Cazenovia boys track team triumphs at Tully meet

BY PHil BlACKWEll

From one season to another, the Cazenovia boys track and field program continues to display its strength, depth and versatility at every turn. When the Lakers opened its 2023 outdoor season last Monday at the Tully Spring Break

Invitational, it went to the top of the 12-team standings with 109 points as the host Black Kngihts (90 points) finished second.

In the very first race of the season, the 4x400 relay, Cazenovia won when Lucky Prior, Jaden Kaplan, Tristan Field-Bradley and Judah Ossont went three minutes, 51.66 seconds to edge Henninger’s 3:52.38.

Caz girls second at Tully Invitational

BY KuRT WHEElER

The Cazenovia girls track and field team kicked off its 2023 campaign with a strong second place showing among 15 squads at last Monday’s Tully Spring Break Invitational

Only Class A power East Syracuse-Minoa topped the Lakers, who scored in 14 of 19 events and hit numerous sectional and state qualifier times in their first contest of the season. Senior captain Grace Dolan led the Lakers, scoring in four events, including two first place finishes. She led off the 4x400 meter relay of Reid McMurtrie, Julia Reff, and Izzy Stromer-Galley with a 1:04.3 leg as the foursome ran a blistering early-season time of 4:19.38 (state qualifier eligible) to capture first place.

Dolan also won the 200meter dash in 27.21 seconds, just 0.18 from the state time, picked up third in the 400 at 1:05.53 and led off the Lakers second place 4x100 relay which clocked an impressive early-April time of 53.39.

Stromer-Galley also scored four times for Lakers, adding points in the 200 (28.89 for sixth), 400 (1:06.17 for fifth) and helping out in the 4x100.

McMurtrie was dynamite, adding to her career best split of 1:03.9 in the 4x400 with a fourth place effort in the 400 meter dash at 1:05.91. Reff also returned to add another score in the 800 with a third-place, 2:43.38 performance.

Caitlyn Smithers scored in three events for Cazenovia, including a second place finish in the pole vault at 7 feet despite ferocious winds. She also earned third in the 100 meter dash in a sectional qualifying time of 13.65 and added to the 4x100 meter relay.

Teammate Riley Knapp was even speedier in the 100, capturing second place in a state qualifier time of 13.09 in her first spring track race ever.

Senior Captain Corinne Albicker was also a triple scorer for the Lakers, earning fourth place in her first race in the 400 meter hurdles in 1:17.26. She also captured sixth in the long jump at 14’2 1/2” and helped out the 4x100.

Dinah Gifford doubled up for the team, placing sixth in the 3000 and leading off Cazenovia’s first-ever co-ed relay. Gifford ran the opening 400 meter leg of the sprint medley relay with teammate Amara Crouse adding a 200 meter leg while members of the boys’ squad ran 200 and 800 meter legs for a sixth place total of 5:13.14. The mixed race is new to track and field, even making an appearance in the last Olympic games.

Lily Kogut also contributed on the track, running a personal best of 2:48.99 in the 800 to capture fifth in her first varsity outdoor track meet. Julene Erana led Cazenovia in the 100 hurdles at 21.19 with Skye Stanford (21.26) and Angela Moskvich (21.58) close behind. Stanford also led the team in the high jump at 4’2”

Maddy Rothfeld led the Laker throwers, capturing fifth in the shot put (25’8”) in her first spring track competition after a record-breaking winter season.

Olivia Morse was tops for Cazenovia in the discus, earning sixth at 66’6”. Morse also led off the team’s fourth place throwers’ 4x100 meter relay with Karly Vaas, Becca Brooks and Taylor Proctor contributing as well.

The Lakers will be back in action for their first league contest of the season as they travel to Homer on Wednesday. As the 2023 campaign opens, the girls will seek to repeat their 2022 sectional championship effort and pursue their 11th league title in 13 years.

Caz boys lax goes 1-1, falls to LaFayette

BY PHil BlACKWEll

Just a week into its season,the Cazenovia boys lacrosse team may have already encountered the two sides best positioned to stop a Lakers championship run.

LaFayette arrived last Tuesday afternoon and, in the first match between the two since last year’s Section III Class D final, the Lancers got the best of it, prevailing 12-9 over Cazenovia.

