Cherokee Cross Country Pictures, 2016, Page I





Pre-Season and Early Meets


Yes, it begins again! The long view . . . we will be there for the Meet of Champions, for Regionals, and for Nationals!

It's good to take the long view, to recognize the goal, even one way off in the future. But none of that happens unless we "buy in," unless we commit to the program, unless we train, and train hard, throughout the Summer and Fall! As a team, we have the ability but, as both a team and as individuals, we need to focus on the goal and work to achieve it!

Everyone is important in achieving the goal, no one is unimportant, and no one can slack off! No one can expect others to carry their weight because EVERYONE is important in achieving the goal!

Remember that, every time you put on your training shoes and go out for a run, and every time you put on your racing shoes and stand on a starting line. You are an important person on the team, the team needs you, and what you do matters to the team!

STEP UP CHEROKEE! GO CHIEFS!








Marlton Mayor's Cup 5K

On July 4, 2016, the team followed something of a tradition and a dozen or so showed-up for the Marlton Mayor's Cup 5K. Years ago, it started as a "fun run" but it has evolved into an early "time-trial" to allow the athletes to judge their fitness and training. If they run comfortably and well, then they're all happy . . . and, if they stink, then more attention must be placed on "the goal!" In addition, a number of Alums always show-up, some to test the young guys and some just to say hello to friends and coaches.

This year, three-time winner, Alum Shawn Wilson stayed at Syracuse for training and classwork so, in true Cherokee distance tradition, Matt Mueller, '00, stepped-up and took 1st! GO MATT! He was followed by another dozen or so Alums who raced the course. Check out the Alums page for some details on those guys.

Despite missing two current Chiefs who are attending the Olympic Trials, a dozen or so guys from the team showed-up and ran! Justin Kelly took 2nd in the race closely followed by new-comer Christopher Spisak, then Brandon Marks, Brendan Falzone, Cam Wilburn, Mike Iannotta, Matt Smith, David Jackson, Taha Rana, Aatish Gupta, Tyler Ortiz and Naledge Brown.

Details at L and M Sports.

Our photographer caught most of the runners but missed a few. Catch you at camp?!



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Marlton 5K Marlton 5K Marlton 5K Marlton 5K Marlton 5K Marlton 5K





MileSplit NJ Reports

Robert Kellert, the editor at MileSplit, New Jersey, has been busy reporting on the upcoming Cross Country season and the potential top runners and teams in New Jersey. Check out the following articles:

Jack Shea leads all returning boys at Delsea: MileSplit.NJ

Group IV, South Jersey Boys Cross Country rankings: MileSplit.NJ

NJ Rankings, Pre-Season edition: MileSplit.NJ






RunningWorks Cross Country Camp

Once again -- their eighteenth year -- Cherokee's Coach Shaklee; his wife, former Penn coach Cricket Batz; and four-time Olympian and former world record-holder, Villanova's coach Marcus O'Sullivan, served up the best running camp available on the East coast of the US . . . and, once again, a large contingent of Cherokee's Cross Country team attended!

At Camp, the team participated in a challenging week-long program of training with top coaches and athletes from the northeastern United States. In the evening sessions, they learned from special guest speaker, Nicole Tully, the 2015 US 5K Champion, of her fall at the US Olympic Trials, her failure to advance, and her determination to continue training and racing after such a blow! In another session, RunningWorks Director, Marcus O'Sullivan spoke on the difficulties he overcame to become a four-time Olympian; and on another evening, he and Coach Shaklee discussed the parts of a solid training model. Finally, the college counselors spent part of one evening talking about the key lessons they learned as they moved into college racing. On the entertainment side, the team competed vigorously on Trivia Night but "failed to make the podium;" and, curiously, no one is bragging about Dance Night!

In addition to the evening talks, the team participated in a number of required and optional day-time classes/talks, and in their free time they played a variety of games -- why doesn't every high school have a Ga GA pit? -- went canoeing, kayaking and fishing; or just relaxed with old and new friends.

For more on the camp, see the RunningWorks website at: RunningWorks.

The following pictures are of Cherokee athletes at camp. Did the photographer miss anyone?! A wider selection of pictures from camp is available at: Flickr.



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MileSplit NJ Reports

Robert Kellert of MileSplit.NJ must be trying to put the "malocchio" -- see "evil eye" -- on Cherokee as he featured another ranking list noting that Cherokee has two guys in the South Jersey Top Five! Let's stop hyping last year and see what happens this year on the course! GO CHEROKEE!

