The Late Spring Training Season is a time of continuing preparation for the season-ending championship meets! It begins with the Crusader Frosh-Novice Meet (Apr 19, Bishop Eustace Prep); a Dual Meet against Lenape High School (Apr 22nd, at Lenape); the Penn Relays (Apr 26th - 27th, Franklin Field, Philadelphia), and includes the last Dual Meet against Washington Township High School (Apr 30th); the South Jersey Open (May 2nd, Buena HS) and the South Jersey Relays (May 4th, Buena HS); the Lenape District Championships (May 7th); the Cherokee Invitational (May 13th); the Burlington County Championships (May 18th, Maple Shade HS); and the Haddonfield Distance Night (May 21st, Haddonfield). GO CHEROKEE!
Crusader Frosh-Novice Meet
On April 19, 2013, a group of Cherokee runners bussed to Bishop Eustace Prep for the Crusader Frosh-Novice Meet, and several of Cherokee's stars of the future did well! Noah Gil and Cam Rabinowitz both PR'd in the 1600m Run with Noah's time good enough to take 4th place! In addition, both 4 X 800m Relay teams performed well! The Freshman squad of Brandon Arencibia, Steve Gravlin, Al Panaccio and Tyler Kurzawa finished 2nd with the first three legs all setting PR's! The Novice team of Anthony Marrazzo, Zach LoPresti, Carlo Lingesso and Joe Lacy also finished 2nd, again with the first three legs recording PR's! In the 4 X 400m Relay, the Freshman "A" team placed 4th led by the strong 54 second lead-off leg recorded by Tyler Kurzawa and then the PR 3rd leg by Brandon Arencibia. In other 4 X 400m action, additional PR splits were recorded by Anthony Marrazzo, Zach LoPresti and Joe Lacy! Finally, in the Novice 200m Dash, Noah Walker won his heat and finished 4th overall.
Here are some Cherokee athletes our photographer was able to catch before the fading sun ended the opportunity.
Dual Meet: Lenape High School
On April 22, 2013, Cherokee traveled to Lenape High School for the third dual meet of the season and, on a cold and windy day, suffered their third dual meet defeat of the season. Having lost the first, there is little incentive to press for dual meet victories because the Division is lost, so the coaches emphasize training at these meets and give the younger runners the opportunity to perform.
At this meet, Senior thrower, Mike Conway PR'd in both the shot and disc to win both events; Senior Sprinter Duane Johnson won both the 100 and 200 meter dashes; and Senior distance ace, Shawn Wilson won the 800m with a sub-2:00 performance! Other PR performances were recorded by Zach LoPresti in the 800m Run and 4 X 400m Relay; Cam Rabinowitz in the 800m Run; Carlo Lingesso in the 400m Dash; and Anthony Marazzo in the 4 X 400m Relay!
The Penn Relays Carnival
The Penn Relays Carnival . . . thirty-five hours of competition; 425+ races; athletes from over sixty countries; 22,000+ entrants . . . whether you perform well or not, it's one of those experiences that you will remember and brag about for the rest of your life!
Cherokee sent two relay teams to the Relays and, while they didn't set any team records -- "Beautiful weather" one coach said cryptically when asked about the teams' performances -- twenty years from now they still can say, "Yeah, I ran in the Penn Relays."
In the 4 X 100m Relay, the relatively untried team of Duane Johnson, Noah Walker, Dixon Kehoe and Mike Gallo started well but faded quickly into Penn Relays history! Their time of 46.62 placed them far back in the competition, 229 out of 273 who entered the event . . . but who's counting?!
The 4 X 400m Relay fared only slightly better against some fierce competition in the "South Jersey, Large Schools" heat. Mike Hare, Shawn Wilson, Mike Gallo and Zach Piotrowski moved the baton efficiently but only Mike Gallo came close to his PR at the distance. Their time: 3:29.83 left them 8th in a heat of 15 teams; and no, Cherokee had nothing to do with the fall of Highland's first runner on the first turn in the race!
Check out the Penn Relays Carnival site that provides everything you ever wanted to know about the event!
It didn't help the 4 X 100 team that they were stuck in the worst lane!
The 4 X 400m Relay Team
Dual Meet: Washington Township High School
On April 30, 2013, Cherokee stayed at home to host the last dual meet of the season against Washington Township High School. Since neither team had a winning record, and neither team put much emphasis on the meet, little from the meet was reported except that the teams tied at the end. Let the boasting begin!
