Still holding the no. 6 spot in the state Class C rankings, the Cazenovia girls cross country ran up against tough competition during Wednesday’s Onondaga High School League Liberty division championship meet at Jordan-Elbridge.
Through it all, the Lakers still managed a third-place finish, with 89 points. Skaneateles, who beat Cazenovia for the Liberty National division title, had to settle for second place (54 points) behind Westhill/Bishop Ludden, who won with 44 points.
Jeanette Cudney and Mya Walters both recorded top-10 finishes for Cazenovia. Cudney got to eighth place in 21 minutes, 3.3 seconds, with Walters getting 10th place in 21:27.2 as Rachel Garn (Marcellus) edged Kaitlyn Neal (Skaneateles), 20:07.3 to 20:07.5, for the individual title.
Hayley Frost made her way to 23rd place in a time of 22:33.2. Mimi Gabor finished 27th, in 22:54.2, while Adrien Owens got 29th place in 23:20.4 to round out the scoring column. Malone Gabor was 32nd (23:38.7), one spot ahead of Kaitlin Rossiter (23:42.2) in 33rd place.
Amid a 10-team field in the boys OHSL Liberty meet, the Cazenovia Lakers did quite well, getting to fifth place with 167 points, though Westhill/Ludden (36 points) won this team portion, too, and another Marcellus runner, Patrick McGuane, took individual honors in a time of 17:48.3.
Kevin Ridings continued his climb up the list of top area runners, the Cazenovia junior getting to 10th place in 18 minutes, 43.3 seconds, while fellow junior Sean Satchwell gained 21st place in 19:23.9.
Drew Devendorf was the next Laker finisher, getting to 36th place in 20:09.2, while Matt Mistur took 61st place in 21:14.5, two spots ahead of Nick Kurucz (21:16.0) in 63rd, with Cooper Holgate (21:32.3) and Connor Carroll (21:41.9) in the middle of the pack.
Cazenovia will go after Section III Class C honors this Saturday at Jamesville Beach Park, also vying for berths in the Nov. 9 state meet at Queensbury.
