by Kurt Wheeler
The Cazenovia girls cross country team traveled to New York City over the Oct, 12-13 weekend to race against the best of the best from across the northeast and beyond.
The Lakers were among thousands of athletes from approximately 300 schools in the 47th annual edition of the Manhattan Invitational in legendary Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.
Molly Hart led Cazenovia to a 16th place team finish in the Varsity “B” race, racing to a time of 17:55.3 over the 2.5 mile course. Lauren McLean was second for the Lakers in 18:21.9, with Claire Braaten just steps behind in 18:26.4
Finlay Stover (18:41.5) and Laura Fitzgerald (18:42.4) both ran their best races of the season to clinch the number four and five spots for the Lakers as the top five crossed the line in a span of only 47 seconds. Maddie McGreevy (19:08.4) and Mary Williams (19:12.7) filled the important six and seven spots for the team.
Mia Chesbrough had her fastest race of the season to lead Cazenovia’s JV team in the competition, finishing in 18:51.4 for a career-best “speed rating.” Melanie Michael (19:27.5), Grace Dolan (19:53.9), Emma Steinberg (20:03.5) and Jenna Steinberg (21:39.2) also had season-best times to help the Lakers to a 13th place finish in the JV “C” race.
While in the “Big Apple”, the girls also took time to see the sights, visiting Times Square, the 9/11 Memorial, Highline Park and Central Park Zoo before journeying back to Central New York by train.
Cazenovia competed in one final tune-up race at Saturday’s Chittenango Invitational on Oct 19 before turning their focus to a trio of championship contests in the coming weeks.
Hart (11th, 21:47.8) and Isla Stover (12th, 21:53.5) led the Lakers to a fifth -place team finish in the race. McLean (18th, 22:28.8), Braaten (20th, 22:42.1) and Finlay Stover (24th, 23:09.4) capped the scoring for the team’s total of 85 points, just 16 points back from winner Gouverneur (69).
The first five Lakers finished in a span of just 1:22 as they continued to demonstrate their strength as a team. Maddie McGreevy (23:33.1) was sixth for the team while Melanie Michael (23:48.5) had her best race ever to finish in the seventh position.
The race featured a combined format with all runners competing at the same time and numbers one to seven on each team producing a varsity race score while number eight and up were used to total the JV team score.
Williams (24:09.4) led the rest of the Cazenovia pack to an impressive first place finish in the JV race with Cazenovia earning a perfect score of 15 points.
Emma Steinberg (24:20.3), Chesbrough (24:32.5), Grace Dolan (25:10.9) and Eleanor Wester (25:25.3) also contributed to the winning effort with Alyson Woolbert and Samantha Combs earning the six and seven spots.
A midweek deluge of rain that hit the Syracuse area forced postponement of the Cazenovia’s final regular season meet which was scheduled for last Wednesday afternoon.
The undefeated Lakers will take on Marcellus (3-1) and host Altmar-Parish-Williamstown Tuesday as it sought to clinch the regular season league title. The OHSL Liberty and Section III championship meets will follow on Oct. 30 and Nov. 9, respectively.