South Jersey Invitational
On May 2, 2013, Cherokee bussed to Buena High School for the South Jersey Invitational, or the South Jersey Open, or the more formal title given by the Meet Director, the 45th Annual Track & Field Relay Carnival. It all depends on what form you read or site you open! Anyway, the meet is held over two days: the first consisting of individual events; the second, two days later, consisting of relays. Not sure where the "carnival" comes in.
Lots of interesting Cherokee performances at the meet! Among the distance runners, in the 3200m, Shawn Wilson, running in front from the gun, broke the meet record in the event; and Kaleb Burch knocked 17 seconds off of his 3200 PR! In the 800m, Rob Harper set a new PR, and Mike Hare dropped two more seconds (after dropping two in the dual meet on Tuesday) to become just the 21st athlete in school history to run sub-2:00! Finally, in the Frosh 1600m, both Brandon Arencibia and Steve Gravlin set new PRs, with Brandon knocking two seconds off his best to place 8th, and Steve dropping seven seconds off his best to finish 32nd, in a field of 69 runners!
Before moving on to the sprinters, there's some interesting history from this meet in the 3200m Run. Of particular interest is a number of previous event winners and/or meet record holders. The meet record was set by Murad Campbell of Overbrook in 1997 (9:19.27) but # 2 on the meet record list was our own Marc Pelerin who clocked a 9:25.75 in 2002! Another interesting fact is the appearance of two of Coach Callinan's brothers, Ted and Tim, who won the event previously. Ted, running for Gloucester Catholic, ran 9:32.7 in 1992; and Tim, running for Sacred Heart, ran 9:29.40 in 1998. Shawn clocked 9:15.05 to take the top spot on this list and bragging rights over Coach Pelerin!
Among the sprinters, Duane Johnson did well in the 100m Dash, finishing 10th out of 58 sprinters in the 100 Meter Dash; and Shawn Tracey, returning from injury, showed that he's back with his 9th place finish (out of 49) in the 200m Dash! Finally, in the Freshman 400m Dash, Tyler Kurzawa ran a strong race to win his heat and take 6th overall in a field of 56 runners, while Mike Zurzolo set a new PR in the same event!
Details at: MileSplit/NJRunners.
The meet started at 5:00 PM so pictures were difficult with the glare of the setting sun and then darkness after 7:30. Here are some taken early in the meet and several taken in the dark. Apologies to those who were missed.
South Jersey Relays
On May 4, 2013, most of the team traveled to Buena High School for the second part of what they're calling 45th Annual Track & Field Relay Carnival. This is the relays part . . . thus, the South Jersey Relays.
The day began well with the Freshman Distance Medley Relay team of Tyler Kurzawa, Mike Zurzolo, Steve Gravlin and Brandon Arenciba taking 1st! They are the 6th Cherokee team to win the Freshman Distance Medley team at the South Jersey Relays in the last 15 years! In addition, Tyler Kurzawa and Mike Zurzolo came back and teamed with Shawn Hickey and Rob Curley to place 3rd in the frosh 4 X 400m Relay!
Among our Junior Varsity runners, the JV Distance Medley Relay team of James Transue, Dixon Kehoe, Freddy Rasmussen and Cam Rabinowitz placed 5th, with special thanks to a gutsy anchor leg by Rabinowitz who went out very fast and held on for a 5 second PR! In addition, the JV 4 X 400m Relay team of Zach LoPresti, Carlo Lingesso, Joe Lacy and Anthony Marazzo finished 4th, with special thanks to PR splits by LoPresti and Lingesso!
And finally, the Varsity races included the 4 X 1600m Relay team of Rob Harper, Matt Decker, Noah Gil and JD Mintzer which placed 6th, with Decker setting a season PR and Harper an all-time PR; the Varsity 4 X 800m Relay, of Brandon Ilagan, James Transue, Dan Lee and Zach Piotrowski taking 3rd; and the Varsity 4 X 100m Relay team of Duane Johnson, Sean Tracey, Ronnie Oxendine and Noah Walker finishing 6th while clocking Cherokee's fastest 4 X 100 of the year!
Complete details at: MileSplit/NJ.
Richard's Run
On May 5, 2013, Coach Shaklee and several team members showed-up for the 7th Annual Richard's River Run at Cooper River Park. The race benefits the "Go 4 the Goal" Foundation, an organization dedicated to funding research for pediatric cancers. The race is named after a young man who died of a childhood cancer but Cherokee has a special connection to the organization: Tim Frantz, one of our own, died of Ewing's Sarcoma, a form of bone cancer. Indeed, a feature in the race is the Tim Frantz Award to the top finishers.
