Cherokee Cross Country Pictures, 2009, Page II







Dual Meet: Pennsauken High School

On September 23, 2009, Cherokee notched another dual meet victory against a rebuilding Pennsauken High School team! Knowing their weakened status, Coach Shaklee had the top ten runners on the team do threshold workouts during the race while the others competed as usual.

Cherokee took the first 18 places against Pennsauken led by Alberto Redaelli's win. Other strong performances were turned in by Mike Palmieri, Eric Birkhead, Ryan Merrigan, Mike Czuba, Matt Decker and Jeremy Morgan. It was, Freddy Rasmussen, however, who earned Runner of the Meet honors by dropping his 5K time a whopping eight minutes! GO FREDDY!

Dual Meet Record: 3 - 0. GO CHEROKEE!


Turkey buzzard hovering over the race site, an omen? Coach Cal and group plan strategy Coach Shaklee and group plan strategy Bill Hornung gestures Mike Palmieri at start Steve Burkholder at start
Aiden Lynch at start Bill Hornung at start Mike Palmieri and Alberto Radaelli at mile Greg Malloy and Josh Perez at mile Bobb, Lynch, Smith, Czuba at mile Matt McCarroll at mile
Erik Birkhead at mile Lou DiGeambeardino and Ryan Merrigan at mile Matt Decker at mile Jeremy Morgan at mile Packed at mile Matt Adams at mile
Zack Roether at mile Freddy Rasmussen at mile Alberto Redaelli at 2 mile Matt McCarroll at 2 mile Kyle Smith at 2 mile Greg Malloy followed by Lynch and Bobb at 2 mile
Ryan Bobb at 2 mile Mike Czuba at 2 mile Bill Hornung and Lou DiGeambeardino at 2 mile Lou DiGeambeardino and Bill Hornung at 2 mile Pack at 2 mile Alberto Redaelli and Steve Burkholder near finish
Pack nears finish Mike Palmieri nears finish Erik Birkhead nears finish Matt Venanzi and Matt Decker near finish Justin Domingo nears finish Matt Adams nears finish
Zach Roether nears finish Freddy Rasmussen nears finish





Cross Country Festival at Maymount

Over the weekend of September 25 - 27, 2009, the team traveled to the Cross Country Festival at Maymount, in Richmond, Virginia! The Festival, on the Maymont Estate and Byrd Park, is a nationally-known event that includes an adult Half-Marathon and Open 5K, shorter distances for younger children, and a series of 5K races for high school athletes! This year's event was marred by wet weather: Cherokee likes to be known as "smoke bringers" to suggest the firey spirit of the team, but, they are, in fact, the "rain bringers," and all their opponents should pack their golishes if they expect to compete with Cherokee!

The Freshmen started things off for the Chiefs, with good performances from Matt Decker and Freddy Rasmussen in the Freshman Championship Race. Matt finished 13th overall to earn his first high school medal, and Freddy dropped another two minutes off of his previous best time with his second strong race in a row.

The Varsity team ran next in the Championship Division and fared well with a 4th place team finish in a field of 18. Steve Burkholder, Greg Malloy, Aiden Lynch, Kyle Smith and Ryan Bobb kept things close and finished a mere 36 seconds apart to keep Cherokee in the team battle. Greg Malloy, in particular, kept his focus and raced strong from start to finish to earn Runner of the Meet honors. GO GREG!

The JV team was led by Billy Hornung and Frankie Devine who finished 13th and 16th respectively. In addition, season-best performances were turned in by Eric Birkhead, Justin Domingo, Dave Wallace, Darren McCluskey, Matt Adams and Zach Roether.

The team ended their trip with a stop at Kings Dominion, with they enjoyed an incredible number of hair-raising rides and scream machines, and, oh yeah, the rain! Yes, the "rain-bringers" had arrived and emptied the park! The good news: no lines, immediate access to the rides! GO CHEROKEE!

Results at: Sports Backers

The following pictures of the race and Old Dominion were taken by Mrs. M Devine, otherwise known as "The Divine Miss M!"


Team supervises Shaklee tent-raising Coach Cal and Alums Pelerin and Cuneo Maymont Mansion Maymont sculpture Matt Decker Freddy Rasmussen
Steve Burkholder in lead group Cherokee pack early in Varsity race Kyle Steve and Ryan Bobb Matt McCarroll Aiden Lynch Kyle Smith, Bobb in back
Josh Perez Frank Devine Frank Devine Matt Venanzi Alberto Radaelli Darren McCluskey, with Wallace and DiGeambeardino
Frank Devine at finish Erik Birkhead Alberto Radaelli Mike Czuba Justin Domingo Andrew Yang
Jeremy Morgan Dave Wallace Lou DiGeambeardino Darren McCluskey Matt Adams Crew at Old Dominion
Malloy and Radaelli at OD Coach Shaklee and Marc Pelerin at OD Cherokee pack at OD Pelerin, Coach Cal, and Cuneo at OD Ryan Merrigan at OD Cherokee line-up at OD
Weird customers at OD





Lenape District JV Championship

On September 29, 2009, the Junior Varsity squads of the four Lenape District high schools -- Lenape, Shawnee, Seneca, and Cherokee -- met on the sandy trails of Camp Ockanickon in Medford to compete in the 1st Annual Lenape District JV Cross Country Championship (also known as the "Walapai Race") and Cherokee came out the easy winner! Eleven of the first nineteen finishers were Cherokee runners, led by Frankie Devine, Alberto Redaelli, Billy Hornung, Mike Palmieri, Matt Venanzi and Erik Birkhead who swept the first six places. They were followed closely by Mike Czuba, 12th; Ryan Merrigan, 13th; Jeremy Morgan, 16th; Lou DiGeambeardino, 18th; and Matt Decker, 19th. Frankie Devine was named the Runner of the Meet, for both his dominating win and for not getting lost on the course! GO FRANKIE!

