SYRACUSE – The Cazenovia girls indoor track team got its season off to an impressive start with a second-place finish among 21 teams at the Jack Morse Kickoff Meet last Thursday at SRC Arena.
All told, the Lakers earned 89 points to top larger schools like Baldwinsville (69.5) and Liverpool (64) with only Class AA power Cicero-North Syracuse (154) ahead of them.
Getting things started in an ideal manner, the Lakers’ 4×400 meter relay earned a victory. Maura Phillips (1:05.7), Meghan Mehlbaum (1:05.0) and Izzy Stromer-Galley (1:05.2) all ran strong legs with Reid McMurtrie anchoring the group to victory in 1:03.8. Their time of 4:19.79 beat the standard for the sectional state qualifying meet by more than five seconds.
Maddy Rothfeld was equally impressive in the field events, topping her own school record in the weight throw in her first outing of the season.
Rothfeld reached 35 feet 10 inches for third place overall in the weight throw, returning in the shot put to go 29’10”, set a personal mark and take second place to Pulaski’s Nora Tighe (33’9 ¼”).
Susie Pittman was the Lakers’ other individual winner, capturing first in the pole vault by clearing 8’6” as only one other competitor, Liverpool’s Layla Pearl Collins, even topped 8 feet.
The vault was one of three scores on the night for Pittman who also went 33’3” in the triple jump for fourth place and cleared 4’8” in the high jump for seventh place. Phillips also scored for the Lakers in the vault with a height of 6’6”.
McMurtrie returned to lead the team in the 600-meter run with a second place effort of 1:49.40 behind Oswego’s Tatum Wincheck (1:47.47) with Phillips close behind at 1:51.20 for fourth. Stromer-Galley returned for her own second-place individual effort with a time of 45.06 seconds in the 300-meter dash, topped by the quick 42.62 from C-NS standout Jaydin Mackey.
Cazenovia’s distance runners had a strong opening meet as they claimed three places in the 1,500, with Maeve McGreevy fourth in 5:49.59, Abbie Comeau seventh in 5:51.32 and Zoey Gagne eighth in 5:55.51).
The Lakers also earned two places in the 1,000-meter run as Olivia Ruddy (3:27.45) took fifth in her first-ever indoor meet and Sally Hughes took eighth in 3:40.20. McGreevy and Hughes also teamed up with Eleanor Mongeau and Lily Kogut to earn third place in the 4×800 meter relay at 11:27.08.
Meanwhile, the 4×200 meter team of Stromer-Galley, Caroline Mehlbaum, Claire Marris and Audie Spring also showed exceptional early season form, earning second place in 1:56.37. Spring also led the Lakers in the long jump (eighth place in 14’2 ¼”) and the 55 meter dash (8.15 seconds).
The Lakers will be back in action at OCC on Wednesday at the Jensen Holiday Relays as they seek to build on their opening-meet success to pursue a third straight Section III Class B-2 title.
