SPOrTS

Phil Blackwell | Sports Editor | 434-8889 ext. 348 | pblackwell@eaglenewsonline.com

CAz ShiNESAt WESthill MEEt

By kurt WhEElEr

The Cazenovia girls track and field team turned in a series of impressive performances at last Tuesday’s Westhill Spring Break Invitational. Multiple Lakers achieved sectional qualifying standards as the team geared up for the heart of its regular season after the vacation.

Melanie Michael led the team as she set a school record in the 200 meter hurdles, finishing second in 31.85 seconds. Already the holder of the indoor track record in this seldom-run event, she improved on her personal best by more than a second.

Michael also led the Lakers’ 3x100 meter hurdle relay of Skye Stanford and Angela Moskvich to a fourth place finish in that event, with only Class AA schools ahead of them.

Dinah Gifford was also impressive at the meet, finishing third in the grueling 2,000-meter steeplechase event in 8:16.05 in her first attempt at it. Gifford easily met the sectional qualifying standard and was only 11 seconds from the elite State Qualifier mark. She also contributed a personal best leg of 1:07.1 to the team’s sixth place 4x400 meter relay.

Grace Dolan led the 4x400 group with a personal record leg of 1:02.8, an exceptional time for this early in the season. Olivia Ruddy (personal best of 1:07.3) and Maleigha Coffie also contributed to the season-best total of 4:32.48.

Katie Whitney topped the team’s sprinters with a fourth-place time of 13.30 seconds in the 100 meter dash, as she hit the State Qualifier standard. Dolan’s 13.59 effort in the event was quick enough to hit the sectional mark.

Whitney also led the way in the 200meter dash at 28.85 seconds with Michael adding a 29.49 effort and Gifford posting a 30.00. Faith Wheeler led the team’s middle-distance effort as she contributed a 2:42.71 in the 800 meter.

Susie Pittman had her best day ever in the horizontal jumps, placing fourth in the long jump in a personal best 15 feet 1 inch and fourth in the triple jump at 32’ ½”, also a personal record. She also scored in the high jump (sixth at 4’6”) and pole vault (fifth at 7’6”) to pace the team’s field event effort.

Other top performances in the jumps included Emmi Rightmyre’s season best of 13’8” in the long jump, followed closely by Katie Pavelchak’s 13’6”. Corinne Albicker was also close to her season best as she hit 29’1” in the triple jump for Cazenovia. Wheeler added a 7-foot effort in the pole vault in her first meet of the season.

Danielle Smith led the Lakers in the throws, achieving a season best of 24’1” in the shot put and coming within inches of her best discus throw at 73’2”. Michaela Tobin added a season best of 22’7 ½” in the shot while Olivia Morse (60’3” and Stanford (57’10”) both achieved personal bests in the discus.

The girls will be back in action Wednesday against Class B-1 powerhouse Westhill in a home contest in what promises to be a preview of two of the top teams in the section this spring.

Cazenovia girls track and field runner Dinah Gifford placed third in the 2,000meter steeplechase during last tuesday’s Westhill Spring Break invitational in her first attempt at this grueling event.

Cazenovia boys lacrosse improves to 5-1

By Phil BlACkWEll

Bigger games are now in store for the Cazenovia boys lacrosse team after it tore through its season-opening stretch without suffering a setback.

When the Lakers faced Tully/Fabius-Pompey last Monday at Cazenovia College, it was playing for the fifth time in 10 days yet showed little fatigue in the course of defeating the Black Knights 14-7.

Far more important from Cazenovia’s perspective was that it was not as dependent on Brody Coleman, who had netted 24 goals in his first four games, including 10 against Chittenango a week earlier.

Not that Coleman was kept quiet – he still had three goals and three assists – but it was D.B. Falge who led the Lakers by scoring four times, and Forrest Ives matched Coleman’s three-goal output, adding an assist.

Jack Wright and James LaFever each converted twice, Wright tacking on two assists. Wyatt Hartley also had two assists.

After a couple of days to rest, Cazenovia would, on Friday, travel north to face Carthage, perhaps its toughest test yet, and only here did the Lakers take a blemish, falling to the Comets 10-8.

Coleman, Falge and Ives each put up a pair of goals, with Tucker Ives recording nine saves. Carthage went out in front and stayed there, though, as Carter Kempney and Josh Bigelow both finished with three goals.

Caz boys track competes at Tully Invitational

The Cazenovia varsity boys outdoor track team participated in the Tully Spring Invitational last Monday afternoon, short-handed due to spring break and placing 10th out of 14 schools.

Still, there were some impressive performances by the Laker contingent. Connor Frisbee took second place in the pentathlon, racking up 2,188 points in the five events (110-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, long jump, 1,500 meters), a very good score for his first pentathlon.

Elijah Clement took third place in the discus throw with a sectional qualifying distance of 98 feet 2 inches and also participated in the pole vault and shot.

The Cazenovia team of Blaze Dannan, Kaleb Vasquez, Elijah Clement, and Aiden Harig took third place in the 4 x 50 meter sled pull, an event unique to the Tully Invitational, in a time of 1:17.75.

Branden McColm took fourth place in the 3,200 meters with a personal record and sectional qualifying time of 11:19.73 and also ran the 800 meters and 1,600.

Wyatt Scott took sixth place in the triple jump (32’11.75”) and sixth place in the 100 meters (12.98), while also participating in the 200 meters and long jump. Killian Blouin took sixth place in the pole vault, clearing 8’6”.

Aiden Harig was seventh in the 400 meter hurdles (1:10.19) and also participated in the high jump, long jump, and discus.

