GO CHEROKEE! GO CHIEFS!
The national affiliate of MileSplit opened a contest asking athletes to tell them in a variety of ways "What is Cross Country?" The instructions are available at MileSplit. They included a previous effort by Greg Hall that captures much of what our athletes feel as Cross Country team members! Our favorite passage is: "Cross Country is kids who are thought to be some of the smartest students in class -- until you sit next to them on a three-hour bus ride." But there's another that encouraged us to dig out one of those tintype photographs from the past: "Cross Country is that old photo of you in short shorts and long hair that looks odd and humorous to all your adult friends except your old teammates."
On the last weekend in September, the team traveled to New Hampshire to compete in the 41st Annual Manchester Invitational, an event that brings together some of the top teams on the east coast. Running against 42 teams in the Large School Championship Race, Cherokee's Varsity finished in 6th place led by junior, Jack Shea, who placed 3rd in the field of 283 runners. Nick Falk, Justin Kelly, Mike Zurzolo, Brandon Marks, Brendan Falzone and Steve Gravlin were the other finishers for the Chiefs. As a whole, the team ran decent but not spectacular races: it was the first 5K of the year for the Varsity and taking 6th place out of 42 is OK! It's a starting point and the Chiefs are looking forward to the upcoming state-wide race at Holmdel next weekend!
The coaches selected Jack Shea as the Runner of the Meet! It was Jack's first sub-16 5K and it came on a difficult course. He was not in the top 10 at the halfway point but closed well to come within a few inches of taking 2nd! GO JACK!
Details at: Millennium Running.
Thanks to Matt Morgan for the following pictures.
Millennium Running and Runner's Alley provided the following pictures from the meet. They didn't get everyone but, then again, they're not RunningWorksPics!
That said, apparently the more important question is: which team won the PAINTBALL WAR?! At this point, only Coach Shaklee, a member of Stop Prefontpaint, has described the event in detail and it's clear his team won! That description will be posted soon unless others send opposing arguments! In a nutshell, his argument is: Cal's Calves and Prefontpaint won early battles but Stop Prefontpaint, along with the Fuegos, captured the all-important bridge early and, under withering fire, held it for the entire time! In the end, Prefontpaint and Cal's Calves lost the war!
"History is always written by the winners! When two clash, the loser is obliterated
and the winner writes the history books
which glorify their own cause and disparage the
conquered foe." Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code
The details are pouring in and it appears that the history of the Great Paintball War of 2015 will be written and debated for centuries!
The opposing teams were "drafted" early in September in the War Room (Coach Thompson's classroom) at Cherokee. Captains selected, teams set-up. Like the American Revolutionary War, the teams planned and trash-talked for a long time before any battles took place!
On the night of September 26, 2015, the first "shots heard around the world?" were fired! Scoring easy victories, Cal's Calves (Captains Gravlin and McAdams) defeated Stop Prefonpaint (Captains Osterhout and Moraschi), and Prefonpaint (Captains Mike and Kassie Kromish) defeated Fuego (Captains Falzone and Bookwalter). One participant said in an after-action report: "Of particular note were Prefonpaint members Mike Zurzolo, Mike Iannotta, Daulton Hopkins and Coach Thompson. Their communication, maneuvering and shooting skills left some wondering if their paleness was less of a genetic issue, and more of a lack of exposure to the sun while playing incessant amounts of Call of Duty. True or not, the referees frequently commented on the number of opposition coming off the field uttering the all too familiar words..."Thompson shot me." (From this, it should be clear that the first thing lost in the "fog of war" is rationality!)
These "minor" engagements continued throughout the night until the definitive "Battle for the Bridge," a strategically important location where all would be decided. At the bridge, the teams combined into two major forces: Stop Prefonpaint/Fuego vs. Cal's Calves/Prefonpaint. Those who held the bridge won the war!
From all the evidence presented, it appears that Coach Shaklee's original description of the final battle of the war was correct! Stop Prefonpaint/Fuego took the bridge and held it against Cal's Calves/Prefonpaint until the Paris Peace Accord of 2015 was signed and the war ended! All hail Stop Prefonpaint and Fuego!
During those negotiations, some indicated that the "Rules of Civilized Warfare" were broken by the winning team but those issues were soon forgotten by the victorious teams that held the field.
A final comment by one of the victorious combatants: "Those paintball things leave welts!"
And so it goes . . ..
