2010 All-County Boys Track

Reuben Frank, Burlington County Times

Jon Scott, Cherokee, 100

After placing sixth and eighth in the 100 and 200 at last year's County Open, Scott won the 100 in 11.20 and placed a close second in the 200, just 5-100ths of a second behind Moorestown's Danny MacBride. Those 18 points were huge for Cherokee, which won its third straight County Open team title this spring. Scott also ran on the Chiefs' third-place 400- and 1,600-meter relay teams. Scott became Cherokee's first County Open champ in the 100 and the first from any Lenape District school in 11 years

Scott also placed third in the 100 at the Olympic Conference meet and won the 100 at the District Cup.

Steve Burkholder, Cherokee, 1,600

Burkholder began the season by winning titles at the Olympic Conference meet (800 in 1:58.78) and District Cup meet (1,500 in 4:17) before scoring a rare 1,600-3,200 double at the County Open (4:23-9:38). Burkholder is only the fourth runner to win both distance races at the Open, following Willingboro's Rey Johnson in 1981 and Brian Tetreault of Cinnaminson and Dave Forward of Shawnee in 2007 and 2008.

The big breakthrough for Burkholder came at the South Jersey Group 4 meet, where he ran 4:17.30 and won his first sectional title and became the fourth Cherokee runner to win the South Jersey 1,600 title, following Matt Urbanovich (1996), Josh Joseph (2000) and Marc Pelerin (2002). Burkholder lowered his PR to 4:15.49 with a fifth-place finish at states.

Ed Kramer, Cherokee, High Jump

Kramer might have been the easiest choice on the entire all-county team. He didn't lose to a county athlete all year and didn't lose to a South Jersey jumper until the meet of Champions.

Kramer swept the titles at the District Cup (6-6, tied meet record), Olympic Conference meet and County Open, then won the South Jersey Group 4 title with a 6-6 clearance at Egg Harbor - where he also long jumped a personal-best 20-6 3/4 Kramer cleared 6-6 again for second to Tommy DeVita of Ridgewood at the state meet and tied for ninth at the Meet of Champions.

Kramer, who cleared 6-8 indoors at the Varsity Classic, graduates with a PR of 6-8 1/4 from the East Coast Relays, where he teamed with Brian Rosenburg for the win. That ranks No. 11 in county history and is a school record.

Justin Nykiel, Cherokee, Javelin

Nykiel showed remarkable improvement throughout the year, throwing in the mid-140s or low 150s the first half of the season before becoming one of South Jersey's top javelin throwers by the end of the season.

Nykiel's first breakthrough was a meet-record 156-8 at the District Cup, which he followed by a fourth-place at the Olympic Conference meet. He PR'd at the County Open with his first 160-foot throw, a 163-1 for third place.

At the South Jersey Group 4 meet, Nykiel took fourth with a 176-2. He added four more feet to his personal best at states and was the only South Jersey thrower in the top 10. Nykiel finished the season with a 167-5 at the Meet of Champions.

3200 Meter Relay Team

Kyle Muench, Cherokee, 3,200-Meter Relay

Ty Somers, Cherokee, 3,200-Meter Relay

Matt McCarroll, Cherokee, 3,200-Meter Relay

Ross Staudt, Cherokee, 3,200-Meter Relay

Cherokee had so many half-milers running in the 2:02-2:03 range that the Chiefs put together two entirely separate 3,200-meter relays in the same weekend and ran 8:11.83 at the Haddonfield Invitational with one group, then easily won the inaugural 3,200-meter relay at the County Open with another group - and didn't use 1:55 half-miler Steve Burkholder on either team.

The Chiefs' fastest time came at Haddonfield, where senior Kyle Muench, junior Ty Somers, senior Matt McCarroll and sophomore Ross Staudt ran 8:11.83 for second place.

The future is bright for Cherokee, which has a proud history in the 3,200-meter relay. Colin Merrigan and Mike Lowinger, who were on various Cherokee 4-by-8 teams this year, are sophomores, and 4:33 freshman Shawn Wilson is also back.

SECOND TEAM

Darren McCluskey, 110HH, Cherokee, Junior