Other notable performances include Willem Light-Olson in the triple jump (29’10 1/2”), high jump (4’10”), and discus (61’7”); Gabe Sanchez in the 100 meters (13.85) and triple jump (26’3 ½”); Faham Murad in the 100 (14.08) and 200 (28.36); and Kaleb Vasquez in the shot put (29’6 ½”).

Cazenovia would be home Wednesday for its regularseason league opener against Westhill.

Chittenango softball splits pair of games

By Phil BlACkWEll

One valuable thing the Chittenango softball team learned during the April school break was that it could recover from a defeat with an emphatic performance.

Having lost, 8-6, to East Syracuse Minoa last Monday afternoon, the Bears returned to the diamond 24 hours later and jumped all over Solvay on the way to a 16-1 victory.

Chittenango struck for 10 runs in the top of the second inning and added five runs in the third, seeing Stephanie Huckabee single twice and earn four RBIs. Lauren Machan drove in three runs and matched Madison Wagner and Olivia Jackson by scoring three times. Avree Salce also had two RBIs.

Against ESM, a 3-1 lead vanished when the Spartans erupted for seven runs in the bottom of the fourth, and the Bears could not quite rally.

Still, Wagner went three-for-four and Lily Callahan got two RBIs. Anna Spencer also drove in a run. Brooke Kirkpatrick (three hits) and Sara Brefka (two RBIs) led ESM.

Caz girls lacrosse routs Mexico, Oswego

By Phil BlACkWEll

Caz baseball gains wins on Myrtle Beach trip

By Phil BlACkWEll

By the time the Cazenovia baseball team made its way back from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, it knew just what it needed to improve in order to get close to the standards it set last spring.

The Lakers had lost its season opener to Homer before heading south, and then took on Mercer Island, from Washington State, where it dropped a 12-2 decision.

The Islanders scored four runs in the second and fourth innings, plus three runs in the fifth. Both Cazenovia runs came in the fourth, scored by Jack Donlin and Jack Byrnes.

Turning it around against Clarke High School, Cazenovia prevailed 10-8 for its first win of the season, steadily building an 8-2 advantage by the fifth inning.

Clarke rallied, though, so the Lakers’ pair of seventhinning runs proved decisive as Byrnes had to get the last two outs in relief of Donlin.

At the plate, Donlin went three-for-five with a double, two singles and two RBIs. Jacob Grevelding also drove in a pair of runs as Byrnes, A.J. Rothfeld and Sully Clarke earned single RBIs.

Far better was Thursday’s 10-0 shutout over Newark (Section V) where nine runs in the first two innings settled matters early, Byrnes doing the rest as he held Newark to one hit and struck out nine.

Grevelding and Rothfeld both drove in a pair of runs, with Donlin adding a triple, double and RBI. Clarke dazzled on the base paths with four stolen bases and three runs scored.

While all this was going on, Chittenango got its season underway against Mexico last Wednesday afternoon and was on the wrong end of a 1-0, eight-inning decision.

Through seven innings of regulation, Bears pitcher Carlos Torres-Carman kept the Tigers’ bats quiet, but Mexico’s Connor Dubois matched him, surrendering just two hits, one each to Torres-Carman and Cooper Smith, while earning 12 strikeouts.

Though he walked seven, Torres-Carman kept it 0-0 until the eighth, when the Tigers got Trevor Coe on base and brought him home with Kian Long’s single. Jacob Poissant then blanked Chittenango in the bottom of the eighth to end it.

Having split its first four games of the season, the Cazenovia girls lacrosse team would climb above the .500 mark thanks to a pair of lopsided victories.

The Lakers netted 14 goals in the first half of last Tuesday’s game against Mexico at Cazenovia College’s Christakos Field, eventually putting away the Tigers 18-4.

Madison DeAngelis led the way thanks to her five goals and three assists. Charlie Prior scored three times, with Maren Smith getting two goals and two assists.

Megan Kuhn landed a goal and four assists as Katie Rajkowski, Hadley Schug and Riley Knapp joined Smith in the two-goal column. Julia Reff contributed an assist.

It was much the same at Mexico two days later, the Lakers steadily gaining control and by a 14-6 margin, handling the Buccaneers and improving its record to 4-2.

Nine different Cazenovia players got on the board, with Smith as the anchor thanks to her five assists to go with a pair of goals.

DeAngelis scored three times, with Rajkowski and Dali Dennison also finding the net twice. Kuhn put up one goal and two assists, with Prior, Schug, Reff and Cailtlyn Smithers also finding the net.

Two big Onondaga High School League road games loom this week for Cazenovia, who would travel to Marcellus on Tuesday and Westhill on Thursday night.

Clinics

l From page 15 - When: April 27 - Time: 9 to 11:30 am - Where: Madison County Health Department, Building 5 (behind the DMV), 138 N. Court St., Wampsville Madison County Health Department - When: May 11 - Time: 9 to 11:30 am

- Where: Madison County Health Department, Building 5 (behind the DMV), 138 N. Court St., Wampsville Madison County Health Department - When: May 24 - Time: 3 to 5:30 p.m. - Where: Madison County Health Department, Building 5 (behind the DMV), 138 N. Court St., Wampsville Madison County Health Department

- When: June 7 - Time: 1 to 3:30 p.m. - Where: Madison County Health Department, Building 5 (behind the DMV), 138 N. Court St., Wampsville Madison County Health Department - When: June 22 - Time: 9 to 11:30 a.m. - Where: Madison County Health Department, Building 5 (behind the DMV), 138 N. Court St., Wampsville Madison County Health Department

Appointments for clinics are encouraged, but walk-ins are welcome. Appointments for April 15th can be made at madisoncounty.ny.gov/2675/Get-aCOVID-19-Vaccination or call 315366-2361 to schedule for any clinic by phone.