By Kurt Wheeler
The Cazenovia girls track and field team followed up their undefeated regular season championship in the OHSL Liberty-National Division with a resounding victory at last Wednesday’s league championship meet.
The Lakers scored in every event and won eight of 17 to score 198 points. Skaneateles was second in the five-team field with 83. The Lakers earned 11 first team all-league honors and 14 second team honors as the girls achieved a host of season-best performances.
Melanie Michael led the team with two individual first place finishes, winning the 100 meter hurdles in 16.8 seconds and the 400 hurdles in 1:13.1. She returned to lead off the Lakers’ second place 4×100 and 4×400 relays as Lili Gavitt backed her up in the 100 hurdles (third in 17.8) while Bonnie Pittman took second in the 400 hurdles at 1:14.3.
Cazenovia’s distance girls were exceptional again as they led off the meet with first place in the 4×800 meter relay. Claire Braaten, Nadia Segall, Lauren McLean and Mary Williams combined to run 10:48.7.
Dinah Gifford won an individual title in the 1,500 (5:45.9) with Mary Williams close behind for second. Segall scored her own win in the 3,000 (12:31.7) with Gifford second. Faith Wheeler led the Lakers in the 800 with a season-best time of 2:33.8 for second with Braaten third in 2:35.3, also a personal best.
Cazenovia’s sprinters exceeded expectations against a tough field. Katie Whitney equaled her best time of 13.2 seconds in the 100-meter dashto claim second and teamed up with Michael, Caryn Gagnon and Corinne Albicker for second in the 4×100 in 54.4 seconds.
Whitney also partnered with Laura Fitzgerald to earn ten more points as they each ran a season-best time of 28.4 seconds to capture third and fourth in the 200-meter dash.
Lili Clonan was also a leader on the track, capturing the league title in the 400-meter dash in her best time of 1:03.4 with McLean third in a personal record of 1:06.2. Clonan also anchored the 4×400 relay of McLean, Braaten and Michael to second team all-league honors in their fastest time of the year, 4:28.8.
Senior Christina Brown led Cazenovia in the field events, winning the league title in the pole vault at 7 feet 6 inches with Kiara Dolan third at 6’6”. Katie Pavelchak tied for first in the high jump with a season-best leap of 4’10” with Lili Gavitt fourth at 4’8”, also a season-best.
Albicker led the Lakers in the horizontal jumps, capturing third in the long at 14’5” with Kylie Anthony also scoring. Bonnie Pittman had her best triple jump of the season to take sixth at 29’4 3/4” with senior captain Ava Gavitt also hitting her best leap of the spring at 29’2”.
Danielle Smith topped the team in the throws, earning second team all-league honors with a personal best throw of 70 feet with Olivia Morse also scoring for Cazenovia. Lili Gavitt captured third in the shot at 24’3” with fellow Senior Megan Lawton placing fifth.
