At least in the early part of the season, no one in the OHSL Liberty National division is able to keep up with the Cazenovia girls track and field team.
In a three-way league opener last Wednesday afternoon, the Lakers nearly shut out Syracuse’s Institute of Technology Central, prevailing 135-6, and proved just as dominant against Jordan-Elbridge, defeating that other group of Eagles 111-30.
It started in the sprints, where Kirsten Underwood held off J-E’s Amelia Younis, 13.1 seconds to 13.3, in the 100-meter dash, and went on to take the 200-meter dash in 28.4 seconds. Underwood, Jess Macheda, Brenna Hughes and Delaney Yates won the 4×100 relay in 53.3 seconds.
On her own, Yates took the 100-meter hurdles in 17.8 seconds as Maria Stalder ran 400 meters in 1:04 flat and Jamie Joseph took the 400 hurdles in 1:15.3. Stalder had started the meet by pairing with Joseph, Ava Gurney and Meggie Hart to take the 4×800 relay in 10:49.3.
Running together, Hart and Clara Rowles each posted times of 5:17.7 in the 1,500-meter run and 11:15.8 in the 3,000-meter run, while Joseph won the shot put, heaving it 30 feet, and Macheda had a top long jump of 13’ ½”.
Katie Robbins won two field events, clearing 8’6” in the pole vault following a top triple jump of 30’1”. Tori Fischer cleared 4’8” for first place in the high jump as Jill Britton threw the discus 63’10” and won there.
In the boys meet, Cazenovia earned a split, defeating ITC 85-56, but falling to Jordan-Elbridge 73-68. On that same Wednesday afternoon, Chittenango met up with Homer, and could not quite keep up with the Trojans.
In a close boys meet, the Bears lost, 76-65, despite Akira Gatewood winning three events. Gatewood edged Homer’s Matt Guerrera, 23.5 seconds to 23.8, in the 200 sprint, and also had a top long jump of 20 feet ½ inch and first-place triple jump of 37’9” while finishing second (11.7 seconds) to Guerrera (11.6 seconds) in the 100.
Nick Stanton, second in the long jump to Gatewood, did win the 400 sprint in 54 seconds flat, while Mike Capeling went 2:14.9 to take the 800 and rolled to first place in the 3,200 in 10:47.2. Tyler Howard was first in the 110 hurdles in 16.2 seconds and cleared 9 feet in the pole vault to finish second.
Chittenango’s girls lost, 85-47, to Homer, claiming just two events on the oval – both relays. In the 4×800, Kaitlyn Swain, Mackenzie Dombroski, Alyssa Crystal and Eryn Thompson finished in 10:58 flat, while in the 4×400 Swain and Dombroski joined Krissy Roberts and Hayley Foran to win in 4:35.9.
Krissy Roberts did prevail twice for the Bears in field events, going 15’2 ½” in the long jump and 31’6” in the triple jump. Otherwise, Homer controlled matters, led by a pair of triple winners as McKayla Crawford swept the 800, 1,500 and 3,000-meter distance events, while Arielle Moheimani won the 100 hurdles, shot put and discus.
On Saturday, Chittenango met up with Cortland and swept the Purple Tigers, winning 80-48 on the girls side as Swain was first in the 100 and 400 and Haylee Roberts was victorious in the 200 and long jump. In the boys meet, Chittenango won 81-59, with Gatewood prevailing in the 100 and 200 sprints, plus the triple jump.
