The team's training hard and improving but, so far, Spring hasn't made a very lasting appearance! Maybe two days of t-shirt weather and the rest marked by cold temperatures, heavy rain, strong winds and even 6 or 7 inches of snow . . . it's like something biblical is happening! But never fear, the weather will turn and a real Spring will appear! We have to believe . . .! GO CHEROKEE!
On April 11, 2015, the team traveled to near-by Moorestown for the Moorestown Invitational, the second in a series of four relay meets in April. The weather was still windy but the sun shone, and several Cherokee performances improved considerably!
Out in the field, the Discus Relay team of Bill Weissman and Ryan Razler PR'd in the event; Matt Gross PR'd by 10 feet in the Javelin; and Dante Massimino and John Hemple placed 5th in the Shot Put Relay!
On the track, the Distance Medley Relay was probably the highlight of the meet as every team seemed to "load" the race with their top runners! For the Chiefs, Justin DeTone ran a brave race on the lead-off 1200m, coming through the 800 faster than his previous PR and hanging on for the final lap. Matt Powell then PR'd on his 400m leg; Ty Kurzawa ran a solid 800m leg despite not feeling well; and Nick Falk, running all alone for the entire race, came very close to his PR as he made up a good amount of ground on the runner he was chasing! Their 3rd place showing against very impressive opposition was great! In another race, Justin Kelly ran a very fast 1500m and took second in his heat! If converted to a 1600m, it was much faster than his current PR!
The sprinters improved significantly over last week's performances. Although the 4 X 100m relay of Rob Curley, Matt Powell, Daulton Hopkins and Marc Woodard didn't medal, their passes looked great and their time dropped considerably; and the Super Sprint Medley of Marc Woodard, Rob Curley, Daulton Hopkins, and Terrance Graves finished a mere 0.53 seconds out of the medals!
Results at: NJRunners/MileSplit.
An incident this past weekend deserves recognition . . . of sorts! On April 11, 2015, an Oregon runner committed a gross mistake
at the hallowed site of track in America, Hayward Field in Eugene. See the following video as both a sad and funny reminder to all:
CBS News.
It was reported yesterday that Coach Shaklee is secretly testing a new shoe for Nike and the U.S. Army. No specific details are available but some have reported that the shoe's power-generating antimatter technology will allow him to (1) run faster and farther than any other man alive and (2) detect and destroy incoming missiles. This picture, showing the shoe shrouded in a special package -- a Shak Pack, if you will -- is the only one available:
On April 14, 2015, the team traveled to Washington Township High School for the second dual meet of the season. Cloudy, dark, drizzling rain made this meet uncomfortable for onlookers, jumpers and throwers but the track was all-weather and the wind was dead calm . . . perfect conditions for fast times!
On the track, the distance squad outscored Washington Township 23 - 4 in the 800m, 1500m and 3200m! In the 800m, Ty Kurzawa negative split a fast 800 for the win while six others set PR's - Cam Rabinowitz, Jarad Chow, Cam Wilburn, Mike Algarra, Naledge Brown and Brian Cackowski! In the 1600m, Nick Falk, Justin DeTone, Mike Zurzolo and Justin Kelly swept the first four spots, and four PRs were set - Justin Kelly broke 5:00 for the first time, running way under at 4:48.9 and, in the first heat, all 3 guys PR'd led by Brendan Falzone's first dip under 5:00 and followed closely by Brandon Marks and Matt Smith!
With the meet still not decided, Nick Falk, Justin DeTone and Mike Zurzolo doubled back in the 3200m. However, with the Cherokee Night of 3200's coming up two days later, they were told to run it in trainers and only run fast enough to get the points, which they did with a 1-2-3 sweep!
The Sprinters/Jumpers had a nice day as well! Things got off to a good start when Dave Osterhout ran a PR and took 2nd in the 400IH! In addition, Marc Woodard picked up valuable points throughout the meet. He took 2nd in the 100m Dash, then 1st in the 110HH, 1st in the Long Jump with a PR performance, and 1st in the 200m Dash! Hmmmmm, wonder what he could do in the Pole Vault? Just kidding! Mark Kirby had that covered with his own PR and 1st place performance in the Vault, and then another PR and place in the Triple Jump! While on the Jumps, Sam Kramer picked up big points by winning the High Jump with his own PR! Others played important roles as well: Rob Curley and Daulton Hopkins picked up 2nd and 3rd points in the 400m Dash, and then returned to play the same role in the 200m Dash!
