On October 4th, a cloudy Saturday with intermittent rain, Cherokee runners showed up to compete! Indeed, every athlete who had run previously on Holmdel's championship course set PR's, and both the Varsity and JV squads took first in their Division A races!
In the Varsity race, Sean McLaughlin (6th in 17:35) dropped two seconds from his incredible break-through race at last year's Group States Championships. Greg Bredeck (11th in 16:39) ran well below his former PR of 17:16, and he is now only ten seconds from breaking Marc Pelerin's Sophomore school record of 16:29. Tom Yersak (13th in 16:45) ran sick but still broke his PR by 18 seconds! James Maneval (18th in 17:01) dropped a minute from last year's time; Mike Candy (37th in 17:28) ran 25 seconds faster than last year; and Paul McFadden (42nd in 17:37), racing for the first time on the very challenging Holmdel course, came within seconds of his 5K PR! The result of all of this: 1) Cherokee, 65; 2) Hunterdon Central, 96; and 3rd) Bridgewater-Raritan, 130.
In the JV race, Cherokee runners competed in two squads against 37 other teams and 250 athletes. On the A team, Rich Nelson (1st in 17:48) won the race with a time that would have placed him 48th out of 169 runners in the Varsity A race! Matt Dolan (4th in 18:12) dropped from 19:45 last year. Will Andes (5th in 18:20) ran the 5K for the first time. Steve Brown (13th in 18:42) dropped several minutes from his 21:15 of last year. Vinny Marziano (36th in 19:19) ran the 5K for the first time. On the B team, Jeff Mullen (52nd in 19:36) dropped from 21:06 last year; and Eric Sczepanski (7th in 19:56) dropped from 20:46! Mike Brown (90th in 20:17) and Brett Wintermute (120th in 20:43) ran the course for the first time. Finally, Matt Raychert (192nd in 22:06) and Jason Becker (199th in 22:14) both dropped around a minute from their times last year.
The Freshmen got a taste of what Holmdel is like in the shortened Freshman race. Competing against 28 schools and 203 athletes, the Freshmen team finished 11th. Brandon Smith (14th in 12:33) led the team, followed by Don Bosworth (62nd in 13:24), Zach Viggiano (80th in 13:37); Joe Foley (88th in 13:45) and Nick Forrester (90th in 13:46).
The coaches selected Sean McLaughlin as the "Runner of the Meet." Although running a distant third for the team at the two mile mark, Sean put on a stunning display of determination and grit, passing many runners (including two excellent teammates) in the last mile and taking 11th place in 16:39 (a PR at Holmdel).
For all of the meet results, click Shore Coaches' Results at Scullion
Picture-taking at this meet was especially difficult because of the weather conditions and only a few are available. (Click on each picture to enlarge.)
On October 8th, Cherokee's C.C. athletes ran their dual meet record to 5 - 0 against Cherry Hill East on the "A" course of Gloucester County College. Coach Shaklee set it up as a "threshold" exercise and the team ran in several packs throughout the race. At the finish, six Cherokee runners passed unchallenged as a group (Yersak, McLaughlin, Candy, Bredeck, Maneval and Freeman), closely followed by three others (Dolan, Nelson and McFadden).
Other good news included the return of Senior Captain Kevin Cuneo who is recovering from an operation in the summer.
The coaches selected Matt Dolan as the "Runner of the Meet." Matt was the 7th Cherokee finisher -- running a new PR on the course -- after staying with the lead pack of Cherokee runners through most of the race.
The Freshman squad and two Sophomores competed in the annual Burlington County Frosh-Soph Meet at Mill Creek (or Goose Crap) Park on October 9th. The Freshmen, led by Brendan Smith in 4th place, fared well as Nick Forrester (12th), Don Bosworth (13th), Zach Viggiano (15th) and Joe Foley (18th) produced a fairly tight scoring pack.
Sophomores Mike Brown and Casey Bordash were the only ones to compete for Cherokee, with Mike finishing in 8th place and Casey taking 25th.
Coach Callinan selected Freshman Brandon Smith as the "Runner of the Meet," focusing on the aggressive way he challenged the leader throughout the race.
On October 11th, the Varsity traveled to Van Cortlandt Park in New York City to run the famous 2.5 mile high school course, while the JV and Freshmen went to Delsea in South Jersey, the site of the NJ Sectional Meet, to compete in the SJ Open.
The Varsity, which included Tom Yersak, Sean McLaughlin, Greg Bredeck, James Maneval, Nick Freeman, Mike Candy and Paul McFadden, took 1st in the "B" race! The fastest race of the day -- Victor Gras of Belmont, MA finished in a stunning 12:17.1 -- Cherokee's runners began finishing in a more sedate 13:20.5, taking 9th, 10th, 15th, 16th and 26th to win the team honors.
For "Runner of the Meet" at Manhattan, Coach Shaklee selected Mike Candy because he was instrumental in the victory as Cherokee's 5th runner.
Full results on the Manhattan meet can be found at The Armory Track and Field
A background article on Sean McLaughlin, "This Cherokee junior has fought off injuries to lead the way for the Chiefs this season," written by Josh Egerman, Sports Reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer on Thursday, October 16, 2003.
Meanwhile, at Delsea, two JV squads competed but the top five overwhelmed the field in the Division 3 (big schools) race. Rich Nelson (1st), Matt Dolan (2nd), Steve Brown (3rd), Will Andes (4th), and Vinny Marziano (11th) easily won the race. In addition, the Freshmen turned in a nice performance, led by Brandon Smith (11th) and closely followed by Zach Viggiano, Don Bosworth, Joe Foley and Nick Forrester.
For "Runner of the Meet" at Delsea, Coach Callinan selected Steve Brown because of his 3rd place finish while running a PR of 17:53 on the Delsea course.
On October 20th, the Freshmen and Sophomores competed against most of the top Freshmen and Sophomores in the SJ Frosh-Soph Meet. Among the Freshmen, Brandon Smith set the pace for the team, taking 17th place overall, while Joe Foley finished an impressive second on the team in 47th place. These two were followed by Don Bosworth, Zach Viggiano and Nick Forrester.
Several of the Sophomores made impressive statements in their race. Will Andes finished 3rd overall in 17:29, his best run of the year; Vinny Marziano took 11th in 17:53, going under 18 minutes for his first time; and Mike Brown took 46th, running 18:58, his first time under 19 minutes!
The coaches were torn between Will Andes and Vinny Marziano as they selected the "Runner of the Meet" because both athletes were especially aggressive throughout the race and their times and places showed it!
