SYRACUSE – Each time the Cazenovia girls indoor track and field team competes, special things seem to happen.
The Lakers had another record-breaking meet Saturday in the Fred Kirschenheiter Memorial at SRC Arena, breaking two different school marks that stood for 12 years.
In doing so, Cazenovia eventually produced 116.5 points, again ahead of everyone else except Cicero-North Syracuse (177 points) but well clear of third-place Homer’s 61 points.
Reid McMurtrie, in particular, stood out, leading Cazenovia to a first-place finish in the 4×800 relay with a school record effort of 2:25.8 in the first leg.
Helping McMurtrie out, Maura Phillips, Maeve McGreevy and Olivia Ruddy (2:30.8) all contributed to the Lakers’ fastest time of the year at 10:12.58.
Later in the meet, McMurtie (1:02.8) led off another record-breaking performance as she partnered with Susie Pittman (1:00.5), Izzy-Stromer-Galley (1:05.2) and Meghan Mehlbaum (1:04.4) to capture first place in a school record time of 4:13.12 in the 4×400 meter relay. The old mark of 4:16.79 had stood since 2012.
McMurtrie rounded out her performances with a second-place time of 44.74 seconds in the 300 meter dash, which put her atop the Section III Class B-2 rankings as Mehlbaum was fifth in a season-best 45.63.
Pittman also earned an individual first place performance in the pole vault. One week after setting a school record of 9 feet 7 inches, she won the event at 9 feet and then went straight to 10 feet to attempt the state championship “super standard,” which she missed by fractions of an inch.
Not stopping there, Pittman She had another exceptional effort in the high jump, clearing 5 feet for third with Meghan Mehlbaum one place back at 4’10”.
Stromer-Galley also had an exceptional meet beyond the 4×400, running a personal best split of 26.5 seconds to lead the 4×200 meter relay of Claire Marris, Caroline Mehlbaum and Ella Gale to a fourth place finish in 1:54.33. In the 55-meter dash, Stromer-Galley was sixth in a personal-best 7.80.
Marris also had a three-score meet, equaling her best of 9.32 seconds to place fifth in the 55 hurdles hurdles and reaching 34’3” in the triple jump to place fourth in her first attempt to also climb to the top of the sectional B-2 standings.
Ruddy added a personal best effort of 3:21.27 in the 1,000-meter run to take sixth, with Lily Kogut taking eighth in 3:26.21 in her first try at that distance. Kogut also ran her best time ever in the 600 to place seventh at 1:49.98.
Abbie Comeau led Cazenovia’s distance effort, taking third in the 1,500 with a personal best time of 5:25.22 with Zoey Gagne close behind to capture fifth. Comeau also led the way in the 3,000 with a fourth-place time of 12:25.41 with Dinah Gifford one place back at 12:35.59.
Maddy Rothfeld led a tremendous Laker performance in the weight throw, earning third place at 32’10 ¾” with teammates Olivia Morse (27’1 ½”), Lucy Bliss (26’7”) and Becca Brooks (26’6 ½”) all recording their best throws of the season.
Also scoring in the shot put, Rothfeld was third at 27’9 ¾” with Alayna Berson fifth at 25’9 ½”. Audie Spring led Cazenovia in the long jump with 14’6 ½’ for seventh place.
Cazenovia has one final regular season meet this Thursday with the Bob Grieve Invitational before heading to the OHSL and sectional meets.
