When the Cazenovia girls cross country team earned the right to represent Section III in Saturday’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class C championship meet at Monroe-Woodbury High School, it knew exactly what it was facing.
Clara Rowles, Meggie Hart and the rest of the Lakers weren’t expecting to challenge for top honors, especially with powerhouse East Aurora (Section VI) a heavy favorite and Bronxville (Section I) on hand, so the goal was to gain the highest possible team finish.
And of the 10 teams entered, Cazenovia finished right in the middle, with 128 points, just behind Newark Valley (119 points) and Chatham (120 points) in the third and fourth spots, though far from East Aurora’s winning total of 35 points.
As for Rowles, the freshman did not disappoint, charging past the rest of the field and finishing in 19 minutes, 24.7 seconds, putting her in fifth place in the individual standings, just 12.2 seconds behind the runner-up, Fiona Danieu (19:12.5), as Danieu’s East Aurora teammate, Sophia Tasselmyer, won in 18:42.3.
Hart had a strong showing, too, the sophomore making her way to 15th place (eighth among team runners) in 19:56.7. Mya Walters, in 22:02.8, got to 32nd in the team race and 68th overall, while Adrien Owens finished 76th, in 22:12.3. Jackie Gamlen was 48th on the team side (94th overall) in 22:49.3, ahead of Whitney Denison (23:00.8) and Caitlin Clonan, who posted 23:09.8.
Also, Chittenango’s Mike Capeling took part in the boys state Class B race. Carthage’s Noah Affolder was the individual favorite, joined by his younger brother, Sam, along with Matt Young (East Syracuse Minoa) and Andrew Boyce (Cortland) on the Section III All-Star squad.
And Capeling ran quite well, taking 18th place in a clocking of 16:56. 4. Noah Affolder did prevail in 15:57.2, edging out Pittsford Mendon’s Nathan Lawler (16:06.3) as Young finished 10th (16:47.1) and Sam Affolder 12th (16:49.7) in front of Capeling. Boyce took 28th place in 17:09.7;
Overall, Section III finished third in boys Class B behind Section V and Section I, just as Cazenovia helped Section III to a third-place effort in the girls Class C race, with Section I and Section VI in front of them.
