The Late Championship Season includes the South Jersey Group IV (Sectional) Championships and the State Group IV Championships, both at Egg Harbor Township HS; the dual meet with Lenape High School (postponed several times because of rain); and the State Meet of Champions at South Plainfield HS. This section also includes comments on the annual Track Party where team members, parents, friends and coaches enjoy a final meal together and review the accomplishments of the year. Finally, there are comments on post-season meets, including the Haddonfield Elite Meet and the Nike Outdoor Nationals. GO CHEROKEE!
South Jersey Group IV (Sectional) Championships
On Friday and Saturday, May 22nd and 23rd, 2009, the top members of the team competed in the South Jersey Group IV (Sectional) Championships at Egg Harbor Township High School. The goal here, of course, is to win the event, but, failing that, the next goal to be among the top six in an event and advance to the New Jersey State Group Championships the following week!
On Friday, two of Cherokee's best athletes qualified for the State Groups! In the 1600m Run, Steve Burkholder took 4th overall, finishing with a furious 60.6 last lap, and dropping another 3 seconds off his PR (4:22.83)! That time puts him in 6th place among all former Cherokee runners of the 1600m! And in the 100m Dash, Will Rapp took 5th overall, while sprinting a FAT PR of 11.04 in the Finals of the event!
On Saturday, several Cherokee athletes performed very well but only four advanced to the State Groups. All three 110m High Hurdlers ran well in the trials with Major Mobley setting a PR of 14.88 to qualify 2nd for the Finals and Mike Brocco running a FAT PR of 15.42 to also qualify for the Finals! Darren McCluskey also ran well (15.54) but missed qualifying by one place! Mobley then returned in the Finals, finished 2nd in another PR of 14.85, and advanced to the State Groups! Brocco ran even faster in the Finals than he did in the Preliminaries (15.39) but failed to advance to the State Groups!
Later on Saturday, Will Rapp finished 2nd in both the Preliminaries and the Finals of the 200m Dash and advanced to the State Groups! His younger brother, Freshman Brandon Rapp PR'd in the same event but did not make the Finals!
Among the Jumpers, High Jumpers Justin Turner and Ed Kramer both advanced to the State Groups, finishing 2nd (6' 6") and 5th (6' 2") respectively! Turner smashed the High Jump record this season (6' 8"), and he and Kramer set a new High Jump Relay record (12' 8") as well! And, while Vaulter Matt Maze only managed to match his PR of 13' and failed to qualify for State Groups, he had what was probably the most hectic experience of all Cherokee athletes at Sectionals. He broke his pole at practice the previous week and, despite great effort by coaches to locate a similar pole, he was forced to borrow different poles from other teams -- special thanks to Eastern, Lenape and other coaches for their extraordinary help -- as he advanced throughout the day! With all the exotic flexes, hoop strengths, weights, and lengths, that's like a race car driver switching from a Ford to a Toyota in mid-race!
Details on the meet can be found at: Mile Split, NJ, or Dyestat Metro.
Pictures from Friday:
Pictures from Saturday:
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Dual Meet: Lenape High School
Cherokee Boys "kiss their sisters" at the dual meet against a vastly improved Lenape High School!
Yes, the team tied Lenape in what turned into the most exciting dual meet of the season, as the lead changed after almost every event and it all came down to a face-saving 4 X 400m Relay!
As usual, Senior Sprinter Will Rapp won the 100m and 200m Dash! The Hurdlers did their part, too, taking 17 of 18 points in the two events with Darren McCluskey, Major Mobley and Mike Brocco going 1-2-3 in the Highs; and Mike Palmieri and Brocco taking 1-2 in the Intermediates!
And, not to be outdone, the High Jumpers also swept their event with Justin Turner, Ed Kramer and Brian Regensburg going 1-2-3!
