The Late Spring Season: late April and early May, when the weather and the season begin to heat up! It starts with the third dual meet of the season against Cherry Hill High School East (Apr 26th); the Penn Relays (Apr 29th - 30th); Richard's River run (May 1st); and the fourth dual meet of the season against Washington Township (May 4th). Following that, it reviews the action at the South Jersey Invitational (May 5th) and the South Jersey Relays (May 7th), both at Buena High School; the final dual meet of the season against Pennsauken (May 10th); and the Lenape Regional High School District Championships (May 12th). GO CHEROKEE!
Dual Meet: Cherry Hill East High School
On April 26, 2011, the team took a short ride over to Cherry Hill High School East for their third dual meet of the season and, through the highly unusual forfeiture of an event, came away very close winners!
Brandon McCleese and Darren McCluskey were the big scorers for the team! McCleese won the Shot, Discus and Javelin, while McCluskey won the 110HH, the Triple Jump, and took second in the 400IH and the 100m Dash! Other first place performances were recorded by Ty Somers in the 800m Run and Greg Malloy in the 3200 (after placing 3rd in the 1600m Run). With a very strong wind in place, times for around the track events were greatly affected so no PRs were recorded. The Vaulters did not get a chance to compete as East's pit was deemed unsafe by the official, resulting in a forfeiture by East in that event. Cherokee won the meet 71 to 69.
Dual Meet Record: 3 - 0.
Posting lots of pictures this time to "meet" some of the lesser-known members of the team!
Penn Relays
On April 29th and 30th, 2011, key members of the team traveled to the 116th running of The Penn Relays in Philadelphia to compete in three races: the 4 X 800m Relay, the 4 X 100m Relay, and the 4 X 400m Relay. There, each team enjoyed the warmth of the sun and the crowds but failed to reach their full potential. The 4 X 800m Relay team of Drew Viscidy, Ross Staudt, Ty Somers and Colin Merrigan took 11th out of 18 teams in the 1st heat. The 4 X 100m Relay team of John "I ain't runnin' in no stinkin' 4th lane" Barr, Luis Nieves, Duane Johnson and Darren McCluskey finished 117th out of 266 teams; and the 4 X 400m Relay team of Drew Viscidy, Tyler Somers, Jason Brockman and Ross Staudt finished 9th out of 17 teams in the South Jersey Large School Division.
Besides official results at: Penn Relays, the site includes great quality videos of practically all the races! Amazing!
The 4 X 800m Relay
The 4 X 100m Relay
4 X 400m Relay
Richard's River Run
In September, 2008, Tim Frantz, one of our team members, died of Ewing's Sarcoma, a form of bone cancer, and since then Cherokee runners have participated in Richard's River Run as a way to remember Tim and support the efforts of the GO4the Goal organization. If you would like to learn more about Tim, check out this section of our website, Tim's page; and if you would like to "remember Tim" in a tangible way, consider donating to the organization at Go4the Goal. Meanwhile, here are some pictures of Coach Shaklee and Cherokee athletes at the race:
Dual Meet: Washington Township High School
On May 3, 2011, Cherokee hosted a great meet against Washington Township High School that, unfortunately, ended in controversy with a double disqualification in the 4x400 Relay! Both teams were running extraordinarily well in the event when Township's anchor runner clearly cut-off Zaire Williams running the anchor for Cherokee, and Zaire threw the baton down at the finish line in frustration. Both teams were DQ'd and no points were awarded. That brought the meet down to the High Jump where Brian Regensberg took 2nd place and secured the close victory for Cherokee!
Darren McCluskey opened the meet with a gutsy performance in the 400IH, edging Township's, AJ Ashton for first in 56.0 on a very windy day! McCluskey also won the 110HH and placed 3rd in the 100m Dash, behind teammate, Duane Johnson who placed 2nd in the 100m and 200m Dashes! In the 800m, Ty Somers and Ross Staudt placed 1st and 2nd, with Colin Merrigan coming from behind in the last 100 meters to edge Township's runner for 3rd and complete the sweep! Brandon McCleese, once again swept the throws, winning the Shot, Discus and Javelin, with Evan Rosenberg and Joe McCarthy-Moore taking 2-3 for the sweep in the Javelin and Mike Conway placing 3rd in the shot! Shawn Wilson PRed for 2nd in the 1600m Run; Greg Malloy placed 2nd in the 3200m Run and Billy Hornung ran a tough race to edge Township's 2nd man for 3rd in the 3200m Run with a huge PR! Finally, Matt Decker PR'd in the 1600m Run, going under five minutes for the first time with a 4:57.9!
Dual Meet Record: 4 - 0.
