By Kurt Wheeler
HAMILTON – The Cazenovia girls indoor track team achieved its third number one finish out of four meets this winter as they captured first place among 18 teams at the John DiMao Memorial Invitational last Wednesday at Colgate University.
Earning 89 points, the Lakers claimed the relay-style meet to outpace Class AA Rome Free Academy (76) for the victory.
Here, the top two performances for each team are combined as a “relay” in every event for scoring purposes. A perfect score over the meet’s 14 events would be 140 points if a team won every event among the 18-school field.
The Lakers achieved their impressive total with only one first-place finish but exceptional consistency as they captured five seconds, four thirds and three fourth-place finishes.
Faith Wheeler anchored Cazenovia’s distance medley relay to victory with a personal record time of 5:47.8 for her 1,600-meter leg. Julia Reff led off the winning combination with a 2:43.3 over 800 meters, Sally Hughes added a 1:10.9 effort over 400 meters and Maeve McGreevy ran her 1,200-meter leg in 4:15.7.
Wheeler (2:39.79) and Hughes (2:46.40) also teamed up for a second-place finish in the 2×800 meter event while McGreevy (1:28.80) and Reff (1:30.53) earned second in the 2×500 meter.
Riley Knapp led the team’s efforts in the sprints, capturing first individually in the rarely-run 45 meter dash in 6.69 seconds and teaming up with Haylee Stearns (7.39) for third as a relay.
Knapp also ran a 27.4-second leg on the Laker’s 4×200 meter relay with Albicker and Maura Phillips also handling the baton before Izzy Stromer-Galley brought it home with a huge personal best leg of 27.3 seconds to cap their 1:56.22 second place finish.
Stromer-Galley also highlighted Cazenovia’s third place 4×400 relay with a 1:05.6 effort. Meghan Mehlbaum (1:08.0), Maura Phillips and Bonnie Pittman all ran strong legs as the team posted its fastest time of the winter at 4:35.42. Pittman also led the team’s hurdle effort with a 9.82 second clocking in the 50-meter event.
Dinah Gifford (5:40.54) and Stearns (5:57.00) both ran their best times of the winter in the 1,500 as they combined to earn fourth place.
Susie Pittman led two second place finishes for the Lakers, pole vaulting 8 feet to combine with Wheeler’s 7-foot effort and high jumping 4’9”to partner with Meghan Mehlbaum (4’6”).
Pittman led the way in the long jump, too, as she teamed up with Corrine Albicker to take fourth place. Albicker returned to triple jump 28’10 ½” to combine with Bonnie Pittman (27’9 ¾”) for third.
Maddy Rothfeld helped Cazenovia to a perfect six-for-six scoring effort in the field as she led the way in both throwing events.
Rothfeld tossed the weight 29’9 ¾” to combine with Olivia Morse’s new personal record of 24’5 ¾” to earn third place. She achieved her own personal best of 27’1” in the shot to team up with Karly Vaas (24’8”) for fourth.
The Lakers’ capped the first half of their regular season with the winning effort and will now get a two-week break to rest and train.
During this run of three first place finishes and one runner-up performances over the first four contests Cazenovia produced wins over a total of 62 opponents while just Class AA power Cicero-North Syracuse outscoring them so far this winter.
