Long jumper breaks record, advances to states
Freshman long jumper Chloe Smith highlighted a series of superb post-season performances by the Cazenovia girls track team. The young star beat everyone in the elite Section 3 State Championship Qualifier field, advancing to the state title meet and smashing a school record along the way.
It was clear that Smith was going to have a good day from her first attempt in the long jump. Sprinting down the runway and leaping, she landed 17 feet, 1.25 inches into the pit, nearly a foot better than her previous best of 16-1.5 and far enough to place her among the elite jumpers in the competition. Her second jump eclipsed her first, reaching 17-6.5, a distance that vaulted her to the front of the competitive field to stay.
The outstanding distance was also enough to smash the Cazenovia school record of 17-4 set by pentathlon state champion Paige Biviano in 2012. In total, four of Smith’s six jumps in the competition exceeded 17 feet. She not only beat out every Division II (small schools) competitor to secure a bid to this week’s New York State Championship Meet, but surpassed even the Division I athletes to claim the overall Section 3 crown in the event.
Sophomore Maddy Gavitt also had an outstanding day in the jumps, achieving a triple jump of 35-10.25, just one quarter inch from her school record set one week earlier. The effort was a full foot better than her performance a year earlier which advanced her to the 2016 state title meet. Despite her super leap, she was edged out by Juliana Cavanaugh of Oneida for Division II’s sole slot. Oneida, formerly a large school, was shifted to Division II since last year due to changes in enrollment. Nonetheless, Gavitt, who also long jumped 16-3, her best of the season, capped a tremendous year of achievement including first team all-league honors.
Junior Meggie Hart had a season-best performance in the 2000-meter steeplechase, finishing third in an incredibly competitive field with a time of 7:35.14. Both of the times ahead of her in the race were among the fastest in the state this year. The stand-out 11th grader had also qualified in the 1500 meter run but chose to focus on the steeplechase, one of two events in which she holds the school record. She was an all-league selection in both the steeplechase and 1500 this season.
Junior Captain Katie Robbins also completed an outstanding season of competition for the Lakers, finishing fifth in the Division II field in the pole vault. Battling stiff winds throughout the competition, her leap of 8-6 was short of her season best of 9-0 but still among the best in Section 3 this season. The versatile 11th grader was not only Cazenovia’s top vaulter this season, earning all-league honors and coming close to the school record of 9-6 on multiple occasions, but was also a regular scorer in the long jump and triple jump.
Smith will extend the Lakers’ successful season one more week as she competes at the NYSPHSAA Championship this Friday, June 9 at Union Endicott High School.