Much of the damage was done in the late going, after a first half where the Lakers controlled the tempo and did enough to battle its way to a 5-4 advantage.

Even with this, it could not build any kind of margin. Sensing this, LaFayette pulled even and then, in the fourth quarter, maanged to outscore the Lakers 6-3 to pull it out.

D.B. Falge had three goals and one assist. Forrest Ives and Brendon Barnard each scored twice, Ives adding a pair of assists as Tom Navin and Alex Kuper had the other goals. Arrow Booth led the Lancers, amassing three goals and four assists.

Turning this around on Thursday afternoon, Cazenovia was dominant against Tully/ Fabius-Pompey, prevailing 16-1 as it again got plenty of production from its top line.

Forrest Ives had five goals, with Barnard scoring four times and Falge getting three goals and one assist. Kuper had two goals and three assists. Henry Miller added two assists as he and Basil Sayre notched single goals.

So Cazenovia took a 2-2 record into Monday’s game against Carthage before a Thursday rematch with Tully/Fabius-Pompey.

Cazenovia girls lax takes pair of close defeats

BY PHil BlACKWEll

An impressive season-opening win over Homer gave the Cazenovia girls lacrosse team a lot of confidence, and it nearly led to two other victories in the first full week of April.

Hosting the combined Southern Hills Storm side last Tuesday afternoon, the Lakers were in the battle all the way to the final seconds, but could not quite catch up to the Storm, taking a 12-11 defeat. Cazenovia trailed 8-6 at halftime to this new Southern Hills side that combined players from LaFayette, Tully Onondaga and Fabius-Pompey, and then battled back.

Riley Knapp netted three goals and added an assist. Julia Reff, Charlie Prior and Hayden Bubble each scored twice, with Madison DeAngelis earning a goal and two assists and

Katie Rajkowski also scoring.

To hang on, the Storm needed a great performance in the net from Kiera Reed, who made 11 saves, plus four goals and four assists from Kensington Keane and three goals apiece from Ava Spicer and Madelyn Lund.

Almost the same thing happened on Thursday against Oswego, the Lakers close all the way but again defeated by a single goal as the Buccaneers got the game-winner in the last minute of regulation and prevailed 13-12.

Knapp and Rajkowski had three goals apiece. Reff and Sally Hughes each got two goals, with Bubble and Prior both earning one goal and DeAngelis earning two assists. For Oswego, Kylie Britton (five goals, two assists) and Mia Fierro (three goals, three assists) both had strong showings.

Branden McColm was victorious at 800 meters in 2:08.09, more than six seconds ahead of the field as Jake Woolbert (2:25.58) was sixth. This was after McColm made his way to second place in the 3,200-meter run in 10:38.57 as Jake Woolbert was sixth and Chris Kelly seventh.

Jed Olkowski threw the shot put 39 feet 7 inches over Homer’s Jonah Campos (38’4”), while Sam Wilcox, in the discus, heaved it 107’5”, a close second to the 108’9” from Tully’s Braden Switzer. Kaplan got second in the 400-meter dash in 53.65 seconds, while Dan Raymond finished sixth.

Connor Frisbie went 17.74 seconds to grab second place in the 110 high hurdles, with Sam Wilcox ninth as Frisbie, Raymond, Ka- plan and Gabe Sanchez were second in the 4x100 relay in 47.61.

Moving to field events, Frisbie had a thirdplace triple jump of 40’1”, with Wyatt Scott fourth by going 37’ 1’2”. In the high jump, Frisbie cleared 5’4” for fifth place.

Scott ran the 200-meter dash in 24.70 seconds for fifth, Raymond taking eighth in 25.15. Scott also took seventh (16’1 1/2”) in the long jump. Owen Woodworth’s 1,570 points put him in third place in the pentathlon.

Will Austin took third in the 1,600-meter run in 5:06.01 as J.D. Dolly was eighth. Later, in the 4x800 relay, McColm, Austin, Dolly and Woolbert were second in 9:34.47 as Cazenovia’s 4x100 throwers gained fifth place.

