by Kurt Wheeler

VERONA – The Cazenovia Girls Cross Country team matched up against some of the top teams in the state as they raced in the Varsity “A” race at Friday’s Vernon-Verona-Sherrill Invitational.

Posting 140 points, the Lakers captured fourth place in a tough 13-team field. Only perennial state contenders Fayetteville-Manlius (27), East Aurora (34) and Norwood-Norfolk (108) finished ahead of them, while Cazenovia edged local rival Skaneateles (143) by three points.

Olivia Ruddy continued her streak of first place finished on the team as she led the Lakers’ performance with a 22nd place finish in 22 minutes, 42.8 seconds.

Zoey Gagne was close behind, earning 26th place with a 23:08.8 effort for the squad. Maeve McGreevy continued to improve rapidly, running her fastest race of the fall with a time of 23:28 flat over the 5,000-meter course for 29th place.

Olivia Wong also had her fastest race of the season, pushing to a 24:23.0 pace to earn 36th place. Haylee Stearns locked up the Lakers’ fourth place point total with her 24:54.2, 41st place finish as she equaled her best time of the season.

Lauren McLean (48th, 25:13.3) and Mesi Stevens (57th, 27:10.5) earned the number six and seven places for the team, displacing scorers from numerous other teams, including fifth-place Skaneateles, to help the Lakers’ effort.

Emma O’Shea (28:14.7), Michaela Tobin (28:52.7) and Iris Casey (32:12.8) also ran well for Cazenovia in their final invitational race before kicking of their regular season at home against league rival Skaneateles on Wednesday afternoon.