CICERO – A stellar season for the Cazenovia girls track and field team only got better last Thursday with one of the most successful Section III state qualifying meets it has ever put together.
Before the day was done at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium, the Lakers had broke two school records while advancing two relay teams and two individuals to this weekend’s state championships at that same C-NS venue.
Susie Pittman and Claire Marris led the parade, each of them qualifying for the state meet in three different events.
Pittman was the top sectional finisher in the pole vault, clearing 10 feet, 9 inches to break her own school record. She is currently ranked second among all Division II (small school) vaulters in the state. At the same meet, Pittman led off the winning 4×400 relay and anchored the 4×100 to victory.
As for Marris, she ran a personal record time of 15.76 seconds to win the Division II finals in the 100-meter hurdles over Westhill’s Emma Murphy (16.10) to advance to the state title meet. Marris was also a key contributor to the two winning relays.
In the 4×400 relay, Pittman led off with a 1:01.34 leg to put Cazenovia in the lead. Meghan Mehlbaum pulled away from the field with a personal best leg of 1:01.53 that was extended by Marris’ 1:01.47 effort.
Reid McMurtrie anchored the foursome to victory with a career best leg of 59.53 seconds as she crossed the line nearly 12 seconds ahead of second-place Vernon-Verona-Sherrill in a school record time of 4:02.86.
Izzie Stromer-Galley led off the Lakers winning 4×100 with smooth exchanges to Audie Spring and Marris before Pittman out-kicked the rest of the field to win the race in 50.55 seconds, the fastest of the year for Cazenovia. The team will try to replicate last year’s silver medal performance at States.
The 4×800 meter relay also ran a tremendous race with Maura Phillips running a personal best leg of 2:28.27 to lead off. Alyssa Wardell (2:34.47), Lily Kogut (2:33.82) and Olivia Ruddy (2:33.62) each contributed strong legs of their own.
The Lakers crossed the line in 10:10.17 for third place in Division II behind VVS (10:00.99) and Tully (10:08.88). Their effort was among the top-10 performances in the event all-time for Cazenovia.
Cazenovia also competed in multiple other events, with Stromer-Galley running 13.07 to finish tenth in the 100 meter dash while Marris (seventh, 1:10.33) and Mehlbaum (12th, 1:12.15) capped off their outstanding seasons in the 400 meter hurdles.
Spring leaped 15’6 3/4” to finish 13th n the long jump, while Maddy Rothfeld concluded her exceptional Senior season with a throw of 32’11” to finish fifth in the shot put.
Fourteen members of the Lakers’ sectional Class B-2 championship team, including relay alternates, will head to C-NS for the state meet in pursuit of championship medals.
