Individual and relay titles helped the Cazenovia girls track and field team snare a fourth-place finish in Tuesday’s Section III Class B championship meet.
The Lakers went to Marcellus, where it had competed in the OHSL Liberty division meet eight days earlier, and picked up 77 points. Skaneateles, with 140 points, claimed the top spot, while host Marcellus (97 points) edged out South Jefferson (91 points) for second place.
In the first race of the afternoon, Cazenovia finished on top. The Lakers’ 4×800 relay team of Colleen Stalder, Maria Stalder, Malone Gabor and Jeanette Cudney pulled away and prevailed in nine minutes, 59.14 seconds, with Marcellus second in 10:08.73, more than nine seconds behind.
Meanwhile, Ashley Kent had her big moment in the triple jump. With a best attempt of 33 feet 3 ½ inches, Kent finished more than a foot ahead of South Jefferson’s Leah Denny (32’1 ¼”).
Liz Pittman gave the Lakers a third-place triple jump of 31’8 ¼”, but no one topped her in the pole vault. Pittman was the lone athlete to clear 8 feet 6 inches, with the rest of the field unable to top 8 feet as Glenna Kehelan, clearing 7’6”, finished fifth.
Amid tough competition in distance races, Cudney contended for the title in the 2,000-meter steeplechase, finishing in 7:52.58 to get second place behind South Jefferson’s Amanda Lloyd, who prevailed in 7:42.69.
Jessica Macheda rose to third place in the long jump, going 14’7 ½”, as Kent (14’4”) settled for fifth place, Macheda adding a fifth (13.90 seconds) in the 100-meter dash as Kent got to fourth in the 100-meter hurdles in 17.65 seconds. Hannah Dain had a third-place discus throw of 73’5”, with Sarah Haley sixth in the shot put with a toss of 26’5 ¾”.
Kaitlyn Rossiter and Bailey Forrett joined the Stalder sisters to help the Lakers finish sixth in the 4×400 relay in 4:29.09, with Colleen Stalder gaining fourth (2:34.51) in the 800-meter run and Gabor taking fourth in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:12.9 as Adrien Owens was seventh.
Maria Stalder, in 1:04.60, gained sixth place in the 400-meter dash. Mya Walters was seventh in the 3,000-meter run, with Maureen Milmoe eighth in the 1,500-meter run. Delaney Yates took eighth in the 100 hurdles as Jamie Joseph took seventh and Bella Wheeler ninth in the pentathlon.
