The Cazenovia girls cross country team assembled another dominant performance, swamping APW 15-51 to remain undefeated and returned three days later to claim third place among 17 teams in the small schools division of the Tully Invitational. The team’s depth was on display in both meets, even absent some of their top performers, other girls stepped up to keep the Lakers’ stellar season on pace.
The Lady Lakers had a dominant performance against APW on Oct. 3 at the Rebel’s home course. Even with seven runners resting due to illness or injury, the team earned the first 10 places across the finish line, with every Cazenovia girl competing crossing the line before APW’s first finisher for the shut-out.
Isla Stover led the way in 22:27 over a wet, muddy 3.1-mile course. Molly Hart headed up a tight Laker pack of Kelly Frost, Eleanor Wester and Mary Williams, with all four of these scorers crossing the finish in a 30 second burst from 23:56 to 24:26. Jackie Gamlen, Claire Braaten, Mia Chesbrough, Emma Steinberg and Madison Chamberlain also ran well, securing places six to ten in the competition to sweep the Rebels.
The Lakers were short on runners once again on Oct. 6 as they travelled to Tully as the meet fell on an SAT testing date, keeping two of the team’s top five out of the line-up. The remaining girls rallied to turn in an impressive performance as they finished third in the 17-team field. Only Tully and South Jefferson, who will be leading contenders for the Class D and Class C sectional titles, finished ahead of the Lakers, even with their depleted line-up.
Isla Stover (13th, 22:27) led the way, followed by Finlay Stover (23rd, 23:41). The Lakers’ ability to run as a tight pack was on display once again as their next four runners finished within five places and 30 seconds, including Molly Hart (27th, 23:56), Eleanor Wester (28th, 24:11), Maddie McGreevy (30th, 24:25) and Mary Williams (31st, 24:26). Claire Braaten fought through an injury to round out the team’s top seven at 26:10.
Cazenovia’s depth was even more evident in the Junior Varsity race as the Lakers finished first among 10 teams from both the small and large school divisions. Senior Captain Jackie Gamlen led the way, finishing fourth overall in 24:53. Emma Steinberg (25:43), Eva Gagnon (25:54), Madison Chamberlain (27:13), Maggie Rowles (27:33) and Jenna Steinberg (28:47) also contributed to the team’s winning total of 34 points.
The Lakers (4-0) will face Marcellus (4-0) for the OHSL Liberty-National title on the Mustang’s home course Oct 10 before travelling to the Auburn Invitational on Oct. 13. The girls will try to repeat their first-place performance in the fall of 2017 at the Auburn meet.
