The Cazenovia girls track and field team raised their record to 3-0 with an overwhelming 119-22 victory over Altmar-Parish-Williamstown last Wednesday as they battled not only the Rebels but frigid temperatures.
Twenty-three different Lakers scored to propel the total team victory, which placed Cazenovia atop the OHSL Liberty National Division heading into the second half of the season.
The Lakers won all three relays and swept six other events en route to the lop-sided victory. Maddy Gavitt won four events to lead the team with victories in the triple jump (33 feet 11 in ches), long jump (14’9”) and 100 meter hurdles (17.2 seconds). She tied teammate Paige Hunt for first in the high jump at 4’8”
Cazenovia swept the 100 meter hurdles as Lili Gavitt took second at 17.3 seconds and Melanie Michael took third in 18.2. Michaels returned to win the 400 meter hurdles (1:22.7) with Caryn Gagnon picking up third in 1:28.9.
Peyton Basic led a sweep of the 400-meter dash, (1:06.5) with Grace Dolan (1:08.4) and Ella Huftalen (1:10.5) also contributing. Basic returned to win the 200-meter dash in 28.6 seconds, with Savannah Johnson second at 29.2. Basic also anchored the 4×400 to victory with Huftalen, Mary Williams and Cavy Monahan in support
Molly Hart led the Lakers’ distance effort, which included a sweep of the 3,000-meter run, as she won in 12:46.5 while Isla Stover and Kelly Frost rounded out the 1-2-3 finish. Hart and Stover also scored in the 1,500-meter run while Frost joined Claire Braaten, Mia Chesbrough and Mary Williams to win the 4×800 relay.
Savannah Johnson stepped in to lead Cazenovia to victory in the 100 meter dash (13.9 seconds) as they rested star sprinter Chloe Smith. Johnson also help the 4×100 meter relay of Grace Dolan, Finlay Stover and Paige Hunt to victory in 54.7 seconds.
Hunt was also dominant in the field events, winning the pole vault at 9 feet despite the terrible conditions and scoring in the shot put and high jump. Kenzie Yates (7 feet for second), Christina Brown and Emma Steinberg (6’6”, tied for third) all had season bests to help sweep the pole vault.
Claire Edwards earned a double victory in the shot put (25’5”) and discus (69’9 ½”) with Yates also scoring in the shot (season best of 25 feet) and Tessa Hanskenecht capturing second in the discus.
Cazenovia dominated the horizontal jumps with Lili and Ava Gavitt joining Maddy to sweep the long jump and Ava tying for second in the triple jump.
The Lakers also competed at a rain-soaked Chittenango Invitational on April 26. Paige Hunt earned a victory in the pole vault, clearing 8’6” with fewer misses than Marcellus’ Julianna Szczech and South Jefferson’s Kate Banazek.
Gavitt had a season best of 35’2” for third place in the triple jump and a long jump of 15’1” to also capture third in that event.
Other highlights included season bests for Melanie Michael (17.52 seconds) and Caryn Gagnon (17.75) in the 100 hurdles and sectional qualifying efforts for Ava Gavitt in the triple jump (30 feet) and Molly Hart in the 2,000 meter steeplechase, where she finished eighth in 8:22.35.
Cazenovia is back in action this week as they host Syracuse Institute of Technology Central on Wednesday and then and travel to the East Syracuse Minoa Invitational on Friday afternoon.
