It hasn’t taken long for Cazenovia’s girls track and field team to move to the forefront in the OHSL Liberty division race.

During last Wednesday’s meet against Solvay at Buckley-Volo Field, the Lakers fought cold, windy conditions and rolled to a 111-30 victory over the Bearcats.

Ashley Kent led Cazenovia with three titles, starting with the 100-meter hurdles, where she held off Delaney Yates, 17.4 seconds to 17.8. Kent went on to record a top triple jump of 32 feet 6 ½ inches and won the long jump by going 14’2 ½”.

Clara Rowles was first in the 800-meter run in 2:37.3 and added a 1,500-meter title in 5:19.2, while Meggie Hart ran 3,000 meters in 11:15 flat.

Kirsten Underwood also won twice, in the 100-meter dash (13.9 seconds) and 200-meter dash (29.6 seconds), while Maria Stalder ran 400 meters in 1:05.7 and Jamie Joseph took the 400 hurdles in 1:17.9. Katie Robbins cleared 8 feet to win the pole vault as Tori Fischer topped 7 feet.

Stalder, Hart, Rowles and Maddie Langey won the 4×800 relay in 11:17.6. Underwood and Kent joined Yates and Jessica Macheda to run the 4×100 relay in 55.4 seconds, with Stalder, Langey, Bailey Forrett and Kaitlyn Rossiter to take the 4×400 relay in 4:44.1.

Meanwhile, the boys Lakers, led again by Walker Nichols and Sean Satchwell, rolled to its own 96-44 victory over Solvay to complete the sweep.

Then both Cazenovia teams ventured to nearby Chittenango for last Friday’s invitational meet, where the girls Lakers tied for ninth with 27 points and the boys Lakers were alone in ninth place, gaining 26 points.

Cazenovia’s boys prevailed in the 1,600 sprint medley relay, where Walker Nichols, Sean Satchwell, Alex Devine and Tom McNearney finished in 3:47.93, well clear of runner-up Baldwinsville (3:52.64) and the field. McNearney, Devine, Alec Boone and Ryan O’Herien were second (46.43 seconds), just behind Fayetteville-Manlius (46.08 seconds), in the 4×100.

Individually, Nichols was fourth in the long jump, going 19’4”, one inch ahead of Boone (19’3”) in fifth place, and Nichols added a fifth in the 110 high hurdles in 16.08 seconds, while Boone took eighth in the 100 sprint and Sawyer Hunt was eighth in the shot put and discus.

Moving to the girls meet, Hart had a third-place time of 8:13.85 in the 2,000-meter steeplechase, with Fischer third (4’8”) in the high jump and Robbins third in the pole vault, clearing 8 feet. Kent was fifth in the triple jump (30’10”) and sixth in the 100 hurdles in 17.90 seconds. Langey, Rowles, Stalder and Forrett took fourth in the sprint medley (4:38.72).

Chittenango competed in the April 17 East Syracuse Minoa Girls Invitational, and then met ESM head-to-head a day later, winning a 71-70 decision on the boys side.

Mike Capeling earned victories in the mile in 4:48.6 and the 3,200-meter run in 10:30.5. Isaac Czarnecki contributed a first-place finish in the 800-meter run in 2:12 flat. Tyler Howard beat the field in the 110 high hurdles (17.1 seconds) and won the 400 hurdles in 1:06.2.

The girls Bears lost, 87-47, to the Spartans. Kaitlyn Swain went 1:05.6 to win the 400 sprint (she was ninth in the ESM Invitational in the same event) and Sarah Moon take the 800 in 2:38.6.

Kaitlin Boyer went 29.2 seconds to take the 200, and also paired with Swain, Eryn Thompson and Krissy Roberts on a 4×400 relay side that won in 4:39 flat. But ESM had double wins from Mia Montgomery (long jump, triple jump) and Natalie Marra (1,500 meters, 3,000 meters) in the same events where they prevailed in the large-scale meet less than 24 hours earlier.

In Wednesday’s meet against Cortland, Chittenango’s girls team beat the Purple Tigers 74-58, with Moon victorious in both the 800 (2:46.5) and 3,000 (11:57.5), while Swain took the 400 sprint in 1:09.7.

Swain helped the Bears win the 4×400 relay in 4:36.4 and Moon ran a leg in the 4×800, where Chittenango prevailed in 11:15.2. Roberts was first in both the long jump (14’2”) and triple jump (31’1 ½”) and Cassidy Thayer cleared 4 feet in the high jump.

Chittenango’s boys also beat Cortland, doing so by an 89-48 margin, featuring Nick Stanton sweeping the 100 (11.8 seconds), 200 (25.1 seconds) and 400 (54.5 seconds) sprints.

Capeling ran the mile in 4:47.7, adding a 3,200-meter victory in 10:29.6, while Czarnecki claimed the 800 in 2:15.2. Howard, who won the 400 hurdles in 1:04.4, also cleared 6’6” in the pole vault.

Later in the week, at the Chittenango Invitational, Czarnecki took third in the mile in 4:51.41 as Capeling was fourth in the 3,200, improving his time to 10:06.07, and Howard was sixth in the 400 hurdles. Moon was seventh in the girls 3,000.