Cazenovia boys track finishes fourth at VVS meet

VERONA – The Cazenovia varsity boys outdoor track team took fourth place at last Saturday’s Vernon-Verona-Sherrill Invitational, where the strength of the team was the 400-meter runners, each achieving season best and sectional qualifying times.

Andrew Kent took second place in 51.54 seconds, a time that meets the “super standard” for the Section III state qualifying meet, followed by Dan Millson in fourth place (54.84, personal record) and Jaden Kaplan in eighth place (56.04, personal record).

Also, Kent delivered the outstanding individual performance of the meet, winning the 200-meter race in 23.44 seconds, qualifying for June’s state meet and close to the 22.58 school record he set in 2021.

Cazenovia had two scorers in the pole vault, with Sam Wilcox and Killian Blouin both clearing 8 feet 6 inches, Wilcox taking fourth place and Blouin fifth place.

The 4×100 meter relay team JP Hoak, Tommy Insel, Wyatt Scott, and Andrew Lee took second place in a season- best time of 47.64 seconds. The 4×400 team of Kaplan, Scott, Insel and Kent was third in 3:54.70

Fifth-place finishes included Hoak in the 100 meters (12.34, sectional qualifying); Cooper Hughes in the 800 meters (2:11.40, sectional qualifying); Will Austin in the 3200 meters (11.27.80, personal record) and the 4×800 meter relay team of Millson, Brayden McColm, Quinn Smith, and Will Austin (10:00.80).

Smith and Connor Frisbee both had sectional qualifying jumps in the high jump, clearing 5’2”, with Smith taking sixth place. Wilcox rounded out the scoring with a sixth-place finish in the discus (89’ 10.5”, personal record).

Individuals achieving personal records on the day included: Frisbee (19.2) and Willem Light-Olsen (22.7) in the 100 hurdles; Austin (5:28.90) and J.D.Dolly (5:33.90) in the 1,600 meters; Braydon Weismore (1:10.54), Light-Olsen (1:15:54), and Matthew Tugaw (1:18.64) in the 400 meter hurdles; Dolly (2:24.90) in the 800; Miles Weiler (31’2”) and Aiden Bailey (29’10”) in the shot put; Weiler (72’3”) in the discus, Weismore (15’6”) in the long jump, and McColm (12:19.30) in the steeplechase.

The meet was notable in that it marked the return of senior captain and all-CNY cross country runner Cassidy Gilmore, cleared to compete again after recovering from a nagging injury. The team will receive a huge boost going forward, as Cassidy works his way back to top form.