by Kurt Wheeler
CENTRAL NEW YORK – The Cazenovia girls cross country team earned another pair of league victories last Wednedsay to remain unbeaten atop the OHSL Liberty-National Division with a 4-0 mark, then turned in a top-three performance at the massive Baldwinsville Invitational three days later.
First, the Lakers visited Hannibal in week three of league action, upending Skaneateles 25-33 in a rematch of their season-opening victory, The girls also earned a forfeit 15-51 win over the host Warriors, who were unable to field a team.
Cazenovia had to rely on its exceptional depth to achieve the victory over those other Lakers with some of their usual top finishers out of the lineup for the day.
Olivia Ruddy was number one for the team again, running an exceptional 19 minutes, 53 seconds, on the slightly short Hannibal course, beating the rest of the field by more than a minute.
Skaneateles managed to grab three of the next four spots with Lucy Fleckenstein (20:59) leading the way, but Faith Wheeler broke them up by claiming the third position overall with a gutsy 21:07 race.
Cazenovia then slammed the door on the victory, claiming six of the next seven spots across the line.
Freshman Maeve McGreevy led the Laker pack, earning third place for the team and sixth overall in 22:53. Veteran Zoey Gagne was next 23:05 with Freshman Haylee Stearns earning her first top-five finish for the team with a 23:37 effort.
Bonnie Pittman (23:55) and Sedona Millard (25:30) contributed to the win by displacing Skaneateles’ final scorers from their number six-seven spots.
Cazenovia again found itself once again as it traveled to the Baldwinsville Invitational, but still managed to finish third in the 33-eam field in the Varsity Small School division.
They were led by Ruddy’s exceptional fourth-place individual finish in 20:18.3 as the tenacious sophomore moved up through the pack from start to finish.
With several of their traditional top runners out for the day, the Lakers once again looked to their deep roster for help and the girls answered the call.
McGreevy ran her best race yet to finish second for the team (29th overall) in 22:20 flat. Gagne also had her fastest race of the season in 22:40.5 and Dinah Gifford was close behind at 23:02.0.
Pittman took fifth for the team in 23:56.8 to close out the Lakers’ total of 132, just two points behind Cato-Meridian’s second place score of 130. Defending sectional champ South Jefferson was first with 60 points.
Michaela Tobin ran her best race yet to earn sixth for the team at 25:12.4, with Mesi Stevens earning the number seven spot at 25:48.2. Ilsa Denton and Emma O’Shea also raced well for the Lakers.
Cazenovia will have Homecoming Week off to train and get healthy before returning to league action on Oct 5 and traveling to New York City for the Manhattan Invitational on Oct 8.
