by Mike Millson
CENTRAL NEW YORK – The Cazenovia varsity boys outdoor track team traveled to Marcellus last Wednewsday to take on Marcellus, with both teams unbeaten in the OHSL Liberty-Central division.
The Lakers knew from Marcellus’ dominance in indoor track and their spring results that every point would be needed to win. Not surprisingly, the winner of the meet was decided by the final event, the 4×400 meter relay.
Luckily for Cazenovia, the 400-meter distance is one of their strongest, deepest groups. The team of Cooper Hughes, Dan Millson, Jaden Kaplan, and Andrew Kent took an early lead and never let up, cruising to victory in three minutes, 46.3 seconds and securing an undefeated regular season.
Cazenovia’s running depth was key, winning all three relays. J.P. Hoak, Elijah Clement, Wyatt Scott, and Andrew Lee won the 4×100 meter relay in a season-best 46.6 seconds as Hughes, Michael Senehi, Brandon McColm and Cassidy Gilmore, won the 4×800 meter relay in a season-best 9:04.5.
Kent was the team’s lone double individual event winner, taking first place in the 200 meters (23.2) and 400 meters (53.1) Other individual event winners included Hughes in the 800 (2:06.3), Senehi in the 1 600 with a personal-best 5:00.5, and McColm in the 3,200(11:13.2).
In a meet where every point counted, Cazenovia’s sweep of the 1,600 meters was very important, with Gilmore taking second place with a season-best 5:05.3 and McColm third in 5:07.8.
The following Lakers minimized the scoring impact of a Marcellus win by taking second and third place respectively in their events: Hoak (11.9 seconds) and Andrew Lee (12.2, season-best, sectional qualifying) in the 100-meter dash, Connor Frisbie (38 feet 6 1/2 inches,, personal record) and Millson (36’5”) in the triple jump, Frisbie (5’2”) and Aidan Harig (5’2”) in the high jump, and Clement (8’6”) and Sam Wilcox (8’0”) in the pole vault.
Others scoring with personal record performances include Will Austin (11:25.0) second place in the 3,200 meters, Hoak (24.0) third place in the 200 meters, Millson (54.7) third place in the 400 meters, and Senehi (1:06.2) third place and in the 400 hurdles.
Just two days later, Cazenovia took part in the Oneida Invitational, where bright sun and temperatures in the 80s made for tough running conditions early in the meet, especially in the longer distances.
Still, the Lakers finished fourth out of 18 competitive teams and showed they have some of the most talented runners in the area.
Kent showed exactly why two days prior he was named the News Channel 9 Athlete of the Week, dominating the field in both the 200 and 400 sprints, going 22.49 seconds to break his own school record in the 200 and 49.93 in the 400, both times the fastest in Section III this season and exceeding the state meet automatic qualifier standard.
Gilmore has quietly worked back into shape after his early-season injury and showed that he is again a force, winning the 800 in 2:07.26. Frisbie took second place in the high jump, clearing 5’6” to tie his personal record. The 4×400 meter team of Kaplan, Millson, Scott and Logan Webb took third place in 3:48:08.
Quinn Smith competed in the pentathlon for the first time and took fourth place, scoring 1,842 points, showing his athletic ability and stamina in the extreme heat.
McColm had a sixth-place finish in the 1,600 meters with a personal record time of 4:58.93, impressive considering the brutally hot track, and Brayden Weismore got sixth place in the 400 hurdles, also setting a personal record with a time of 1:06.49.
Other personal records set on the day include \Kaplan (25.28) in the 200, Willem Light-Olsen (1:15.36) in the 400 hurdles, and Faham Murad (2:17.37) in the 800. In his 800 meter run Faham Murad met the qualifying standard for sectionals, which builds strength to the distance group moving into the league and sectional meets.
