EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP — The 3,200 looked like a comfortable race for Shawn Wilson.

The Cherokee junior stayed about a stride and a half behind the lead runner, Shawnee’s Connor Herr, took the lead with about 500 meters to go and opened up until he’d completed his double at the South Jersey Group 4 championships at Egg Harbor Township High School.

Wilson won the event with a 9:38.73. He’d captured the 1,600 a day earlier in 4:19.26.

He looked comfortable and he was.

“It’s always just kind of a sit and kick, for my races,” Wilson said. “I always just try to coast off the first-place guy, and then once I know that I can kick and go all the way, I just go.”

This time, he said, he’d gone a little earlier than usual. He surged past Herr on the front stretch of the penultimate lap because he sensed this was still anybody’s race — and Wilson wanted it to be his race.

“At that point, I realized the whole race (had been) kind of easy, so if I waited any longer to have a kick, someone else might have enough of a kick to go with me,” Wilson said. “So I figured, I’m stronger, the greater the distance I go. If I kick now and keep that pace, no one will be able to stay with me for that distance.”

He was right, obviously, and a double winner for the second straight weekend. Wilson won both races at the Burlington County Open, as well.

Wilson accounted for 20 of Cherokee’s 47 team points. The Chiefs were third in the scoring behind Cherry Hill East (83.50) and Egg Harbor Township (78).

“He kind of came in with the expectation that he had a good opportunity to win both,” Cherokee coach Steve Shaklee said. “We thought it would be kind of tough, with the Shawnee runners and a couple of other guys in the field in both cases, but Shawn’s in good shape right now, he’s racing really well and he has a good finish, so it works to his advantage in races like this, where it becomes a little bit tactical.”

Wilson is a relative newcomer to distance running. He only ran spring track as a freshman and didn’t become a year ‘round runner until this season. He may look comfortable in what Shaklee calls a tactical race, but the Chiefs’ coach is anxious to see whether he’ll be as strong in races that test his first 1,200 meters as the ones that test his last.

Chances are he’s just about to find out.

“We’re just looking forward to seeing what happens when he gets into competition where there are a lot of good runners,” Shaklee said. “Connor Herr (of Shawnee) has been kind of on his own, setting the pace. I think Connor will run faster, also, when he gets into those races. The two of them will have their hands full next week (in the state championships in Old Bridge), so it’ll be interesting to see how that goes.”