The Early Championship Season: Mid-May, as the season begins to close and everyone is primed to show their stuff! It starts with the Burlington County Championships at Maple Shade (May 21st); the Carl Lewis Relay Invitational at Willingboro (May 23rd); the Haddonfield Distance Nigt and the Cherokee Track and Field Invitational for Novices (both on May 25th). GO CHEROKEE!
Cherokee Invitational, Olympic Conference Championships and Haddonfield Invitational
Yikes, dudes! After a solid week of glorious weather here in South Jersey, the "rain gods" returned and dumped large quanities of rain day after day! The Cherokee Invitational, the original and best "novice" meet in New Jersey, was postponed from May 17th until May 25th! The Olympic Conference Championships, first scheduled for May 18th, and re-scheduled for May 19th, finally had to be canceled because the rain continued and no other day was available! Both the Haddonfield Invitational and the East Coast Relays were postponed but the alternate dates were inconvenient! So Cherokee scrambled its training schedule, its busses, and probably a lot of family plans, and managed to get it done!
Burlington County Open Championships
On April 21, 2011, Cherokee traveled to Maple Shade for the 73rd Annual Burlington County Open, the County Championships and, after winning the previous three years, the team had to settle for 4th this year behind strong teams from Willingboro, Cinnaminson and Burlington Township. Our score was greatly affected by two serious injuries that occurred during the meet -- Eric Birkhead actually fractured his tibia mid-race while running the 4 X 800 Relay, and Brandon McCleese severly sprained his ankle while warming-up for the Javelin -- and several other injuries to athletes prior to the meet!
There were many excellent performances in the meet! Ty Somers had a PR victory in the 800m, making him the team's lone County Champion! In the same event, however, Ross Staudt and Colin Merrigan also ran PR's and took 5th and 6th! Darren McCluskey finished 2nd in a photo finish in the 110HH with a New School Record and the 2nd fastest time in the state this year! Darren also placed 2nd in the Triple Jump with another PR! Greg Malloy established a new PR in the 3200m Run while finishing 2nd, and Billy Hornung also PR'd to finish 6th in that event! Shawn Wilson placed 2nd in the 1600m Run with a new PR, and Joe McCarthy-Moore repeatedly PR'd while competing in the Javelin improving his PR by 10 feet to finish 5th! And finally, the 4 X 400 Relay team of Drew Viscidy, Ty Somers, Ross Staudt and Jason Brockman placed 2nd; and the 4 X 100 Relay team of Duane Johnson, Brandon Rapp, Viscidy and Brockman finished 5th.
Further details at: MileSplit.NJ.
Here's a unique close-up look at Darren McCluskey's school-record-setting finish in the 110HH provided by Adam Cramer the chief finish line technician at Tomahawk Timing! The miniscule distance between Darren and his opponent at the finish line is exaggerated by the process that helps to determine the winner!
And here are some of our more-routine pictures!
Carl Lewis Relay Championships
On April 23, 2011, Cherokee expected to travel two hours north to the East Coast Relays but flooding rains there caused the meet to be canceled. Instead, a small segment of the team opted to compete in the Carl Lewis Relay Championships at nearby Willingboro. In the distance events, the 4 X 800m Relay team of Ross Staudt, Colin Merrigan, Drew Viscidy and Ty Somers finished 3rd and went under 8:00 for the first time; and the 4 X 1600 Relay of Shawn Wilson, Aiden Lynch, Greg Malloy and Matt Venanzi placed 2nd against the state powerhouse Christian Brothers Academy! In addition, the 400IH Relay team of Darren McCluskey and Jason Brockman took 6th.
Further details at: MileSplit.NJ.
Shawn Wilson health reminder: "You are what you eat!"
Cherokee Invitational
On April 25, 2011 -- the alternate rain date -- Cherokee hosted the Twelfth Annual Cherokee Track and Field Invitational and, despite all the postponements and cancellations over the past week, it was well-attended and as successful as usual!
Matt Jackson had a nice day, winning the 200m and placing 2nd in the 100m Dashes! Eric Mudge cleared 11' 6" to PR and finish 2nd in the Pole Vault; and Mike Hare took 7th place in the 400m Run setting his own PR! In addition, there were a lot of good performances in the 1600m Run: Jeremy Morgan and Matt Decker finished 2nd and 5th, both with times very close to their personal bests. Kaleb Burch and Phillip-Robert Cerria both came very close to breaking 5:00 with big PR's, and Harry Herskowitz set a huge PR at 5:06!
Further details at: MileSplit.NJ.
Haddonfield Night of Distance
On April 25, 2011, while most of the team was at the Cherokee Invitational, several distance runners competed at the Haddonfield Night of Distance. Aiden Lynch broke 10:00 in the 3200m Run for the first time to finish 2nd and PR by nine seconds! Shawn Wilson and Mike Lowinger both set non-relay PR's in the 800m Run to finish 2nd and 3rd; and Billy Hornung PR'd in the 1600m Run for 3rd!
Further details at: MileSplit.NJ.