But the absolute "HIGHLIGHT" of the meet was the final event, the 4 X 400 Relay. With Lenape leading by a score of 70-65, Cherokee needed the relay just to earn a tie. Mike Palmieri, Will Rapp, AJ Valentine and Josh Ungerleider responded with their best time of the year to narrowly defeat the Lenape team! In the process, Ungerleider split 50.7 on the anchor to hold off Lenape's Ta'ronn Earl! Yikes!
Season Record: 3 - 1 - 1.
New Jersey Group IV Championships
On Friday and Saturday, May 29th and 30th, 2009, the team's qualifiers from Sectionals returned to Egg Harbor Township H.S. for the New Jersey Group IV Championships: Major Mobley in the 110 High Hurdles; Steve Burkholder in the 1600m Run; Will Rapp in both the 100m and 200m Dash; and Justin Turner and Ed Kramer in the High Jump. When the dust cleared, or perhaps more appropriately, when the rain fell (Friday) or when the sun fell (Saturday), four of the five had advanced to the State Meet of Champions!
On Friday, Will Rapp finished the 100m Dash in 11.15 -- slightly off his seed time of 11.04 -- and took 9th overall but qualified as a "wild card" in the event! Steve Burkholder finished the 1600m Run in 4:25.35 -- slightly off his seed time of 4:22.83 -- took 10th and failed to advance. After that, rainfall ended the day's competition!
On Saturday, the weather was perfect and all four Cherokee competitors advanced to the Meet of Champions! Early in the meet, Major Mobley was off his time of last week but qualified as a "wild card" in the 110m High Hurdles! Will Rapp took 6th in the 200m Dash and advanced; and both High Jumpers, Justin Turner and Ed Kramer advanced with Justin taking 2nd (6' 6"), and Ed (6' 2") tying with seven others in 5th place!
Details at: Fraulo Racing, or MileSplit, NJ.
(Yikes! No pictures of the high jumpers . . . photographer left for a wedding!)
New Jersey State Meet of Champions
On Thursday, June 4th, 2009, the rain-delayed New Jersey State Meet of Champions was contested at South Plainfield, and once again, Will Rapp provided the Cherokee highlight of the meet! In the 200m Dash, Will ran a school-record 22.13 -- what a way to end the season! -- and tied for 8th place, the last place to receive a medal at the Meet of Champions! Unfortunately, since the state is so impoverished and could not afford to award two 8th place medals, the tie was broken by 1/1000th of a second and Will had to settle for 9th place! Hurumph!
In the High Hurdles, Major Mobley was slightly off his game, clocking 15.45 and taking 22nd place.
The High Jump area was badly set up as the jumpers had to run through wet grass before getting onto the paved surface, and the results reflected that! The winner only cleared 6' 8", while Cherokee's jumpers, school-record holder Justin Turner and Ed Kramer had to settle for much less than they had previously accomplished. Justin only cleared 6' 4", taking 10th place, and Ed "No Heighted" in the event.
Complete details at: MileSplitNJ
Cherokee Track & Field Awards Dinner
On June 7th, 2009, following a long-standing tradition, Cherokee's Track and Field team held its annual post-season dinner at the school. There the team, coaches, families and friends enjoyed a meal together, applauded the accomplishments of the team this season, and bid farewell to the graduating seniors. Highlights included the Coach's announcement of the Most Valuable Player in the sprints, hurdles, jumps, distance and throws events, and a special Multi-Event award.
This year's team provided excitement throughout the season, even when they lost! They hoped to repeat last year's record with an undefeated dual meet season and become the American Division Champions but an extremely well-balanced squad from Washington Township High School hit them early in the season and put an end to that goal! Still, the team repeated its victory at the Burlington County Meet and, for the second time in school history, became the Burlington County Champions! In addition, they won the Lenape District Championship for the third time in a row and became the Lenape District Champions!
While accomplishing this, several new school records were established:
200 Meter Dash: Will Rapp dropped the record set last year by Kevin Merrigan to 22.13!
High Jump: Justin Turner raised the record set by Mike Chiusano in 1979 to 6' 8"!