Athletes and coaches provided some pictures but the results are disappointing. The Number 1 rule in picture taking: don't shoot into the sun, especially with iPads and iPhones! Pros sometimes shoot into the sun but they have cameras with intricate settings, sophisticated lens, and hoods that provide a little protection for the lens. Those quicky personal cameras have none of that! The Number 2 rule is to look beyond your subject. If there's a Port-A-Pot, a school bus, or some other object (person) that detracts from your shot, select a better position for shooting! Obviously, most of the Paintball exercise was under dark conditions and no pictures from that are available. That said, here are a few survivors that capture something of the trip:
On September 29, 2015, the team traveled to Rowan College at Gloucester for Batch Meet # 2. The Varsity continued to train and did not race but a large group of Chiefs did. Surprisingly, it was a tough day to race. The day was unusually hot and humid and the course was wet from recent rains. Cam Wilburn ran well to finish 3rd and set a course PR! Matt Morgan also ran well: he was the only runner who ran faster at GCC than he ran at Ocean County Park! Freshman Ty Ortiz set a new 5K PR with a nice effort, as did Junior Ben Rosenberg.
That said, the Runner of the Meet was Kevin Bookwalter, who, despite missing time due to illness and running in his first 5K of the year, was our 4th finisher with a PR! GO KEVIN!
Details at: NJ.MileSplit.
On October 3, 2015, Cherokee traveled to Holmdel Park, the site of the State Group Championships and the Meet of Champions, for the Shore Coaches Invitational, a meet where most of the state shows-up to get early experience on the championship course. Perhaps to illustrate the adage that "If something can go wrong, it will," the Varsity raced without Jack Shea who suffered an injury in gym class! They finished 4th in the Varsity A-2 race but would have won with Jack in the line-up! Nick Falk ran a controlled race to finish 4th in the field of 131 runners and lead the team. Sophomores, Justin Kelly and Brandon Marks were Cherokee's next two finishers, both running very well to finish 18th and 22nd. Junior, Brendan Falzone, PR'd on the Holmdel course by 35 seconds to finish as Cherokee's 5th man in 48th!
All of the freshmen - David Jackson, Tyler Ortiz, Mike Moraschi, Aatish Gupta and Shane Gordon - ran solid races. Jackson earned an individual medal with his 21st place finish in the field of 194; and Shane Gordon showed the biggest improvement as he ran over 2 minutes faster than his time in the Manchester Invitational.
The JV squad was led by Matt Smith who started conservatively and moved up over the course of the race.
It was close for Runner of the Meet honors but the coaches gave it to Brandon Marks who showed remarkable improvement in a year's time! His best 5K on any course last year was 17:59 (GCC) and on Saturday he ran 17:14 at Holmdel, the most challenging course in the state! Yikes! GO BRANDON!
Details at: NJ.MileSplit
"Oh Mama, it's dark and cold and wet out here." . . . "Shut up and take the pictures, you wimp!" . . . "But Mama . . .."
"They also serve who only stand and wait." John Milton. Picture by Mike McShane.
On October 10, 2015, the team traveled to Delsea High School -- the site of the upcoming Sectional Championships -- for the South Jersey Open and faced many of the top teams in the region!
The Freshman got the team off to a good start with David Jackson placing 5th in the field of 146 runners while Mike Moraschi and Tyler Ortiz were not far behind in 17th and 22nd respectively! In the JV competition, Cherokee placed 3rd out of 19 teams led by Cam Wilburn who finished 7th in the field of 239 competitors! Dan Schwartz in 14th, Matt Smith in 29th, Jon Conn in 31st, and Kevin Bookwalter in 34th completed the scoring for the team.
The highlight of the day came in the Varsity race which featured 24 teams and 161 runners in the "large school division." Cherokee won convincingly with five athletes among the first 17 finishers: Nick Falk in 4th, Jack Shea in 5th, Justin Kelly in 9th, Mike Zurzolo in 11th, and Brandon Marks in 17th! The five averaged 16 minutes and 19 seconds for the 5K race which was the fastest five man average of all the races by 15 seconds!
