by Kurt Wheeler
CENTRAL NEW YORK – The Cazenovia girls cross country team remained unbeaten in league competition and captured its second invitational in a row as it won three races in an eight-day span.
In doing so, the Lakers rose to 4-0 atop the OHSL Liberty National standings and moved up to no. 7 in this week’s Milesplit.com New York State Class C rankings.
All of this started when Cazenovia gained a huge win at the Baldwinsville Invitational on Sept 25. The Lakers finished tops among 38 teams in the small schools race, earning its first overall victory in the storied competition (this was the 69th edition) in program history.
Then Cazenovia traveled to Jordan-Elbridge last Wednesday to battle it out with the Eagles, a frequent rival in both track and cross country over the past decade. C
Cazenovia’s superior depth quickly put the meet out of reach for the hosts as Vassi Klock took first for JE in 20:04 but the Lakers claimed the next 12 places for the overwhelming 15-51 win.
Olivia Wong finished first for the Lakers for the second race in a row, covering the 3.0 mile course in 21:08. Fellow Sophomore Lauren McLean was close behind, finishing third overall in 21:38.
The trio of Claire Braaten (22:37), Mary Williams (23:04) and Bonnie Pittman (23:14) finished in a short 37-second span to lock in the Lakers’ winning score while Zoe Gagne (23:40) and Melanie Michael (24:08) seized the critical number six-seven spots for Cazenovia.
Sophia Gaff had her fastest race of the fall (29:25) for Cazenovia while visiting student Lobar Kadirova of Uzbekistan completed her second race in her new sport.
Cazenovia continued its big meet success on Saturday as it traveled to the Tully Invitational, not only winning the Division 2 (small schools) title, but finishing first among all 16 teams in the competition. The Lakers’ total of 32 points edged out Class C rival Marcellus (38) and 14 other schools for the victory.
Wong streaked to fifth place overall in the field in a time of 21:52 to lead the team once again. McLean was also impressive, finishing 11th in the field in 22:46.
The Laker pack was the key to the victory as the next three runners finished in a span of four places and 22 seconds to seal the win. Braaten (15th, 23:40) led the way with just one Marcellus runner between her and Williams (17th, 23:52). Pittman had her fastest race of the season to earn fifth for the team again as she finished 18th in 24:02.
Gagne (21st, 24:18) and Mesi Stevens (31st, 26:18) displaced scorers from nearly every team from their number six-seven position for Cazenovia, contributing to the victory. Gaff, Emma Steinberg, Sedona Millard and Ilsa Denton also ran well.
Cazenovia will host Hannibal during its “Senior Night” final home meet on Wednesday before travelling to New York City for the legendary Manhattan Invitational on Saturday as it strives to remain unbeaten and improve in the state Class C rankings.
