Last year, the season began with some relatively cold days but soon the winter became a lot warmer than usual. That ain't happening this year! The season began unpleasantly and it continues with more early snow and record cold than anyone can remember! As usual, the distance guys get out and run, focusing on base and strength training, while the throwers, jumpers and sprinters find warmer places to work on skills and conditioning, and all look forward to indoor meets to check on how things are progressing. GO CHIEFS!
On January 11th, 2018, many of our team returned to the Bennett Center for the cleverly-named South Jersey Track Coaches Association Winter Meet # 7. (Really, can't they come up with better names for their meets? Maybe "The Burn 'Um Up Relays"? . . . "The Rock and Sock 'Um Relays"? . . . "Tear-Up the Track Relays"? Whadda ya think . . . better than the "South Jersey Track Coaches Association Winter Meet # 7"?)
Anyway, before getting to the details of the meet, check out "The Sock-It-To-Them Kid" as he passes the baton. Why would a guy discard one of his shoes during a race, you ask? Isn't it more comfortable to keep both shoes on?
Several guys on the team competed well! Among the Jumpers, Kenny Sprankle tied his PR of 10' 6" in the Pole Vault for the 4th straight meet; and Liam DiFerdinando cleared 5' in his first ever High Jump! Also, the Freshman 4 X 200m Relay team of Angelo Calderon, Joseph Juliano, Chima Opare and Avi Desai, running against Varsity squads, didn't set any records but looked good passing the baton! Finally, the Shuttle Hurdle team of Joey Carroll, Tray Cabbagestalk, Naledge Brown and Ty Ortiz ran their fastest time of the year by a full second!
The Distance squad had two nice races! In the Distance Medley Relay, Chris Spisak looked very good in his first race of the winter, leading from the start in the 1200m before pulling away from the field over the last lap. The three others, Tyler Jackson in the 400m, Brandon Marks in the 800m, and Justin Kelly anchoring in the 1600m, did the best they could with no competition and the team won by 6 seconds! Their time should qualify the team for the seeded heat of the upcoming State Relays! In their second race, the 4 X 800m Relay, Justin Kelly doubled back and ran a strong lead-off leg to give the baton to Ethan Wechsler with the lead. Ethan PR'd and had a strong last lap to open up a small lead on the field! Mike Iannotta lost his shoe (no more slip-ons, Mike!) on the 2nd lap but still manage to run well enough to hand off in 3rd! Chase Miller set a season PR on the anchor as the team clocked their fastest time of the winter (so far) and finished 3rd!
Official results at: NJ.MileSplit.
On January 13th, 2018, the team traveled to the Bennett Center again, this time for the Olympic Conference Indoor Championships, and it was a great day for the Cherokee boys track team! Indeed, every boy who competed in an individual event, except for one, set a PR or had one of their top five performances ever!
The highlight of the day came very late in the meet. Sophomore Chris Spisak ran 9:39.90 in the 3200m Run for Cherokee's only win of the day! He took it out hard, strung out the field, and pulled away for a 9-second win and the 7th fastest time in the state this year so far! It was a new PR and he looked like he had more in him if pushed! He also came off quite well in his interview with Andrew Koob of nj.com. Read the interview here: NJ. com. If unavailable at that site, check here.
Senior Jonathan Conn was also in the race. He crossed the line in 10:28.62, an Indoor PR, and he finished 5th in the Olympic Conference!
Continuing on the distance events, in the 4 X 800m Relay, Sophomore Bobby Hackney, Sophomore Mike Gavio, Senior Jacob Hyzy, and Junior Michael Moraschi ran 9:09.10 but finished just out of the medals in 4th place! Bobby was close to his PR, Mike set a PR, and Jake set an Indoor PR! In the 1600m Run, Senior Brandon Marks won the only individual Silver medal by taking 2nd in the Olympic Conference with a terrific performance highlighted by a very fast 30-second final 200m! Finally, Sophomore Ethan Wechsler continued his string of nice races, and dropped his 800m PR by an astonishing 10 seconds, as he finished 3rd in the Olympic Conference! Classmate Chase Miller was two spots back in 5th place with another PR performance!
Among the Sprinter/Hurdlers, all three boys in the 55m Dash either set or tied their PR's. Junior Will Delendik had the fastest time of the three as he exactly matched his PR of 6.98! He missed making the final by .03 seconds and finished in 10th place! Junior Tray Cabbagestalk was just a few ticks back in 7.03 which also tied his PR and placed him in 12th! Junior Andrew Elsey ran a PR of 7.08 to finish 18th!
