By Kurt Wheeler
Girls track coach
The Cazenovia girls track and field team notched another win on May 3, defeating Solvay 108.5 to 32.5 to remain undefeated at 5-0. The victory sets up a head to head match-up with Skaneateles (4-0) for the league title this week.
Meggie Hart, Chloe Smith and Jamie Joseph paced the Lakers with three first place finished each as Cazenovia won 14 of 17 events to overwhelm the Bearcats. Hart won the 1500 (5:22.17), 3000 (11:49.3) and anchored the 4×800 relay to victory. Smith won the 100 (13.6), 200 (29.2) and anchored the 4×100 while Joseph captured the 800 (2:50.2) and shot put (30-1) and ran the go-ahead leg of the 4×800 relay.
They had plenty of help in those events as Molly Hart took second in both the 1500 and 3000 and ran the fastest leg in the 4×800. Kirsten Underwood and Brenna Hughes added to a sweep in the 100 and teamed up with Delaney Yates to win the 4×100 relay in a speedy 53.7 seconds. Yates also won the 400 meter hurdles in 1:15.0 and took second in the 100 hurdles in 17.9 seconds, both season bests. Virginia Soler took third in the 800 while Caitlin Clonan helped sweep the 3000. Peyton Basic (second, 1:08.3) and Emily Mahoney (third, 1:11.6) both added valuable points in the 400 to round out the track scoring.
Cazenovia achieved another dominating performance in the field events, outscoring Solvay 48.5 to 5.5 as they won all six events and swept three of them. Molly Carges had the break-out performance of the day, posting a huge personal best of 87-10.5 in the discus to win that event and backing up Joseph in the shot put with a 27-7.5 effort. Claire Edwards earned second in the discus at 77-7 with Tessa Hanskenecht third at 65-8.
Maddy Gavitt led the jumpers, winning both the long jump (15-3) and high jump (4-6) and taking second in the pole vault. Emily Mahoney won the triple jump (30-2) and combined with Smith and Gavitt to sweep the long jump. Julia Barrett and Summer Steinhorst also scored in the triple as Cazenovia swept that event and Paige Hunt won the pole vault at 7-0 with Mackenzie Yates also scoring with her best vault of the season.
Maggie Hart headlined the Lakers’ efforts in a cold, soggy outing at the Rome Invitational on May 6 as she captured second in the 2000 meter steeplechase in 7:38.2, her best of the spring. Jamie Joseph (shot put) and Maddy Gavitt (triple jump) also scored in the large, competitive field. Despite persistent rain and cold temperatures, several of the Lakers managed to achieve season best performances, including Caitlin Clonan (12:41.32 in the 3000) and Emily Mahoney (30-7.75 in the triple jump).
The Lady Lakers will host Skaneateles on May 10 as they strive for the seventh league title in the past eight years. Cazenovia will also honor their 11 senior scholar-athletes in a brief ceremony before their final home contest. The Lakers will travel to the Baldwinsville Invitational on May 12 in their final tune-up before the OHSL Liberty and Section 3 Championship Meets later this month.
