A winter full of first-place finishes for the Cazenovia girls indoor track and field team culminated on Friday night when it again went to the top – and claimed the Mohawk Valley Indoor Track Association Division I championship at Colgate University’s Sanford Field House.
Pulling away from five Division I opponents, the Lakers finished with 209 points, with Rome Free Academy and New Hartford sharing second place as they each earned 122 points.
Cazenovia went 1-2-3 in the 600-meter run, where Samantha Gates won in 1:52.04, just ahead of Sarah Willard in second place (1:52.15) and Olivia McEntee in third place (1:52.18) as the trio ran together
Not only that, but.Gates, Willard, McEntee, and Shea Murray pulled away in the 4×400 relay to win in 4:31.35 to New Hartford’s 4:43.20, with Chittenango in fourth place. Grace Wheeler, Grace Milmoe, Collen Stalder and Elsa Coughlin gave Cazenovia a victory in the 4×800 relay in 11:04.11, with New Hartford (11:17.70) again in the runner-up spot.
Jeanette Cudney was a cornerstone to Cazenovia’s efforts. She won the 3,000-meter run in 11:14.81, pulling away from New Hartford’s Juliet Hull (11:33.15) and the field, with Mya Walters in sixth place for the Lakers.
And in the 1,500-meter run, Cudney prevailed again, her time of 5:25.58 again beating Hull (5:33.11) as Meredith Shephard was fourth in 5:47.87 and Walters had another sixth-place effort.
Clare Costello had a big night, too, winning the 300-meter dash in 44.14 seconds over New Hartford’s Lauren Vedete (45.97 seconds), with Gates taking third place in 47.24 seconds and Julia Raleigh (48.56 seconds) in fifth place. Costello also earned third place in the 55-meter dash in 7.72 seconds, where Jessica Macheda (8.08 seconds) was sixth.
Moving to the 4×200 relay, Costello, along with Willard, McEntee and Jessie Matt, put up a time of 1:53.05 that beat RFA (1:55.82) and completed a Cazenovia relay sweep. Chittenango was fifth in 2:16.62.
Going to field events, Liz Pittman won the long jump, going 14 feet 10 1/2 inches as Jessica Macheda (14’7″) produced a 1-2 finish and Chittenango’s Krissy Roberts took sixth place. Then, in the pole vault, Pittman prevailed again, clearing 7’6″ as teammate Glenna Kelahan was second with 7 feet and Tori Fischer (6’6″) got fourth place.
In the triple jump, Pittman took second place, with 30’8 1/2″, an inch behind New Hartford’s Stephanie Webster (30’9 1/2″), as Molly Carges was third with 30’6″ and Roberts finished fifth.
Milmoe was second in the 1,000-meter run in 3:24.43, with Stalder (3:25.42) in third place. Delaney Yates (10.28 seconds) and Molly Cargea (10.94 seconds) were third and fourth, respectively, in the 55-meter hurdles as Summer Steinhorst earned sixth place.
Joanna Seeley was third in the shot put with a top throw of 26’10”, ahead of Sarah Haley (25’7 1/4″) and Hannah Dain (24’10 1/4″) in the fourth and fifth spots. Haley took fourth in the weight throw (25’6 3/4″), too, as Dain got sixth place. Fischer matched Macheda, each clearing 4’8″ in the high jump for the fourth and fifth spots ahead of Carges (4’6″).
Moving to the boys MVITA Division I meet, Cazenovia rose to second place with 85 points, even if it was far off RFA’s winning total of 190 points, while Chittenango was fifth with 29 points.
Ryan O’Herien contended in the 55 sprint and finished second in 6.97 seconds behind RFA’s Brad Dougherty (6.88 seconds), with Alex Devine fourth as Chittenango saw Joe Fanto finish third (7.06 seconds) and Erik Russell sixth. O’Herien, joining Devine, Will Fellows and Casey Fenton, finished second (1:41.02) to RFA (1:38.05) in the 4×200, with Chittenango third in 1:49.03.
Sean Satchwell rose to second place in the 3,200-meter run in 10:58.24 behind New Hartford’s Sam Cittadano (10:42.30), and also took fifth in the mile. Reed Lucas took third in the shot put with a throw of 35’9 1/2″ as Sawyer Hunt (35 feet) was fifth, and Lucas got fourth (35’3 1/2″) and O’Herien fifth (33’6 1/2″) in the weight throw.
Fellows, Eli LaGorga, Derek White and Mason Stehle were third in the 4×400 in 3:59.99, ahead of Chittenango (4:09.05) in fourth place, with the Lakers also getting third place in the 4×800.
Fenton made his way to second place in the triple jump (36’4 1/2″), trailing only New Hartford’s Sam Cittadano (37’1 1/2″) as Devine was third with 36’1 1/2″ and the Bears’ John Dullen in fifth place. Kevin Porter was sixth in the long jump as LaGorga cleared 5’4″ for third place in the high jump, ahead of Chittenango’s Martin Boyd (5’2″) in fourth place.
Brendan Coffey ran to third in the 1,000 (3:27.45), where Mitch Meigs was fifth (3:49.54) and the Bears’ Jacob Blaszkow (3:29.86) finished fourth between them. Chittenango’s Jeff MacDonald was fifth in the 55 hurdles, with White fifth in the 300 sprint.
