The Cazenovia girls track and field team took full advantage of their superior depth to overwhelm the visiting Hannibal Warriors by a score of 97-44 last Wednesday afternoon.
Here, the Lakers tapped into their roster of 51 girls to win 11 of 17 events, including four sweeps, as 19 different girls scored for the team.
Paige Hunt defied cold, breezy conditions for the second week in a row to equal her career best of 9 feet as she won the pole vault. Her vault, just six inches from tying the school record, was exceptional for this early stage of the season. She returned to score in two other events later in the meet.
Fellow senior Maddy Gavitt also posted a series of noteworthy early-season performances, winning the triple jump at 35 feet, the high jump at 4’10” and the 100-meter hurdles in 17.6 seconds. Her long jump of 15’6” was good for second behind teammate Chloe Smith’s 16’1”.
While Maddy Gavitt led a sweep in the hurdles as Lili Gavitt (17.8) and Melanie Michael (17.9) also scored. Lili Gavitt also joined in on her own Laker sweep of the long jump with a 15’3” effort.
Chloe Smith, in a time of 13.2 seconds, led a Cazenovia sweep of the 100-meter dash with Grace Dolan (13.7) and Savannah Johnson (14.2) backing her up. Claire Edwards led the team’s other 1-2-3 finish with an 82’2 ½” effort in the discus as Tessa Hanskenecht (61’1”) and Virginia Alvisi (55’1”) also scored. Edwards (25-4) and Hunt (25-2.5) picked up second and third in the shot put,
Ava Gavitt had a season best of 29’2 ½” to score in the triple and Lili Gavitt cleared 4’6” to tie for second in the high jump to round out the field event scoring.
Molly Hart led the Lakers’ distance effort, winning the 1,500-meter run in 5:27.8 and taking a close second in the 3,000 (12:07.7). First-year track runner Isla Stover backed her up in both, taking second in the 1,500 (5:39.3) third in the 3,000 (12:52.2).
Savannah Johnson was Cazenovia’s other individual track winner, capturing the 200-meter dash with a gutsy finish in 29.7 seconds. She also joined Smith, Hunt and Dolan to run a speedy 53.7 second time in the winning 4×100 relay.
Claire Braaten (2:47.5) and Mary Williams (2:44.9) ran the fastest legs of the Lakers’ winning 4×800 relay (11:23.1 total) with Cavy Monahan and Kelly Frost also supporting the victory. Williams and Braaten returned to place second and third, respectively, in the 800-meter run.
Peyton Basic (second, 1:06.2) and Grace Dolan (third, 1:06.9) both ran tough races in the 400-meter dash. Melanie Michael was the Lakers’ top 400 meter hurdler (1:23.1) while Laura Fitzgerald rounded out the team’s scoring on the track with a third in the 200 in 30.3 seconds.
The Lakers (2-0) quickly jumped to the top of the rankings in the OHSL Liberty National league with the win. The meet was also a small milestone for the program, adding up to its 60th victory since 2010.
Cazenovia has dominated during the past decade, earning a record of 60-3 with seven league titles. They are striving for their eighth title in the 10-year span this spring.