High Jump Relay: Justin Turner and Ed Kramer (12' 8")
Among the individual honors are:
Olympic Conference: First Team
Justin Turner: High Jump
Major Mobley: 110m High Hurdles
Olympic Conference: Second Team
Will Rapp: 100m Dash
Kyle Miller: 3200m Run
Matt Maze: Pole Vault
County Champions
Will Rapp: 200m Dash
State Group IV Qualifiers
Will Rapp: 100 and 200m Dashes
Major Mobley: 110m High Hurdles
Justin Turner: High Jump
Ed Kramer: High jump
Steve Burkholder: 1600m Run
State Meet of Champions Qualifiers
Will Rapp: 200m Dash
Major Mobley: 110m High Hurdles
Justin Turner: High Jump
Ed Kramer: High Jump
Cherokee Track & Field Most Valuable Player
Steve Burkholder, Distance
Justin Turner, Jumps
Will Rapp, Sprints
Justin Nykiel, Throws
Major Mobley, Hurdles
AJ Valentine, Multi-Event Award
Haddonfield Elite
On June 11th, 2009, several of Cherokee's athletes participated in the Haddonfield Elite, a post-season meet designed as a preparation for the up-coming Nike Outdoor Nationals, or to give some of the region's top distance runners a last chance to set a PR. For AJ Valentine, Tim Brill, and Mike Palmieri, running as members of the Cherokee Track Club, it was the former, a workout for Nationals. Here are a few pictures from the meet.
Nike Outdoor Nationals
On June 19th and 20th, 2009, six of Cherokee's Track athletes participated in the Nike Outdoor Nationals in Greensboro, NC! Competing as the "Cherokee Track Club" in this post-season meet, Jon Scott, Tim Brill, Will Rapp, Josh Ungerleider, AJ Valentine and Mike Palmieri ran in three different relay events.
On Friday, in the 4 X 200m Relay, the squad of Scott, Rapp, Palmieri and Brill finished 1st in their heat and 5th overall in a season-best time of 1:31.01! Also on Friday, in the 1600m Sprint Medley, Scott and Rapp did the 200's, and combined with Ungerleider in the 400 and Valentine in the 800, to run 3:35.15, finishing 5th in their heat and 15th overall in the race! AJ Valentine anchored the relay with a 1:58.40 in the 800m.
On Saturday, in the 800m Sprint Medley, Rapp, Scott and Ungerleider were joined by Palmieri, and finished 5th in their heat and 17th overall in 1:36.01! Scott and Palmieri handled the 100's, Rapp did the 200, and Ungerleider anchored with the 400 (51.52).
For complete results: Nike Outdoor Nationals.
The following pictures of the 4 X 200m Relay, and one of Ungerlieder and Valentine warming-up for the 1600m Sprint Relay, were found at: Mile Split: NJ and you are encouraged to go there for all your New Jersey running news! Also, we were told Mike Palmieri is missing from the 4 X 200 series because he ran so fast the photographer's lens simply could not adjust! In the future, he shall be known as "Smoke."
Post-Season Recognition
On June 26th, 2009, the Burlington County Times named Coach Shaklee the 2009 Burlington County Track Coach of the Year, remarking on the team's successes at the Burlington County Open and the Lenape District Meet! Although Coach Shaklee has been named the Times' "Cross Country Coach of the Year" on four occasions, this is the first time he received this honor in Track and Field. The complete article, written by Sportswriter, Reuben Frank, can be found at: Coach Shaklee Named "Coach of the Year".
Also on June 26th, 2009, the Burlington County Times named five Cherokee athletes to their Second Team All-Burlington County:
Senior Will Rapp: 200m Dash
Senior Major Mobley: 110m High Hurdles
Senior Justin Turner: High Jump
Junior Steve Burkholder: 1600m Run
Senior Matt Maze: Pole Vault
The complete Burlington County Times awards page in pdf format is available at: 2009 County Awards.