by Kurt Wheeler
The Cazenovia girls cross country team successfully capped their second consecutive undefeated season Monday with a double league victory, topping Marcellus 27-31 and Altmar-Parish-Williamstown 15-51.
With those wins, the Lakers improved to 6-0 and captured the 2019 OHSL Liberty National regular-season title.
This meet, originally scheduled for Oct 16 but delayed due to torrential rains, was carried out in fall sunshine over APW’s still-soggy 5,000-meter course.
As they have throughout the season, the Lakers used their superior team depth to prevail against the Mustangs, who entered the meet with just one loss.
Cazenovia started the race aggressively and held four of the first five places after one mile before Marcellus’ Alana Bolster seized the lead. The Lakers still held a decisive lead after two miles but the Mustangs’ Meaghan Strempel hung close to the leaders and moved into second place with less than half a mile to go.
The Cazenovia runners knew they would have to dominate the middle positions to win the meet with the Mustangs starting out the scoring with just three points as Bolster (22:34) and Strempel (22:51) crossed the line. Senior Captain Isla Stover hung tough for the Lakers, capturing third in 23:03.
Cazenovia’s tenacious front pack did their part, seizing four of the next five places in a span of just 53 seconds to lock in the team’s score of 27 points.
Lauren McLean (23:18), Claire Braaten (23:26), Mary Williams (23:50) and Finlay Stover (23:56) all ran strong, consistent races to keep the bulk of the Marcellus scorers behind them.
Maddie McGreevy displaced the fourth Marcellus runner in a time of 23:59 with Molly Hart (24:22) and Melanie Michael (24:28) adding a bit of insurance as both edged out the final Mustangs scorer to lock in the final score of 27-31.
Laura Fitzgerald (25:01) was the ninth Laker overall to cross the line before the first APW scorer finished, more than guaranteeing a perfect score of 15 points and victory over the host Rebels.
It was a total team effort as Mia Chesbrough, Emma Steinberg, Grace Dolan, Eleanor Wester, Maggie Rowles, Jenna Steinberg and Alyson Woolbert all crossed the line before the final APW scorer.
The double victory was a successful capstone to the Lady Lakers’ decade of cross country action spanning 2010-2019. The league title was its fourth in 10 years to accompany three sectional titles and the sweep brought its win-loss record to 54-6 during the period (.900).
The girls will have more than a week to train in preparation for the OHSL Liberty Championship meet, slated for Long Branch Park in Liverpool next Wednesday. Cazenovia’s bid for the Class C sectional title will follow on Nov 9 at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill.
