By Kurt Wheeler
MARCELLUS – The Cazenovia girls cross country team added to its list of accomplishments Wednesday as it captured the Onondaga High School League Liberty Championship for the second year in a row.
This win came one week after completing an undefeated dual meet campaign and two weeks after clinching its fourth consecutive regular season league title.
The Lakers earned a score of 36 points to top second-place Chittenango (59), third-place Skaneateles (71) and the rest of the field in the 11-school Liberty League.
Cazenovia’s Olivia Ruddy achieved championship honors of her own as she won the individual league title with a first-place effort of 18 minutes, 55.6 seconds over the fast, flat 2.9-mile Marcellus Park course. Ruddy led the race from beginning to end as she navigated the unfamiliar course and guided her team to victory.
Freshman Maeve McGreevy also ran a sensational race, sprinting out with the league’s leaders and never faltering as she earned fourth place in 19:12.5. Her gutsy effort produced a speed rating of 90, 18 points higher than her previous best.
Faith Wheeler also had a season best performance, placing sixth overall in 19:32.9 for a speed rating of 83. Dinah Gifford was close behind, capturing eighth place in 19:54.1, her fastest time of the fall.
Zoey Gagne capped off the team’s score with an 18th place, 20:44.3 effort. All five of the Laker scorers earned first team all-league honors as they finished among the top eight in the Liberty-National Division.
Haylee Stearns had a breakthrough performance, finishing sixth for the team and 23rd overall in a time of 20:59.7, good for a speed rating of 54, her best of the year.
Bonnie Pittman earned the number seven spot for the team, 31st overall, in 21:48.5, another season best effort. Both Stearns and Pittman displaced scorers from all but one of the competing teams and each earned second-team all-league honors.
Olivia Wong led the rest of the Laker pack, finishing in 22:14.2. Ilsa Denton (23:25.7), Sedona Millard (24:00.1), Iris Casey (25:02.2) and Emma O’Shea (26:42.4) also raced well for Cazenovia as each earned their best time of the season on the fast course.
The Lakers will now shift their focus to training for next Saturday’s Section III Class C championships at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill.
Currently ranked no. 10 in the state in Class C, Cazenovia will battle state no. 7-ranked South Jefferson and no. 12-ranked ranked Adirondack for the sectional title and the privilege of returning to VVS Nov. 12 for the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships.