Perhaps responding to an earlier offer to make a $25 donation for every team member who beat Coach Shaklee in the race, they caught the coach on a bad day, and all three of Cherokee's runners -- Kaleb Burch, Matt Decker, and Dan Mintzer -- beat the coach to the finish line! A donation in their names was made to the "Go 4 the Goal" Foundation! Thanks, guys!
Race details at: L & M Sports.
Our webpage discussing Tim is at Tim's memorial page.
Lenape District Championships
On May 9, 2013, Cherokee traveled to sister-school Seneca High School for the 6th Annual Lenape District Cup, a meet that Cherokee has dominated for all those years! Unfortunately, that was not the case this year as Cherokee took 2nd place to Lenape High School.
Still, there were some impressive performance in every category! Shawn Wilson used the event as a training session and competed in and won the 1600m, 800m, and 3200m runs! His performance was cited as he won "Athlete of the Meet" honors!
In the field, Mike Conway earned "Field Athlete of the Meet" honors for winning the Shot and placing 3rd in the Disc and Jav!
In the 4 X 800m Relay, Rob Harper PR'd on the lead-off leg, James Transue set a three second PR on the second leg, and Frosh, Tyler Kazawa PR'd by an incredible twelve seconds on the 3rd leg as the team took 2nd to Seneca's record setting team! In the 100m High Hurdles, Mike Gallo, Jordan Roosevelt and Brent Lobascio ran well and took 2-3-4 in the event!
Finally, in the 1600m Run, PR's and first sub 5's were run by Cam Rabinowitz and Noah Gil, and Matt Rhodes set three new PR's in winning the Long Jump, placing 2nd in the Triple Jump; and 4th in the High Jump!
Details at: MileSplit/NJRunners.
Cherokee Track and Field Invitational
On May 13, 2013, Cherokee hosted the 14th Annual Cherokee Track and Field Invitational, a meet designed for athletes who are unlikely to qualify for the Sectionals or State Championships. Cherokee's Mark Woodard used the meet as an opportunity to return from injury and back into shape as he took 6th in the 100m Dash, an event that included over 160 competitors! Cam Rabinowitz, Brandon Arencibia and Anthony Marrazzo knocked more than two seconds off their best in the 800m Run, and Zach LoPresti, Joe Lacy and Justin DeTone also PR'd in the same event! Additional details soon?
Details at: MileSplit/NJRunners.
Olympic Conference Championships
On May 14, 2013, Cherokee traveled to Washington Township High School for the Olympic Conference Championships. The meet began with the 4 X 800m Relays and Cherokee's team of Rob Harper, Tyler Kurzawa, Mike Hare and James Transue finished 2nd overall and earned All-Conference honors as the 1st American Division team! In addition, Harper PR'd on the lead-off leg!
Also on the track, Shawn Wilson clocked 1:55.41 in the Open 800m Run and took 1st by over three seconds! This time moved him to Number 7 on the All-Time Cherokee list! Unfortunately for him, he failed to accomplish his goal of besting the PR time set by Coach Marc Pelerin in 2001. Coach Pelerin clocked 1:55.33, only .07 seconds faster than Shawn! In addition, Mike Gallo took 5th in the 400 IH.
In the Field, Mike Conway finished 3rd in the Shot Put; Matt Rhodes, who just recently returned from injury, placed 5th in the Long Jump and PR'd by two feet to take 7th in the Triple Jump; Jordan Aughenbaugh placed 5th in the Pole Vault!
Details at: MileSplit/NJRunners.
Holmdel Twilight Meet # 2
On May 16, 2013, the Cherokee Distance squad left Holmdel High School wondering what was in the water! Nineteen athletes competed in the Holmdel Twilight Meet # 2 where only the mile was contested and eighteen clocked PR's . . . including a school record-breaking performance!
Shawn Wilson did the record-breaking, this time "smashing" Coach Marc Pelerin's eleven-year old time in the 1600m! In 2002, Marc ran 4:11.86 at the end-of-the-season Adidas Outdoor Classic in California, and Shawn clocked 4:11.69 and pushed Marc into a "distant" second place on Cherokee's All-Time list! In addition to setting the school record, Shawn's time moves him onto the Top-10 All-Time South Jersey list, and is only 1/2 second off the Burlington County record set by Ryan Garvin of Lenape! At least for awhile, Shawn's race is available on line at: Track Show.
