Boys Track Coach of the Year

This wasn't a typical Cherokee team with a peerless distance group, a bunch of burly weight men and an army of sprinters.

This wasn't the kind of team that could just show up at the County Open and leave with a lopsided team title, like last year.

Coach Steve Shaklee knew the only way Cherokee could win the 72nd Annual Burlington County Open this time around was to rack up a bunch of second-, third- and fourth-place finishes and hope it was enough when the final event had ended.

"We knew that for us to win the county meet, we were going to have to get contributions from everybody," Shaklee said. "We only had one winner (Will Rapp in the 200m) and normally if you only have one winner, it's going to be very tough to win. But we were able to pick up points in almost every other event, other than the throws. We're not great in any one area, but we're OK in enough areas that we were able to win."

Shaklee, who guided Cherokee to consecutive County Open titles, is the 2009 Burlington County Times Boys Track Coach of the Year. Shaklee, a four-time BCT Cross Country Coach of the Year, led Cherokee to the county title in his final year as head coach of the Chiefs. He will swap jobs with his current XC and outdoor assistant, Chris Callinan, who will become head outdoor coach in 2010 to go with his current indoor head coaching duties.

At the county meet, Cherokee got the win from Rapp in the 200m and just pecked away in the other events. Cherokee didn't score in the three throwing events but scored 16 points in the three distance races, 12 in the hurdles, six in the relay, and 19 1/2 in the jumps.

Cherokee won by 8 1/2 points over Cinnaminson and became only the second team in meet history to win the boys team title despite winning fewer than two events. Cherokee also won the Lenape District Cup for a third straight year.