by Kurt Wheeler

The Cazenovia girls indoor track team completed its 2019-20 campaign last Tuesday with seven girls competing at the New York State Championship Qualifier Meet at SRC Arena.

And while none of the girls advanced to next weekend’s state championship meet on Staten Island, the Lakers represented the school well in the elite competition.

Chloe Smith led the way for the team, competing in three events. She finished tenth among all runners in Section 3 in the 55 meter dash with a time of 7.68 seconds, just off her season best of 7.61.

Unlike other sports, there are no classes for indoor track when advancing to the State Championship Meet. Athletes from schools of all sizes must vie to finish in the top two in individual events or number one as a relay to advance to the NYSPHSAA finals.

Smith also competed individually in the long jump, reaching 15 feet, 8 inches, off her season best of 16’10”. Smith rounded out her triple performance by running the fastest leg on the Lakers’ 4×200 meter relay team with a 27.7 second effort.

Grace Dolan, Riley Knapp and Savannah Johnson also competed on the relay with Molly Dolan and Madison Jones as alternates. The girls finished in eighth place in the section in a time of 1:54.05, three seconds off their season-best time of 1:51.31.

Claire Edwards was also an individual competitor for Cazenovia, finishing 16th in the shot put with a throw of 28′ 1/2″. While short of her best throw of the winter, Edwards still had an outstanding season, earning all-league honors and improving more than two feet in the shot from last year to a personal best of 30’10”.

The meet concluded another strong campaign for the Lakers as its finished first among Class B/C/D competitors in six of seven regular-season meets. They also earned second place at the OHSL Championship Meet and finished third at the Section 3, Class B2 Championship.

The Lakers earned numerous individual honors as well, including a total of 13 all-league selections. Molly Hart (3,000 meters and Grace Dolan (600 meters) each earned first team honors along with the 4x400M relay of Molly Dolan, Melanie Michael, Ainsly Schug and Peyton Basic.

Michael (55 hurdles), Edwards (shot put) and Lili Gavitt (high jump) all earned second team honors along with the 4×200 relay of Smith, Knapp, Johnson and Grace Dolan.  Smith was also an individual sectional champion for the team in the long jump.

The girls were equally successful in the classroom over the winter, earning NYSPHSAA Scholar-Athlete Team status. In total, 32 of the 43 girls on the squad achieved a GPA of 90 or higher during the season.

The team honored all of its Seniors at its end-of-season banquet, including Madison Jones, Molly Dolan and Captains Peyton Basic and Ava Hartley.

Three of the Seniors earned school awards as Edwards was named “Most Improved,” Johnson received the “Impact Athlete” Award and Smith was recognized with the “Most Valuable Athlete/Career Contribution Award.”

Despite losing this exceptional cohort of seniors, the future is bright for the program with 36 girls returning next year.