Eastern States Championships: On October 16th, the team competed in the Eastern States Championships at the venerable Van Cortlandt Park in New York City. Still weakened by a number of injuries, Coach Shaklee juggled the roster and ran two teams. In the Varsity A, Championship race, the team, led by Tom Yersak in 11th place (13:08), took second (140) behind a very strong CBA (54). Only 34 seconds separated the five runners. In the JV race, led by Rich Nelson in 3rd place ((13:51), the squad also finished 2nd behind CBA, but this time by a much closer margin (4 - 60). Full results at: Armory Track
Springfield 5K Roadrace: While the team continues to race and train for the upcoming "championship season," Coach Shaklee is "practicing what he preaches." On October 17, 2004, he and his wife, Cricket Batz Shaklee, ran the Springfield 5K against some strong competition, including Kenyans Julius Kiptoo and Kenneth Maiyo. The coach finished 2nd in his age group (8th overall), while Cricket took 1st in her age group (18th overall; third woman)!
South Jersey Frosh-Soph CC Meet: On October 18th, the Freshmen and Sophomores competed in the SJ Frosh-Soph Meet at Delsea. The Freshmen, led by Brenden Burke in 23rd place (11:34), ran a new two-mile course, while the Sophomore duo of Mike Medvec (19:00) and Joe Foley (19:22) ran season PR's on the regular Varsity 5K course. Complete results (temporarily) on SJTCA
.
Burlington County Open: On October 22nd, the entire team competed
in the Burlington County Open at Mill Creek (formerly "Goose Crap Park").
With three prominent members of the team working their way back from
injuries (Sean McLaughlin, James Maneval and Mike Candy), the team looked
especially strong against their County rivals. In the Varsity race, Tom
Yersak, posting a 16:27, piloted a solid five-man pack separated by only
27 seconds. There were several PR's, but just looking at the improvement from
last year is telling: Yersak dropped 21 seconds; Bredeck - 19; McLaughlin - 52;
Marziano - 1:37; McFadden -58; Dolan - 64; Nelson - 36! The result: Cherokee
scored 22 points, with the next closest team, Lenape, at 124.
In the Open race where both JV and Freshmen competed, there were even
more outstanding times and many PR's! To mention a few: the Freshmen,
led by Alex Yersak in 17:42, took 1st; 2nd (Schickling PR); 4th (Burke);
5th (Adams) and 6th (McCarroll PR)! The Sophomores took 1st (Cunningham)
and Medvec (huge PR of 18:48!); and the Juniors, led by Will Andes, took
1st, 3rd (Applegate); and 4th (Mike Brown). Among the Seniors, two
recovering athletes, James Maneval and Mike Candy took 1st and 2nd,
while Steve Brown took 3rd. Full results at:
BC
Open Results
Bone Run: For most, Sunday is a rest day from racing but not for Coach Shaklee. On October 23, he and his wife, Cricket Batz Shaklee competed in the Bone Run, a 5K roadrace at Parvin State Park outside of Pittsgrove, NJ. The coach finished 4th in his age group (19th overall), while Cricket finished 1st in her age group (37th overall; 9th female)! Below are some pics: sorry, but the photographer blew Cricket's competiton pictures.
Haddonfield Invitational: On October 27th, for the 4th year in a
row, the Cherokee team (minus those Varsity runners who will represent
Cherokee at Sectionals) toed the line at the Haddonfield Invitational.
and, although there were other teams involved, the real competition was
among the Cherokee runners themselves.
Coaches Shaklee and Callinan divided the team equally into two sqauds, the
first coached by Head Coach Steve Shaklee, the second coached by Ass't Coach
Chris Callinan. The squads ran magnificently with practically every athlete
running a PR, but, once again, Mr. Callinan had to accept defeat at the feet
(pun intended) of Mr. Shaklee's squad! Alas, he is now 0 - 4 in the annual
competition! In addition, the unofficial word is that Paul McFaddon, showing
uncanny insight, won the annual bet among those who were not competing in
the meet!
In the SJ competition, with 9 teams competing, Cherokee runners swept the
top seven places, scoring a perfect 15 points in the meet. Mike Candy was
1st overall (16:34), and he was closely followed by Will Andes, Alex Yersak,
Rich Nelson, Colin Cunningham, Steve Brown and Kevin Schickling! Results
available at:
Haddon Invite
SJ Sectionals: The day, October 30th, began optimistically when the
rain stopped after dropping more than a 1/2 inch overnight. But all was not well
as Team Captain Sean McLaughlin was sidelined with a sprained ankle. Still,
the Varsity squad felt confident as they prepared to to run the SJ Sectionals
on the soggy course at Delsea High School.
They ran aggressively, with the top five scorers finishing well in a race that
included over 130 runners -- Tom Yersak (3rd), Greg Bredeck (6th), Vin Marziano
(12th), Matt Dolan (17th), Paul McFadden (18th), James Maneval (24th), and
Mike Candy (32nd) -- but had to accept second (55) behind perennial nemesis,
Toms River North (46). Complete results from all of the Sectional meets at:
Scullion
-- Pat Montferrat of SportsShot sent the following pictures:
Olympic Conference Championships: On November 5th, Cherokee participated in the Olympic Conference Championships at Gloucester County College. While the top Varsity trained for the upcoming Group States Championships, the reminder took second place behind an scrappy Washington Township squad. Recovering from an injury this season, James Maneval took 9th, the top place for the Cherokee harriers, with Will Andes, Mike Candy, Alex Yersak, and Rich Nelson rounding out the scorers in the race. No pictures are available from this meet. Full results at: Ed Colona's Webpages
Benjamin Franklin Bridge Run: On November 7th, Coach Shaklee and his wife, Cricket Batz Shaklee, competed in the Benjamin Frankiln Bridge 10K Run in Camden, NJ. With over 750 competitors, the coach finished 3rd in his age group and 12th overall, clocking an impressive 35:42 in the race; while Cricket finished 2nd in her group and 39th overall, posting an equally impressive 40:02. [At the start, the first two lines were reserved for "Elite" runners and Coach Shaklee was surprised to find an unexpected competitor at his side: see first picture!] For full results on the 750+ competitors: L & M Sports