Overall, it was a good day for Cherokee with 20 out of 25 runners setting PR's! There were many deserving candidates for the Runner of the Meet award! In the Varsity race, Justin Kelly, Mike Zurzolo and Brandon Marks had very strong races and sizable PR's. In the JV race, there were many PR's but the most notable was Jon Conn who skipped the 19's and took his best all the way from 20:09 down to 18:54! In the Freshmen competition, all raced well and set PR's. David Jackson's time was within 4 seconds of what Justin Kelly ran last year as he continued to improve from race to race. However, the Runner of the Meet award went to Shane Gordon who dropped his 2 mile PR by a minute and 25 seconds! GO SHANE!
Details at: NJ.MileSplit.
On October 16, 2015, the team bussed over to MillCreek Park in Willingboro for the Burlington County Open, the meet that determines the county champs!
Last year, the Varsity won the championship for the first time since 2011 and Nick Falk took first and became the first Sophomore to win the race in its 60 year history! In addition, Cherokee won by 42 points: the largest margin of victory since 2005 when Cherokee defeated Moorestown by 53 (38 - 91)! This year, the team repeated that victory and then some!
Nick Falk repeated as champion, dropping 27 seconds from last year's time! It wasn't easy, however, as he was strongly challenged throughout the race by Cinnaminson's Mike Ungvarsky. He kept his composure and toughened out the win in what was his best performance of the year! Jack Shea ran well, too, dropping 42 seconds from his time last year and taking 3rd! His race was even more impressive because he was by himself for a major part of the race and stayed focused and determined as he closed on the front two over the last mile!
The rest of the team played important roles too! Justin Kelly finished 3rd on the team and 6th overall while clocking a time only 2 seconds slower than Nick's winning time from last year! Mike Zurzolo had a good start, a steady middle and a strong finish to take 4th on the team and 9th overall, all the while clocking a time 46 seconds faster than last year! Brandon Marks took the all-important 5th position on the team when he crossed the line in 14th place overall while dropping a full 1 - 1/2 minutes from his time last year! Steve Gravlin and Brenden Falzone finished closely behind in 21st and 24th respectively, with Steve dropping 17 seconds from last year, and Brenden dropping 50 seconds! All in all, a very positive performance as Cherokee moves towards Conference and Sectional Championships!
For the record, this group won the Burlington County Championship by an even larger margin than last year's team! Last year, the margin was 42 points, this year they increased that margin by defeating Lenape by 52 points (33 - 85)! Last year, Nick Falk became Cherokee's 7th County Champion since Coach Shaklee took over the program -- Tim Haggerty, 1995; Marc Pelerin, 2001; Keith Krieger, 2007; Alex Yersak, both 2006 and 2007; and Shawn Wilson, 2012 -- and, this year, he became the program's second two-time champion! Finally, this victory marked the 14th time in the last 19 years that Cherokee took the County Championship! GO CHEROKEE!
Last year, the JV squad won their race by 21 points and were so dominant that, had the rest of the county combined into one team, Cherokee still would have beaten them! This year, they were even more dominant as they swept the first 6 places! Among the scorers, Cam Wilburn did a nice job of leading throughout and winning by a sizeable margin! Mike Iannotta improved by over a minute from last year and had to in order to hold off steadily-improving David Jackson, who set a big 5K PR! Kevin Bookwalter ran very well despite dealing with a bit of an I.T. band issue that made him a questionable starter! The Runner of the Meet award, however, goes to Jon Conn who knocked 2 - 1/2 minutes off of his time from last year and took 4th place overall in the race! Jon has really come on recently and is showing that he may be a guy contending for a top-7 spot by next year! GO JON!
Jim Lambert of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com wrote the following about the meet: Lambert.
Reuben Frank reported that the team registered the lowest BC Open score in 11 years, mentioning Cherokee's 2004 team that scored an incredible 22 points to win! SJ Track Blog. Back-up copy here. Formerly at the BCT, Roob moved to Comcast and frequently appears on TV to report on the Eagles. However, he continues to blog about NJ Cross Country and Track. Roob is a true historian of the sport and the greatest feature of his reporting is his constant reference to the history of the sport. Who but Roob would remember the details, including the top 7 Cherokee athletes, that he included in this blog report?! And how about these facts? Nick is the first repeat winner since Shawnee's Forward in 2008-2009 and the first repeat Cherokee winner since Alex Yersak in 2006-2007 . . . the team title is the second in a row and the first time Cherokee won consecutive titles since a three-peat from 2007-2009 . . . Cherokee won 17 team titles since 1988 and, since Coach Shaklee took over, 15 out of a possible 21! GO CHIEFS!
Further details at: NJ.MileSplit.
