by Kurt Wheeler
CAZENOVIA – The Cazenovia girls track and field team raised their record to 4-0 with a 114- 27 victory over Hannibal last Wednesday as 23 girls scored for the Lakers, who won 16 of 17 events to dominate the OHSL Liberty Division contest.
The Lakers’ 4×800 relay set the tone in the opening event as they won in 11:12.2, their best time of the season. Claire Braaten led the group with a 2:42.8 leg and returned later in the meet to score in three more events. Mary Williams, Nadia Segall and Olivia Wong also added to the winning combination.
The Lakers expanded their lead in the 100-meter events as they placed first and third in both the dash and the hurdles with Katie Whitney winning the sprint in 13.6 seconds and Corinne Albicker backing her up.
Melanie Michael won the hurdles in 17.6 seconds with Caryn Gagnon also scoring. Whitney returned to win the 200- meter dash in 29.4 seconds with Laura Fitzgerald picking up third in 29.9.
Freshman Dinah Gifford had a career-best day as she won both the 1,500 (5:48.7) and 3,000 (12:55.4) meter runs to lead the Laker distance girls. Cazenovia swept both events with Segall and Braaten helping in the 1,500 while Williams and Segall also scored in the 3,000.
Cazenovia also dominated the middle distances as Lily Clonan won the 400-meter dash in 1:05.7 with the versatile Williams adding a point in third place. Faith Wheeler led a Laker sweep of the 800 with a 2:49.8 winning time. Braaten and Wong were close behind to score as well.
The girls completed their relay perfection on the day as they won both the 4×100 (54.8 seconds) and 4×400 (4:46.4) events.
Whitney contributed to both wins as she capped a perfect day with four first-place finishes. Williams, Gagnon and Albicker were also winners in the 4×100. Clonan, Michael and Braaten capped the Lakers’ victories on the track as they went 11-for-1 in running events.
Five different girls won for Cazenovia as they captured all but one field event. Corrinne Albicker led the Lakers in the jumps as she hit a season best of 14 feet 2 inches to win the long jump. Bonnie Pittman was the lone scorer for Cazenovia in the triple jump at 28’4” as Lena Turaj picked up Hannibal’s lone victory with a 31-foot leap.
Cazenovia fared better in the throws as its swept the Warriors in both shot put and discus. Lili Gavitt led the charge in the shot put with a season-best effort of 24’8 3/4”with Meg Lawton and Kate Smith in support.
Danielle Smith led all discus throwers at 63’11 1/2” but Olivia Morse and Karly Vaas both threw personal bests to place second and third.
Katie Pavelchak, clearing 4’6”,led a Laker sweep of the high jump with Lili and Ava Gavitt in support. Christina Brown cleared 7’6” in the pole vault to lead a Cazenovia sweep there. Her height was not only a season best but leads the league so far this spring. Wheeler and Kiara Dolan also added to Cazenovia’s perfect score in the event.
The Lakers will travel to Jordan Elbridge Wednesday in a match-up of unbeaten teams that will likely decide the winner of the OHSL Liberty-National regular-season title.
