by Kurt Wheeler
The Cazenovia girls cross country team assembled an overwhelming team performance last Wednesday to crush visiting Solvay 15-51 and remain unbeaten atop the OHSL Liberty-National Division.
The Lakers not only seized the first five places for a perfect score of 15 points and the next two spots to displace all Solvay scorers, but managed to get all 13 of its runners across the line before Solvay’s first finisher.
Sophomore Lauren McLean led the team for the third week in a row, capturing first place in a time of 21:38 on Cazenovia rain-soaked home course. McLean led all runners in navigating a series of flowing streams in the second and third miles of the 4,800-meter trail. Her time was a full minute faster than her first competition on the course on Sept 2.
Sophomore Olivia Wong maintained her meteoric improvement, finishing second for the team once again in an exceptional time of 21:47. She ran the fastest final mile on the team (7:08) to a produce a total time that was nearly two minutes faster than her first effort on the Fenner trail this season.
Senior Captains Mary Williams (22:16) and Claire Braaten (22:47) also ran their fastest times of the fall to claim third and fourth for the squad with sophomore Zoey Gagne (23:52) improving her best Fenner course time by nearly a minute to place fifth and lock in the Lakers’ perfect score of 15 points.
Bonnie Pittman (24:02) had her best race of the fall to earn sixth for the team with Melanie Michael capturing seventh in 24:56 as both runners displaced all scorers for Solvay.
The Lakers weren’t done as the remaining runners tapped into two weeks of hard training and their superior knowledge of the home course to pass Solvay’s runners one by one over the grueling three mile distance.
Emma Steinberg and Mesi Stevens led the way for the remaining pack with Ilsa Denton, Sedona Millard and Iris Casey close behind. Freshman Sophia Gaff out-dueled Solvay’s fastest runner to cross the line in her best time of the season .
Three days later, Cazenovia took part in the small-school division of the Baldwinsville Invitational, in its 69th year one of the oldest cross country events in Central New York.
And it was here that the Lakers got its biggest achievement so far, climbing to the top of the standings in the 20-team field with 111 points to edge New Hartford’s second-place total of 113 points.
Wong finished eighth among team runners, and 13th overall, in 21:13.8. McLean got 13th in the team standings in 21:52.6 as Williams was 20th in 22:14.5. It took Braaten earning 27th place (22:40.4) and Gagne finishing 43rd among team runners in 23:33.3 to help Cazenovia hold off New Hartford.
