by Kurt Wheeler
CAZENOVIA – The Cazenovia girls cross country team vanquished Jordan-Elbridge 15-51 Wednesday afternoon to remain unbeaten. This league victory raised the Lakers’ record to 7-0 atop the OHSL Liberty-National division with one week to go in the regular season.
Despite a severely depleted line-up with late-season illnesses and injuries, Cazenovia overwhelmed the visiting Eagles as they placed six of the first seven runners across the line.
Maeve McGreevy led the way for the Lakers with a season best time of 21 minutes, 26 seconds on the tough 3.0 mile Fenner Road course. Senior captain Zoey Gagne was second in the field, cruising to a 21:45 finish, her best time of the fall on the home course.
J-E’s Abby Bates (22:38) was the lone Eagle in scoring position before Cazenovia slammed the door with four consecutive finishers.
Olivia Ruddy, nursing a minor injury, was third for the Lakers and fourth overall in 23:28 to boost the team. Senior captain Olivia Wong was close behind, beating her best time of the season at Fenner by over a minute to finish in 23:56.
Ilsa Denton earned her first-ever top-five finish for the Lakers as she claimed the final scoring position in 25:24 to secure Cazenovia’s seventh win of the season. Teammate Emma O’Shea was next across the line in 26:07 to beat out all of the remaining J-E finishers.
A portion of the Laker squad also competed at Friday’s Chittenango Bears Twilight Invitational. Despite missing several runners for college visits or rest to get healthy, the girls finished in the middle of the 15 team field with Central New York powers Fayetteville-Manlius and West Genesee leading the way.
McGreevy led the Lakers again at 21:48 over the 5,000 meter course with Gagne next at 22:09. Wong earned her best 5K time (23:25) and speed rating (37) of the fall with Mesi Stevens (25:14) and Ilsa Denton (25:53) rounding out the scoring for Cazenovia. O’Shea and Savannah Randall also competed for the Lakers.
Cazenovia will wrap up the regular season with their Senior Meet at Fenner next Wednesday. The Lakers will face the Phoenix Firebirds as they strive to finish unbeaten and secure their fifth consecutive league title.