As that contest was decided another has unfolded! View the two pictures and, using your well-known teenagers' attention to detail, identify the hidden runners. Give your answers to Coach Shaklee or Coach Callinan and demand your prize . . .!

Stealth runner Stealth runner


Here are some other less-obscure pictures!

Frank Devine and Mike Palmieri at 2K Bill Hornung at 2K Birkhead, Radaelli, Venanzi at 2K Alberto Radaelli and Erik Birkhead at 2K Matt Venanzi at 2K Mike Czuba at 2K
Mike Palmieri at bridge Frank Devine at bridge Alberto Radaelli at bridge Erik Birkhead at bridge Ryan Merrigan and Lou DiGeambeardino at bridge Ryan Merrigan and Lou DiGeambeardino at bridge
Matt Decker at bridge Jeremy Morgan clears the bridge Justin Domingo at bridge Justin Domingo clears bridge Matt Adams approaches bridge Matt Adams clears bridge
Zach Roether on bridge Zach Roether on bridge Freddy Rasmussen approaches bridge Freddy Rasmussen on bridge


Here are a few "guest" pictures from Mrs. Devine!

Milling around at starting line Alberto Radaelli and Bill Hornung finishing Matt Venanzi and Mike Palmieri at finish Jeremy Morgan at finish


Shore Coaches Invitational

On October 3, 2009, the team traveled to the state's championship course at Holmdel Park for the Shore Coaches Invitational. In the Varsity A race, they took 8th place behind seven teams ranked in the top ten in the state! Steve Burkholder led the way with his 15th place finish in the field of 224 runners. He was followed closely by Matt McCarroll, Greg Malloy, Ryan Bobb, Aiden Lynch and Frankie Devine as Cherokee turned in the best performance by any team from South Jersey!

Matt McCarroll, who came back from a summer injury to PR on the Holmdel course and finish as our 2nd man for the first time this year, was named the Runner of the Meet! GO MATT!

Complete results at: MileSplit.NJ, or Dyestat Metro.

Still waiting for all those "guest pictures" taken at the meet! This one, "borrowed" from John Nepolitan at Dyestat Metro.


Steve Burkholder at finish





Double-Dual Meet: Lenape Regional and Eastern Regional High Schools

On October 6, 2009, Cherokee finished the dual meet schedule in fine style with an exciting double-dual victory over Lenape Regional High School and Eastern Regional High School! These victories make them the Olympic Conference, American Division Champions for the 13th consecutive year!

Steve Burkholder was the individual winner in a very fast time of 16:02 for 5K! Behind him, Matt McCarroll, Aiden Lynch, Ryan Bobb, Greg Malloy and Josh Perez finished in the top ten, all under 17 minutes, to secure the team victory! In addition, Kyle Smith, Alberto Redaelli, Matt Venanzi and Billy Hornung all finished in under 18 minutes, demonstrating Cherokee's team strength and depth!

Beyond the first ten, PR's were set by Mike Czuba, Eric Birkhead, Andrew Yang, Jeremy Morgan, Lou DiGeambeardino, Justin Domingo, Matt Adams, Zach Roether and Freddy Rasmussen!

Matt Adams was named Runner of the Meet for bouncing back from a sub-par race at Holmdel to run his best race ever! Matt has been focused and working very hard in practice and it is paying off! GO MATT!

Dual Meet Record: 5 - 0. GO CHEROKEE!



Steve Burkholder led throughout the race! Matt Venanzi at start Lou DiGeambeardino and Dave Wallace up close Jeremy Morgan at start Malloy leads 2nd group at about 600m Matt McCarroll at about 600m
Kyle Smith at about 600m Bill Hornung and Alberto Radaelli at about 600m Mike Palmieri leads group at about 600m Andrew Yang at about 600m Matt Decker at about 600m Jeremy Morgan at about 600m
Ryan Merrigan at about 600m Justin Domingo at about 600m Zach Roether at about 600m Freddy Masmussen at about 600m Steve Burkholder with about 600m to go Matt McCarroll with about 600m to go
Aiden Lynch with about 600m to go Ryan Bobb and Josh Perez with about 600m left Josh Perez with about 600m to go Greg Malloy with about 600m to go Kyle Smith and Alberto Radaelli with about 600m left Alberto Radaelli with about 600m to go
Bill Hornung with about 600m to go Matt Venanzi with about 600m to go Mike Palmieri with about 600m to go Erik Birkhead with about 600m to go Steve Burkholder get #1 from judge! Matt McCarroll and Aiden Lynch at finish
Aiden Lynch at finish Ryan Bobb at finish Josh Perez at finish Kyle Smith at finish Alberto Radaelli in battle at finish Alberto Radaelli in battle at finish
Bill Hornung at finish Mike Palmieri at finish Erik Birkhead and Mike Czuba battle at finish Andrew Yang at finish Jeremy Morgan at finish Matt Decker and Lou DiGeambeardino battle at finish
Lou DiGeambeardino blown-up! Justin Domingo at finish Dave Wallace at finish Ryan Merrigan at finish Zach Roether at finish Freddy Masmussen at finish





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