The Cazenovia girls track and field team capped a highly successful season with a series of outstanding performances at the Section III state championship qualifier meet held last Friday at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium.
This time around, the Lakers were competing against athletes from all 82 Division II schools (under 600 enrollment) in the section for the honor of representing Central New York at this weekend’s state championships in Middletown.
And they did well as the Lakers were among the top finishers in multiple events, set six new season best marks and broke a school record as they ended their 2019 campaign.
Senior captain Maddy Gavitt led the team with two brilliant performances in the jumps. She finished second overall in the triple jump and broke her own school record with a leap of 36 feet 2 inches on her final attempt.
Gavitt was equally impressive in the long jump, once again saving her best for last as she hit 17’5” on her final jump to finish second in that event as well.
Just 1 ½ inches from the school record, the leap met the elite standard to advance to the State Championship, an honor Gavitt had to decline as the meet falls on the same night as Cazenovia’s Senior Ball. Gavitt ends her career as the top overall jumper in Laker history with school records in both indoor and outdoor track.
Savannah Johnson also had a superb end to her junior season, competing in three events and achieving personal bests in two of them. She anchored the 4×100 meter relay of Grace Dolan, Caryn Gagnon and Chloe Smith to a fifth place finish in the region in 52.81 seconds, just short of their season best.
Johnson returned to excel in the 100-meter dash, setting new personal marks in both the semis and the finals with a seventh place finish in 13.04 seconds. She capped the meet with a career-best, fifth-place time of 27.19 seconds in the 200 meter dash.
Sophomore Lili Gavitt finished second among all Division II pentathletes with a personal best total of 2,382 points. She was near her season best performance in all five events, highlighted by a personal record of 17.23 seconds in the 100 meter hurdles. She added a 4’9 ¾” 4-high jump, a 23’6” shot effort, a 14’10 ½” long jump and a 2:52.99 in the 800-meter run for the outstanding point total.
Senior Paige Hunt capped her distinguished track career for the Lakers with a sixth place, 9 foot effort in the pole vault. She equaled her personal best with the vault and had three close attempts at 9’6”, which would have tied the school record. Hunt has been a perennial leader in multiple events including the vault, high jump, throws and sprints.
Peyton Basic completed a break-out Junior season which saw her emerge as one of the best 400 meter runners in the section, earning fifth place in 1:03.73. Fellow Junior Claire Edwards followed up on her sectional title in the discus last week with a seventh place, 90’7” effort at the qualifier.
Freshman Melanie Michael closed out a brilliant first varsity season with a ninth place, 17.41 effort in the 100 meter hurdles. Junior Molly Hart closed out her season as the Lakers’ leading distance runner with a 12th place, 8:27.83 finish in the 2000 meter steeplechase.
The strong showing at the state qualifier meet capped an outstanding 2019 campaign for the Lady Lakers as they finished the regular season undefeated, winning the OHSL Liberty-National division title. They also won the OHSL Liberty championship meet and finished second at the sectional Class B-2 championships.