In addition to setting many PR's, Cherokee runners Matt Decker, Freddy Rasmussen, Zach LoPresti, Jose Fraile and Matt Gross all won their heats. Freddy was, perhaps the most impressive as he dropped almost 20 seconds off his PR, but Justin DeTone deserves special mention for getting tripped early in his race, going down, rolling back up (in last place) and making his way back to the front of his race! He would certainly have run an even faster PR had that not happened! That said, just about everyone raced well and made the trip well worth it!
Additional race videos are available at: Track Show; and further details are at: MileSplit/NJRunners.
Someone pass that water jug!
Burlington County Open
On May 18, 2013, Cherokee traveled to the Burlington County Open at Maple Shade High School where they notched some impressive performances! Among the distance squad, the team's top runner, Shawn Wilson, set a difficult challenge of sub-9:10 for himself in the 3200m, but, while he won by over 31 seconds, setting a new County meet record, he failed to reach his personal goal in the event. That said, it wasn't a bad week for Shawn: an 800 PR and a 3-second win on Tuesday at the Conference Championship, a new school 1600 record on Thursday at Holmdel; and a 31-second victory and a new meet record in the 3200 at the County Open!
Other distance runners had good meets too! Freddy Rasmussen had another big race, dropping 3 seconds off his 800m PR; and Rob Harper also PR'd by 2 seconds on his lead-off of the 4 X 800! Brandon Arencibia ran a very fast Freshman time of 10:03 in only his second 3200m, the 18th fastest by a Freshman in the state this year! Also in the 3200m, Justin DeTone stayed on his feet through the entire race and PR'd by 22 seconds! Finally, Matt Decker, Cameron Rabinowitz and Dan Mintzer all ran well in the 1600 although none of them PR'd.
Among the sprinters, Mike Gallo took 3rd in the 400m Intermediate Hurdles with a quick time of 58.53 and a new PR; and the 4 X 100m Relay team of Ronnie Oxendine, Marc Woodard, Shawn Tracey and Matt Rhodes took 3rd!
Details at: MileSplit/NJRunners.
Haddonfield Distance Night
On May 21, 2013, most of Cherokee's distance squad traveled to nearby Haddonfield High School for the much-anticipated Haddonfield Distance Night, an informal meet that offered athletes three options: race the 800m, the 1600m, or the 3200m . . . and don't go home without a PR!
In the Freshman 800m, Mike Zurzolo had a PR "in the bag" because it was his first race at that distance, but he won his heat and took 4th overall!
In the Open 800m, Kaleb Burch dropped 2 seconds off of his PR, as did Noah Gil! Cam Rabinowitz PR'd by a second while Carlo Lingesso dropped 8 seconds off his PR! Freshman Tyler Kurzawa, competing in the Open 800m, ran a very good freshman time to place 6th overall in the event with a time 7 seconds faster than the winner of the Freshman 800!
In the Freshman 1600m, Steve Gravlin PR'd by 5 seconds; and in the Open 1600m, all of Cherokee's runners ran close to their PR's but Zach LoPresti dropped his time by an amazing 10 seconds and broke 5:00 for the first time!
Details at: MileSplit/NJRunners.
Pictures Available
No team photos will be printed for this season's banquet. Instead, you will be given access to the photos through the Internet.
All of the team pictures taken by SJPixShooter of MileSplit/NJRunners during the 2012 - 2013 academic year -- Cross Country, Winter Track and Spring Track -- are available at WinkFlash and are easy to access. WinkFlash has a program that allows entry to all of SJPixShooter's picture files -- with many pictures that were never posted on our Cherokee website -- and there you can purchase prints of anything you want at dirt cheap prices! The most recent offer is a 4 X 6 print for 6 cents: use coupon code: ONLY6CENTS. If there are a bunch of pictures available, you might order a book celebrating a year/season of running! (Neither Cherokee Cross Country/Track and Field nor SJPixShooter makes any money from this service.)
Send an email to SJPixShooter@aol.com identifying yourself as a Cherokee Cross Country and/or Track team member. SJPixShooter will add your name and address to his "share" list and WinkFlash will send an email inviting you to set-up a free WinkFlash account and view all of SJPixShooter's photos.
The pictures were saved at a moderate resolution (1 MG) for speedy upload and for smaller-sized prints. But if you want a poster-size print of your favorite for the living room wall, ask SJPixShooter to upload that particular item at higher resolution.