CENTRAL NEW YORK – A long win streak, another school record broken, another regular season ended undefeated – all in less than a week for the Cazenovia girls track and field team.
The Lakers appear to be reaching a higher gear as as the regular season draws to a close, earning second place at the May 3 East Syracuse-Minoa Invitational and following up Wednesday with a dominating 135-6 victory over Hannibal to capture the league title.
Cazenovia’s win over the Warriors capped their regular season at 6-0 and extended their dual meet win streak to 32 contests, with the last loss occurring in 2017. The OHSL Liberty-National Division crown was the Lakers’ 12th league title in 14 seasons dating back to 2010, during which time the team’s record is 85-3.
Susie Pittman led the Lakers to victory against Hannibal, winning four events, but the junior saved her best for the end. As darkness drew in, Pittman cleared 10 feet 6 inches in the pole vault.
Not only was it the best Section III vault of the season so far, it was yet another school record. Having tied the 20 year-old mark of 9’6” as a freshman, she broke the 10-foot barrier to set a new record in April and increased it by another six inches at Hannibal.
And Pittman did all this in a meet where she also went 35’5” in the triple jump, cleared 4’8” in the high jump and put up a career-best time of 26.6 seconds in the 200-meter dash, winning all these events.
Cazenovia’s youngest athletes also contributed heavily to the victory as freshman Caroline Mehlbaum won the 100 meter and 400 meter hurdle events and eighth-grader Abbie Comeau captured the 1,500 and 3,000 meter runs.
The Lakers’ depth and range of talent was also on display as Audie Spring (first in the 100-meter dash in 13.3 seconds), Reid McMurtrie (first in the 400 at 1:02.4) and Alyssa Wardell (first in the 800 in 2:34.7) all added wins on the track.
Cazenovia also swept all three relays to help produce an 86-1 advantage on the track. Spring led Natalie Dolan, Avery Cashatt and Anna Reksc to first in the 4×100 at 54.8 seconds.
McMurtie anchored two relays to victory as Dinah Gifford, Olivia Ruddy and Ellie Morgan joined her to win the 4×800 and Meghan Mehlbaum, Alyssa Wardell and Maura Phillips added legs to the winning 4×400 in 4:23.8.
Wardell (long jump, 15’3”) Maddy Rothfeld (shot put, 31’1”) and Karly Vaas (discus 71’11”) added wins in the field events to help the Lakers to a 50-4 advantage there.
Five days earlier, Cazenovia took full advantage of the competitive 23 team field at the ESM Invitational to run some of their best times of the season.
A particular highlight was the 4×400 meter relay’s second-place finish in 4:07.28 to meet the elite standard for a second qualifier to the state championship meet. Pittman led the way with a 1:00.1 leg, McMurtrie adding a 1:00.8 effort, Mehlbaum a 1:01.9 and Wardell a time of 1:04.3.
Pittman also won the pole vault, clearing 10 feet to set up her record-breaking effort at Hannibal, and claimed the triple jump with 35’9”, just five inches from the school record.
Mehlbaum and Marris were also sensational in the 400hurdles, finishing second and third in 1:08.29 and 1:08.52, respectively, as each hit career bests in the event.
The Lakers return to Hannibal for Monday’s OHSL Liberty division championships and have one final tune-up at the DeRuyter Invitational May 18 before it strive for its third consecutive sectional title May 22 at Adirondack High School in Boonville.
