by Kurt Wheeler

The Cazenovia girls indoor track team got their season off to a successful start, finishing second among 12 teams at the Jack Morse Kickoff Meet hosted by Onondaga Community College at its SRC Arena.

Only Class AA power Baldwinsville (87 points) topped the Lakers (85) who finished just two points back.

Senior Chloe Smith led the team, scoring in all three of her events, including a first place finish in the relay-style scoring with fellow Senior Savannah Johnson in the 55-meter dash.

In addition to traditional baton relays, the kickoff meet combines the top two athletes from each squad for a “relay” score in other events. Smith’s 7.87 and Johnson’s 8.03 were best in the field as a duo.

Smith also partnered with Johnson, along with Peyton Basic and Grace Dolan, to capture second in the 4×200 relay in a time of 1:57.89. Her final score was in the long jump (14-11.5) as she teamed up with Lili Gavitt to place second.

The Lakers’ other winning combination came in the shot put as Senior Claire Edwards had a career-best throw of 30 feet 4 1/2 inches, hitting both Sectional and State Qualifier standards in the opening meet. She partnered with Lily Sorbello (23′ 1/4”) to place first as a relay. Sorbello also led the way in the 20 pound weight throw at 26’5” and teamed with Quinlan Emhoff (23’10”) to place third.

Lili Gavitt was also a triple scorer for Cazenovia as she teamed up with Melanie Michael (9.93 seconds) to place second in the 55 meter hurdle event and with Katie Pavelchak (4’3” each) to take fourth in the high jump.

Ava Gavitt (29’4 1/4”) and Kylie Anthony (27 feet) rounded out the Lakers’ scoring in the field events as they earned second in the triple jump.

All of the Laker track relays finished in the top three in the large field.  Grace Dolan (1:06.8 leg) and Basic added to their success in the 4×200 as they returned to team with Ava Hartley and Ella Huftalen to earn fourth in the 4×400 in 4:43.21.

Melanie Michael, Molly Dolan, Riley Knapp and Carley Lounsbury were also successful, capturing third in the sprint medley relay in 5:04.30.

Cazenovia’s distance girls successful capped the team’s scoring as the 4×800 meter and 4×1500 meter relay teams each placed second.

Molly Hart (2:43.4 leg) led Mia Chesbrough, Julia Reff and Anna Reger to an 11:39.92 finish in the 4×800.  Claire Braaten (5:44.74) topped the 1,500-meter efforts as she led Nadia Segall, Hannora Race and Emma Steinberg to a total of 24:21.06.

The Lakers will try to follow up on their opening meet success as they look to a busy month of competition, returning to SRC Arena on Dec. 14 and 21 and traveling to Colgate University on Dec. 17.