In the Field, as Coach Lynn reported, the throwers performed awesomely as they outscored Washington Township 20 - 7! There were a total of fifteen PR's led by Ryan Razler's 15 foot PR in the Javelin (qualifier for the Conference championships)! He and Jeff Gross took 1-2 in the event! In the Shot, Dante Massimino and Phil Quipot took 1-2; and then in the Discus, Razler and Quipot returned to take 2-3 in that event! Finally, in a telling sign for the future, every Freshman PR'd as well!
The score ended up with Cherokee beating Washington Township by 27 points! Dual Meet Record: 1 - 1. GO CHEROKEE!
The photographer continued to learn more about his new camera and its many settings . . . but the crappy weather didn't help! The result: some pictures are good while some are less so! You decide . . ..
On April 16, 2015, Cherokee introduced a new event, a series of evening races beginning with Cherokee Night Racing # 1. This first of this series featured only the 3200m and pitted runners from Christian Brothers Academy, Haddonfield, Haddon Heights and Cherokee. It was a stunning success for Cherokee's distance runners!
There were two heats. In the first heat, all of our guys ran very well, with almost everyone setting PR's. Mike Zurzolo and Justin Kelly went 1-2 in the first heat! Mike's time was an 8-second improvement and Justin improved by 22 seconds! Steve Gravlin ran a very competitive race, finishing 6th; and Brandon Marks, Brendan Falzone, Cam Rabinowitz and Matt Smith all set PR's!
In the second, seeded, heat, Nick Falk ran 9:30.52 to break Marc Pelerin's class record of 9:31.63 set in 2000! By the way, Pelerin set that record when he finished 5th in the State Meet of Champions that year! Jack Shea was right behind him and just off of Pelerin's record, finishing 3rd in 9:32.22. Justin DeTone also ran a great race, finishing 6th in 9:35.08! Cherokee has had many good 3200m runners over the years but in the 38-year history of the track program, Cherokee has never had three guys run so incredibly fast on the same day! They are now the 8th, 9th and 13th individuals on the All-Time list! See Track Records.
Details at: NJRunners/MileSplit.
On April 17, 2015, the young and the new guys on the team traveled to Bishop Eustace Prep in Pennsauken for the Crusader Frosh-Novice Meet. Among the distance runners in the opening 1600m races, there were many PR's set! In the Freshman race, Brandon Marks and Matt Smith both PR'd by a lot (after racing and setting PR's at the 3200m the night before!) with Brandon going under 5:00 minutes for the first time! Brian Cackowski made the mistake of showing Coach Shaklee what he really can do: he had the biggest PR of the day, dropping 24 seconds and winning his heat! Joey Thompson also ran very well in the Novice 1600m, taking second in his heat and setting a season best!
Among the sprinters, Coach McMichael entered several teams in two relays, the 4 X 100m and the 4 X 200m, but in each the same squad stood out! In the Freshman 4 X 100m, Gianni DeSanto, Brandon Marnin, Colton Schneeweis and Sebastian Graterol took 4th, and the same team took 2nd in the Freshman 4 X 200m! In the Novice 4 X 100m, James Vaynow, Kevin Milligan-Tinker, Eric Jjemba and Terrance Graves took 9th, and the same team took 9th again in the 4 X 200m.
Details at: NJRunners/MileSplit
The photographer had only an hour on site and was unable to shoot any race after the many 1600m races!
On April 18, 2015, the distance and throws squads stayed at home and used the day for practice but, unbeknownst to our photographer, five Cherokee sprinters manned two sprint teams in the 43rd Annual Woodbury Relays, one of the oldest meets in South Jersey!
In the first race, the 4 X 100m Relay team of Rob Curley, Matt Powell, Daulton Hopkins and Marc Woodard finished 4th in the Group 4 competition; and in the second race, the Sprint Medley team of Matt Powell, Rob Curley, Daulton Hopkins and Ty Kurzawa finished 6th.
Results available at: NJRunners/MileSplit.
On April 19, 2015, Coach Shaklee and ten team members showed-up for the 9th 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 finisher.
The team is in the middle of a training/racing segment and actually racing "Richard's Run" was not in the cards but Nick Falk, Justin DeTone, Mike Zurzolo, Justin Kelly, Jack Shea, Brandon Marks, Matt Smith, Brian Cackowski, Chris Monteleone, and Josh Annandsingh entered the event to honor Tim's life and courage and they worked the race like a threshold practice. GO CHEROKEE!
Race details at: L & M Sports.
Our webpage discussing Tim is at Tim's memorial page.
