateles.
To that end, the Lakers went to Jordan-Elbridge Wednesday afternoon and, with its superior depth, put together a 21-38 victory over the Eagles.
Jeanette Cudney led Cazenovia, as her time of 19 minutes, 35 seconds beat everyone except J-E star Abby Gugel, who won in 19:05, half a minute better than Cudney.
However, Megan Stanford finished third, in 20:04, with Hayley Frost (20:37) settling into fourth place. Mimi Gabor edged J-E’s Antonia Malvaso for fifth place, though both finished in 20:47. Mya Walters was seventh, in 20:51, with Kaitlin Rossiter ninth (21:27) and Adrien Owens (21:31) making her way to 10th place.
Chittenango’s girls team lost, 21-38, to East Syracuse-Minoa at Jamesville Beach Park, but Anna Galbraith dominated the individual race, her time of 20:07 more than a minute and a half ahead of the Spartans’ trio of Juliette Miller, Gabby Pallott and Natalie Marra. Brooke Busa (23:11) and Kailey Cavarese (25:02) also had top-10 efforts for the Bears.
Meanwhile, the Cazenovia boys team lost, 15-47, to J-E, watching the Eagles sweep the top five positions as Austin Milton, Jake Patterson, Nick Parkolap, Dylan Whittico and Jack Gugel each finished in 18:21.
Kevin Ridings led the Lakers, getting to sixth place in a clocking of 18:26, but he and eighth-place Connor Carroll (19:01) were the only Cazenovia runners to get into the top 10.
Chittenango’s boys did run well in last Wednesday’s 17-38 defeat to East Syracuse-Minoa, but could not catch the Spartans’ trio of Jared Henry (17:53), Jesse Perrone and Joe Coogan (17:54 each) at the top.
For the Bears, Mike Capeling finished fourth, in 18:07, while Isaac Czarnecki got sixth place in 18:18. Kenny Galbraith made his way to eighth place in 18:26 as Robbie Howard (18:36) edged out Jon Roberts (18:38) for ninth place.