by Kurt Wheeler
HOLLAND PATENT – The Cazenovia girls track and field team fell just short of a perfect season, finishing second in a 13-team field at the Section III Class B-2 Championship Meet last Tuesday at Holland Patent High School.
Undefeated in the regular season and decisive winners of the OHSL Liberty-National Meet, the Lakers couldn’t overcome Jordan-Elbridge’s advantage in the distance events as the Eagles prevailed 118 points to Cazenovia’s 80 for the program’s first-ever sectional title.
Despite falling short of the hoped-for title, the Lakers posted a series of season-best and State Qualifier-eligible performances to end the season on a high note.
The 4×800 meter relay team of Claire Braaten, Nadia Segall, Lauren McLean and Mary Williams led the way, claiming the sectional title in their event in their best time of the spring, 10:38.72.
The Lakers’ 4×100 meter relay team of Melanie Michael, Caryn Gagnon, Corinne Albicker and Katie Whitney was also impressive, racing to second place in 53.15 seconds. Their time was a full second faster than their previous best and met the threshold for the elite State Qualifier Meet (not being conducted this year due to COVID-19).
Michael also earned an elite time in the 400-meter hurdles, racing to second in 1:10.94 to meet the Qualifier standard with Bonnie Pittman close behind for third in 1:13.96. Michael led the Lakers in scoring as she also picked up third in the 100 meter hurdles (17.67 seconds) and led off two relays.
Albicker also had a banner day individually, improving by nearly a foot in the long jump, hitting 15 feet 6 ½ inches to place fourth and exceed the Qualifier distance in her event.
Christina Brown led all Laker field event athletes, placing third in the pole vault at 8 feet to match her season best. Brown was undefeated in her event throughout the regular season. Katie Pavelchak (fourth at 4’8”) and Lili Gavitt (fifth at 4’6” rounded out the field event scoring for Cazenovia.
Lily Clonan was also exceptional for the Lakers, earning third in the 400-meter dash in 1:03.10, her best time of the year and under the elite Qualifier standard. She returned to anchor the 4×400 relay of Michael, McLean, and Williams to fourth place in their fastest time of the season, 4:27.11.
Faith Wheeler (fourth in 2:35.58) and Claire Braaten (fifth) both scored for Cazenovia in the 800-meter run, while Williams led the Lakers in the distance events, earning fourth in the 1,500 in addition to her two relay performances.
Cazenovia matched J-E stride for stride up to that point in the meet, but a late surge by the Eagles in the 3,000-meter run and 2,000 meter steeplechase (where it earned 30 total points) put them over the top for the title.
The Lakers are already setting its sights on the title next year with 12 of 14 sectional scorers (72 of 80 points) returning and a cadre of talented young athletes moving up in 2022.
