by Kurt Wheeler
SYRACUSE – Regular season indoor track meets are always an uphill battle for small schools. There are no divisions, so Class B and C schools go head-to-head with Class AA powers.
Yet so far this winter, the Cazenovia girls have beaten the odds, prevailing against a series of top programs with several times their enrollment.
And the Lakers did it again Saturday, rallying in the final two events to score 137 points to top Liverpool (135) and 11 other teams to win the George Constantino Memorial Invitational afternoon session.
The Lakers chased Liverpool throughout the afternoon, drawing within six points by the final two events of the meet. Corinne Albicker (14 feet 10 inches) and Susie Pittman (14’5”) earned second and fifth in the long jump to tie the score with just the 4×200 meter relay remaining.
Liverpool won their heat in 1:55.73, more than four seconds faster than Cazenovia’s previous best on the season.
The girls rose to the challenge as Albicker (30.3 seconds) led off, followed by Riley Knapp (27.6), Izzy Stromer-Galley (28.5) and Caitlyn Smithers (28.3) in the anchor position for a season-best time of 1:54.83 to win their heat and edge second place Liverpool by two points for the overall victory.
There were numerous other highlights leading to the victory. Faith Wheeler (personal best of 5:27.37) led all three Lakers’ 1,500-meter runners to sectional times as Maeve McGreevy (5:32.88) and Zoey Gagne (5:33.36) also achieved their best times ever.
Wheeler returned to lead a double score in the 1,000 as she took third (3:29.48) and Kate Millson earned fifth (3:52.96). Dinah Gifford (12:09.89) led the Lakers to a triple score in the 3,000 as Gagne and Haylee Stearns earned season bests also.
Susie Pittman led a powerful Cazenovia performance in the pole vault, clearing 8 feet to win, with Smithers second at 7’6” and Wheeler fourth at 7 feet. Pittman also took third in the high jump with a season best 4-10 as Meghan Mehlbaum leaped to a career-best 4’8” for fifth.
Albicker added a first place finish in the triple jump (31’6 ¼”) to cap off the Lakers’ efforts in the jumps.
Maddy Rothfeld had a banner day in the throws, tossing the weight 30’4 ½” to set a school record for an indoor track meet and earn third place.
Rothfeld returned to achieve a personal best of 26’8 ¾” for second in the shot put with Karly Vaas also hitting a career best 25’11” to place fourth and qualify for sectionals.
The 4×400 meter relay was also a first-place finisher for Cazenovia with a time of 4:36.08. Mehlbaum led off the relay followed by Sofie Reger, with Maura Phillips (1:07.5) and Stromer-Galley (1:05.3) each hitting season-best times to clinch the win.
Stromer-Galley also took fifth in the 300-meter dash in 45.89 seconds to hit the sectional time for the event with Mehlbaum and Natalie Dolan each adding season bests. Knapp (7.80) and Smithers (7.95) both scored in the 55-meter dash to cap the sprint effort.
McGreevy led the Lakers’ middle-distance runners, earning fourth in the 600 at 1:55.13 with Julia Reff fifth in 1:56.69. McGreevy also anchored the 4×800 relay to a third-place finish with a 2:40.8 leg as Bonnie Pittman, Sally Hughes (personal best of 2:46.5) and Reff each contributed.
Pittman also led the effort in the 55 meter hurdles at 10.76 with Skye Stanford and Angela Moskvich running personal bests.
The Cazenovia girls have finished number one in two of their first three meets, with only Cicero-North Syracuse outpacing them so far this season. They will be back in action Wednesday for the DiMao Memorial Invitational at Colgate University.
