Just as they had done all winter, the Cazenovia girls indoor track and field team prevailed over challengers from the Mohawk Valley Indoor Track Association Thursday night – only this time, it wasn’t at Colgate University.
The scene, for one night, shifted to Onondaga Community College’s SRC Arena, which will host the Section III championships on Feb. 4-5, and the Lakers, getting a sneak preview of the venue, won – like it had multiple times this winter at Sanford Field House.
Cazenovia picked up 146.5 points, well clear of Rome Free Academy, who took second place with 98 points. New Hartford (86 points) edged Clinton (83 points) for third place.
A 1,500-meter classic saw the Lakers’ eighth-grade sensation, Clara Rowles, race to the line with Canastota’s Rachel Bargabos, and Rowles won in five minutes, 3.34 seconds, with Bargabos (5:03.41) just 0.07 seconds behind.
Then, in the 1,000-meter run, Megan Henderson, in 3:19.06, prevailed by a much more comfortable margin over Oriskany’s Taylor Watson (3:24.81) as Meredith Shephard finished fourth in 3:33.23 and Chittenango’s Eryn Thompson (3:35.09) was fifth.
Freshman Meggie Hart completed the distance-running sweep when she went 3,000 meters in 11:10.33, more than a minute ahead of the field, including Chittenango’s Brooke Busa (12:22.86) in third place as the Lakers’ Mya Walters was fifth in 13:13.11.
Clare Costello got Cazenovia a sprint title when, in the 300-meter dash, she went 44.79 seconds to edge New Hartford’s Anna Jandura-Cessna (44.89 seconds) at the line, with the Lakers’ Olivia McEntee third in 45.26 seconds. Costello also took fifth place in the 55-meter dash in 8.04 seconds.
Ashley Kent won the triple jump, going 34 feet 9 1/4 inches to pull away from New Hartford’s Maya Hammonds (34’1 1/4″) in seocnd place. Kent also finished second in the 55-meter hurdles in 9.66 seconds, inches behind RFA’s Sophie Henderson (9.63 seconds) as Delaney Yates got fifth place in 10.04 seconds.
Rowles also was third in the 600-meter run in 1:51.39, edged out by teammate Samantha Gates (1:51.04) for that runner-up spot behind New Hartford’s Katie Mercurio (1:44.33). In the 4×800 relay, Rowles, Hart, Henderson and Maddy Langey went 10:51.25 to finish second, again with New Hartford (10:44.99) in the top spot.
In the 4×400, McEntee, Sadie Coleman, Zoe Shephard and Katrina Wilson put Cazenovia in second place (4:42.18) behind Oriskany (4:24.24), with the Bears (4:52.21) in fourth place. McEntee and Shephard joined Costello and Kent as, in 1:56.21, the Lakers got third place.
Elsewhere, Katie Robbins took second place in the pole vault, clearing 7’6″ behind West Canada Valley’s Abigail Esty (9 feet), with Robbins’ teammate, Tori Fischer, third by topping 7 feet.
Fischer, clearing 4’8″, got to third place in the high jump, while Jessica Macheda was sixth (4’4″). Joanna Seeley was fourth in the shot put, heaving it 27’11”, while Molly Carges was seventh in the long jump with a top leap of 14’9 3/4″.
A day later, the MVITA boys teams gathered at SRC Arena, and Cazenovia did quite well here, too, posting 83 points to finish second behind RFA’s winning total of 128 points. Chittenango, with 37 points, sneaked into seventh place.
Continuing his season-long winning pattern, Walker Nichols went 8.21 seconds in the 55 hurdles to beat out RFA’s Mike Brognano (8.44 seconds) and win the race, with Sam Langan seventh.
In the long jump, Nichols was third, going 18’9 1/4″, with Alec Boone (17’5″) sixth. Nichols, Alex Devine, Tom McNerney and Casey Fenton were second (1:35.98) to RFA (1:34.66) in the 4×200 relay.
Fenton gained his own victory in the triple jump, going 43′ 1/2″ as West Canada’s Zach Crim (42’1″) settled for second place. Sawyer Hunt threw the shot put 38’11” to finish fifth, while Tom McNerney, clearing 5’2″, matched Fenton and finished fourth in the high jump.
Sean Satchwell made his way to second place in the 1,000 in 2:48.77 behind West Canada Valley’s Johnny Szczesniak (2:46.08), later adding a third-place time of 1:33.09 in the 600. Langan, Boone, Dylan Hahn and Cooper Coleman were fourth in the 4×400 in 3:55.21, with the Bears (4:11.19) in sixth place.
Chittenango’s Mike Capeling was victorious in the mile in 4:49.43, nearly three seconds ahead of New Hartford’s Dan Hillman (4:52.35), pairing with Isaac Czarnecki, Will Blanding and Phillip Abel to finish second (9:27.69) to RFA (9:04.58) in the 4×800. Also for the Bears, Nick Stanton was fourth (7.08 seconds) in the 55 sprint and fourth (38.78 seconds) in the 300, too.