The Masters…pre & post tournament comments

I apologize. I got my dates mixed up. My Masters article should have appeared in last weeks issue because the deadline for my article is supposed to be submitted one week prior to distribution. erefore, I am submitting my pre-tournament comments along with a few “Final oughts”, that include some wild and bold predictions that you can criticize or applaud. Here goes…

As most of you know, the “MASTERS” is my favorite tournament of the year. It is the one I would want to win more than any one of the other Majors; the US Open, British Open ( e Open) or the PGA Championship. e Masters has a rich history of golf greatness as well as its share of disasters. For the last 31 years, I have attempted to predict the score I would likely shoot at Augusta, if, I had the opportunity to play it. I based my prediction on my “current” handicap at the time, my “trending” handicap, playing from the appropriate amateur tees and a few “ego” thoughts thrown in the mix. I also did not account for any disasters (4 strokes or more above par), on any hole. My lowest predicted score was 79(7 over par). My highest predicted score was 97(25 over par). It’s the disasters at the “MASTERS” since 1934 that I would like to make you aware of so the next time you have to record a disaster on your scorecard, you might feel a little better about your performance. First, you need to know that the highest score ever recorded on any hole at Augusta is a 10 over par at the par 3 - twel h hole. Read on to nd out who that player was and try to predict your score for 18 holes if you had the opportunity to play in the Masters.

Here are the “Highest Individual Scores” ever recorded on each hole at Augusta National since the rst one in 1934.

Front Nine

1st Hole…Par 4…9…Ernie Els, 2016

2nd Hole…Par 5…10…Sam Byrd, 1948 and David Duval, 2006

3rd Hole…Par 4…8…Douglas B. Clarke, 1980

4th Hole…Par 3…8…Henrik Stenson, 2011

5th Hole…Par 4…8…Bill Campbell, 1957; Sam Parks, 1957; Chick Herbert,1960; Jerry Barber,1964

6th Hole…Par 3…7…Jose Olazabal, 1991; Arnold Palmer, 1997; Brandon Grace, 2016

7th Hole…Par 4…8…DeWitt Weaver, 1972; Richard L. Von Tacky Jr., 1981

8th Hole…Par 5…12…Frank Walsh, 1935

9th Hole…Par 4…8…Jack Shelby, 1948; Richard Davis,1963; Clay Ogden, 2006; Luke Donald, 2014 PAR 36…Score…78 (42 over par)

Back Nine

10th Hole…Par 4…9…Dan Lee, 2009

11th Hole…Par 4…9…Dow Finsterwald, 1952; Bo Wininger, 1958; Charles Howell, 2006; Sandy Lyle, 2017

12th Hole…Par 3…13…Tom Weiskoph, 1980

13th Hole…Par 5…13…Tommy Nakajima, 1978

14th Hole…Par 4…8…Nick Price, 1993

15th Hole…Par 5…13…Sergio Garcia, 2018

16th Hole…Par 3…11…Herman Barron, 1950

17th Hole…Par 4…7…(19 times) e most recent was Fred Couples and Ted Porter in 2013

18th Hole…Par 4…8…(8 times) Most notable…Arnold Palmer, 2000; Camilo Villegas,2007; Jose Maria Olazabal, 2022

PAR 36…Score…91 (55 over par)

TOTAL SCORE - 169

STROKES OVER PAR - 97

Final oughts…

* e 2023 Masters will be the most watched golf tournament in history.

* e LIV Tour players will make a better showing than most of the pundits are saying.

* I predict two LIV players will be in the Top 10 and two in the Top 20.

* ere will be a playo on Sunday to determine the winner.

* Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Fred Couples and Sergio Garcia will be in the play-o …. (Just kidding).

* Wouldn’t it be great if Scottie Sche er (PGA), Rory Mcllroy (PGA), John Rahn (PGA) and Camron Smith (LIV) are in the play-o !

* More golf fans will be talking about LIV players than ever before because of their strong showing in the Masters.

* e PGA Tour and LIV Golf will nally agree to begin discussions in 2023 to develop a plan to co-exist well into the future, so both organizations can thrive and survive.

* Gregg Norman will continue to be arrogant but will “so en” his rhetoric in 2023…for the “good-of-the-game”.

How did I do? Let’s play some golf this week!

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