South Jersey Open: Individuals and Relays
On May 5 and May 7, 2011, Cherokee traveled to Buena High School for the South Jersey Open Individuals and South Jersey Open Relays events. At the Individuals, Cherokee entered only a few athletes with Brandon McCleese being the lone, albiet minor, highlight: 7th in the Discus and 12th in the Javelin. At the Relays, Shawn Groh did well in two events: he joined Darren McCluskey and Jason Brockman and placed 5th in the 3 X 400IH Relay, and then he came back to anchor the JV Sprint Medley Relay, finishing strong in his first 800m ever! In addition, four young runners, Kaleb Burch, Danny Mintzer, Jordan Aughenbaugh and Sankeerth Kondapali competed in the 4 X 800m Relay and Jordan and Sankee PR'd on a very windy day! (Note to Official: Sankee is very sorry he wore the illegal watch in the race and he is grateful to the official for not disqualifying the entire team!)
Details for the Individuals at MileSplit.NJ; and from the Relays at: MileSplit.NJ.
Dual Meet: Pennsauken High School
On May 3, 2011, Cherokee hosted their final dual meet of the season against Pennsauken High School. The team already clinched the Division title and, with the District Championships in two days, this looked like a good time to rest some of the team's top performers. But it was a bad idea if you wanted to go 5 - 0 for the season!
The meet was a close one all the way to the final event when Pennsauken won both the High Jump and the 4 X 400m Relay! The Distance squad did well, however, with these notable achievements: Aiden Lynch, running his first 1600m since April of 2010, negative split and outkicked the Pennsauken runner down the homestretch to win and set a PR! Jeremy Morgan PR'd by 14 seconds to drop under 5:00 for the first time and get 3rd! Kaleb Burch, Danny Mintzer, and Sankeerth Kondapali also PR'd in the event! In the 800m, Eric Birkhead placed 2nd behind Pennsauken's top man. Harry Herkowitz, in his first spring track race, ran a strong race to finish 4th and Jordan Aughenbaugh knocked 4 seconds off his previous best! Finally, in the 3200m, Matt Decker and Phillip-Robert Cerria both ran under 11 minutes, PRC for the first time with an 18 second PR, to take 1st and 2nd!
The Field highlights include Mike Conway's 3rd place, PR throw in the Shot; and Joe McCarthy-Moore and Evan Rosenberg's 1st and 2nd place, PR throws in the Javelin! Among the Sprinters/Hurdlers, Shawn Groh set another PR in the 400IH, while Barry Fitzgerald, coming off an injury, ran his fastest time of the season! Darren McCluskey won the 110HH; Brandon Rapp took a 1st in the 200m and 2nd in the 100m; and John Barr ran a seasonal PR in the 400m Run! Finally, on the 4 X 400m Relay team, Sophomore Mike Hare ran a noteworthy PR split!
Dual Meet record: 4 - 1. Division Champions!
Lenape Regional District Championships
On May 12, 2011, under the lights of Cherokee stadium, the team hosted the 5th Annual Lenape Regional District Track and Field Championships and, for the 5th consecutive year, took home The District Cup!
Darren McCluskey was the big point scorer in the meet, winning the 110HH and placing 2nd in the 400IH, 100m Dash and the Triple Jump! Brandon Rapp also came up big, winning both the 400m and 200m Dashes; and Brandon McCleese scored well in all three throwing events, winning the Javelin, placing 2nd in the Discus and picking up a 3rd place medal in the Shot Put! Ty Somers was Cherokee's only other individual champion as he won the 800m Run.
Cherokee also picked up big points in the Relays, winning all three of them and setting meet records in two: the 4 X 800m and 4 X 100m! The 4 X 800m Relay was handled by Colin Merrigan, Mike Lowinger (with a PR split), Eric Birkhead and Ross Staudt (who also came back for 3rd in the Open 800m Run and then he ran on the winning 4 X 400m Relay)! The 4 X 100m Relay team consisted of John Barr, Duane Johnson, Zaire Williams and Matt Jackson. The 4 X 400m Relay was handled by Drew Viscidy, Ty Somers, Zaire Williams and Ross Staudt.
Other top performances were turned in by Joe McCarthy-Moore, 2nd in the Javelin; Kenon Jenkins, 4th in Long Jump and 5th in Triple Jump; Aiden Lynch, Ryan Bobb and Billy Hornung who all PR'd for 2nd, 3rd and 5th in the 5000m Run; Greg Malloy who PRd in the Two Mile for 3rd; Shawn Wilson and Matt Venanzi who both PR'd in two events, the Mile and Two Mile; Drew Viscidy who, in addition to leading off the winning 4 X 400m Relay, also placed a close 2nd to Brandon Rapp in the Open 400m Run, and Duane Johnson who picked up two 3rd place finishes in the 100m and 200m Dashes!
GO CHEROKEE!
Details at: MileSplit.NJ.