In South Jersey, Cherokee has two boys in the Top Five! MileSplit.NJ






Team Practice

The team at Home . . . I mean, Holmdel . . . well, same thing! GO CHEROKEE!



RW 2016





Cherokee Challenge

On September 10, 2016, certainly the toughest racing weather Cherokee has ever had for its premier event -- temperatures in the mid-90's with the dew point in the 70's -- the team competed against almost 2,000 other high school runners and many did quite well!

As a group, the Freshman squad looked most impressive! Led by Chris Spisak, who took 3rd in the race, a split second faster than Nick Falk's time in his Freshman year, the team placed 2nd in a field of 36 teams and 376 runners! Cherokee's 2nd runner, Chase Miller made a name for himself when he dropped 50 seconds off a time-trial he ran about ten days ago; and he was followed by Robert Hackney in 27th, Mike Gavio in 33rd, and Ethan Wechsler in 51st!

In addition to the Freshmen, several others had very good days! Senior Nick Falk ran a very competitive race and looked great as he took 3rd in his race! Junior Taha Rana, Sophomore David Jackson, and Senior Ben Rosenberg all had good races and were mentioned by the coaches as potential Runners of the Meet but, in the end, they selected Matt Smith (despite the haircut?) for the honor! "His consistently hard work is paying off. He was our 6th man on Saturday and ran almost a minute faster than last year, placed 50 places higher (47th as compared to 97th) than last year." GO Matt!

Further details at: NJ.MileSplit.

Here are some pictures from the meet:

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Cher Challenge Cher Challenge Cher Challenge Cher Challenge Cher Challenge Cher Challenge
Cher Challenge Cher Challenge Cher Challenge







Batch Meet #1

On September 13, 2016, the team traveled to Rowan University at GCC for Batch Meet #1. Many decades ago when Coach Shaklee was a boy, teams raced as many as 11 or 12 dual meets to determine the Conference Champions. Today, the championship is won in a single race and the dual meets were eventually merged into two "Batch Meets" that are used largely for training.

Following the new philosophy, Cherokee used today's "Batch Meet #1" as an opportunity for "threshold" training.

Here are some pictures from the meet:


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Batch #1 Batch #1 Batch #1 Batch #1 Batch #1 Batch #1
Batch #1 Batch #1 Batch #1 Batch #1 Batch #1 Batch #1
Batch #1 Batch #1 Batch #1 Batch #1 Batch #1 Batch #1





Battle at Ocean County Park

On September 16, 2016, a contingent of Cherokee's Cross Country team raced at the Battle at Ocean County Park, another class-scored meet, and had a very good day!

The Freshmen started things off in a big way, winning the team competition over CBA without running Chris Spisak! Chase Miller, 3rd, Ethan Wechsler, 5th, Bobby Hackney, 9th and Mike Gavio, 11th, dominated up front, all running faster than Cherokee's top freshman last year! And just to demonstrate the importance of "the fifth man," Tyler Jackson came through with a nice race to finish the scoring for Cherokee and keep the Chiefs several points in front of the CBA freshmen! GO FROSH!

In the other races, there were some terrific performances, beginning with Mike Morashi in the Soph race, running a 50 second PR! The Juniors were led by Joe Falk, who also PR'd by 50 seconds, and followed by Jon Conn (30 sec PR) and Taha Rana (87 sec PR!). Add in Mike Iannotta and you have four Juniors under 18 mins! The biggest PR of the day also came in the Junior race when Matt Zeitz knocked 94 seconds off of his previous best! Naledge Brown also improved by 23 seconds!

Cam Wilburn led the Seniors and had the team's fastest time of the day, going under 17 for the first time with a 16:49 finishing time! Pat Mahoney knocked 63 seconds off his previous best; Chris Monteleone dropped 26 seconds; and Ben Rosenberg improved by 85 seconds!

Our photographer was shooting a golf match -- does that mean, playing golf? -- and was unavailable. If you have any pictures, send them along to RunningWorksPics@aol.com and they'll make "the bigs" . . . really, posted here?! . . . maybe "the littles?"

Details at: MileSplit.NJ.

An annonymous donation! Apparently the winning Varsity team needed a truck to get their trophy home! Just sayin'.


Frosh at OCP





Batch Meet #2

On September 20, 2016, about half the team traveled to Rowan University at GCC for Batch Meet #2, the rest stayed at home for practice. Those who ran at GCC did so "for practice" as well, generally doing a "threshold" exercise . . . a piece of cake!"

With the stress of racing removed, everyone looked beautiful! . . . Well, perhaps to their grandmothers . . .!


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