The three guys taking a crack at the Open 55HH for the first time had decent first outings! Junior Tyler Ortiz had the best finish of the day by running 8.97 for 11th place! Senior Naledge Brown ran 9.14 for 15th; and Sophomore Joey Carroll ran 9.75 for 19th! Tyler Ortiz came back from the 55HH to run the Open 400m Dash in 56.45, the second best time of his life (indoors or outdoors) and he finished 19th!
The final event on the track, the 4 X 400m Relay of Sophomore Tyler Jackson, Senior CJ Lee, Senior Rome Young, and Senior Kevin Milligan, clocked 3:35.97 for 2nd place!
In the Jumps, Andrew Elsey cleared 5' 8" in the High Jump and took 3rd place! In the Throws, Junior Luch Pizarro had the second best performance of his life (Indoors or Outdoors) by putting the shot 40' 9.75" to finish 9th in the competition; and Senior Kieran Kelly recorded the 3rd and 4th best performances of his life with throws of 38' 0.50" and 37' 8" to finish just behind Luch in 10th!
Official results at: NJ.MileSplit.
Our photographer was unavailable for the meet but there are several posed awards pictures.
On January 16th, 2018, many of the younger guys on the team traveled to the Bennett Center for the South Jersey Track Coaches Association Winter Meet # 8, a meet largely devoted to novice competitors. (Following our vigorous statewide campaign to add some zest to the names of meets at the Center, let's call this one, "The South Jersey Bubble Buster!" Whadda ya think?)
The meet began with two distance events and Cherokee's Distance squad acquitted themselves very well! Indeed, of the seven athletes who competed, six set new PR.s and the seventh was less than a second off of his! The evening began with an "invitational" Varsity 3200m. Bobby Hackney ran a competitive race to finish 11th, setting a new PR. Mike Gavio was 12th and came very close to his PR from last spring. Following that, the Novice 800m featuring three Cherokee Freshmen. Nico Grilli dropped his PR by five seconds to finish 8th out of 70 competitors! Bryan Lafferty dropped eight seconds off of his previous best to finish 20th; while Ian Bialy improved by seven seconds to place 27th!
The distance highlight of the night came in the Novice 1600m with Freshmen, Brett Shea and Dylan Odud both setting new PR's to take 1st and 3rd out of 45 runners! Shea's performance was especially impressive as he ran away from the field, winning by nine seconds with the 5th fastest time in the state by a Freshman this year and the best Freshman time in South Jersey! Odud's time makes him the 3rd fastest South Jersey Freshman of the winter season to date.
Among the Sprint squad, in the 55m Dash, Senior Joe Sands and Junior Moses Harris raced the event for the first time in their lives and they both posted respectable times! Joe clocked a 7.32 and finished 20th; while Moses was a few tenths behind in 7.39 and finished 24th! Finally, in the 4 X 200m Relay, Senior Joe Sands, Freshman Chima Opara, Sophomore Angelo Calderon, and Freshman Avi Desai ran 1:45.52 for 12th place!
Cherokee's our only field athletes in action were Junior Ethan Hilburn and Freshman Chika Omeronye. Ethan had a best put of 23' 4.25" and finished in 31st place. Chika had a big PR of 27' 0" which put him 26th when the results were tallied.
Details at: NJ.MileSplit.
Our photographer is always disappointed with his results at "the dark hole" so he amuses himself playing with a PhotoShop filter, which he thinks is "very cool!" (OK, be nice to him!) Here are a few:
NOTICE: Based on recent experience -- you guys know who you are -- Coach Shaklee asked his mother to present a class on "Shoe-Tying, the Right Way" to his distance runners! He pointed out that, after 30-plus years of competitive racing where he never had a shoe come untied, he had to give credit to his mother who taught him how to do it properly! Now he wants his mother to pass this lesson along to his untaught runners! See your schedules for the class time and place! Also, thank you for your interest but there is no word on when he has scheduled the class on "Using Hair Gels and Sprays."
On January 19th, 2018, Cherokee's Varsity returned to the Bennett Center for one of "The Bigs:" the NJSIAA Group IV Relay Championships and most came home with big smiles on their faces!
In the Distance events, the guys did well again! The Distance Medley Relay, for example, was one of the fastest Indoor DMR's Cherokee has ever run . . . and this was at The Bubble (a flat track with tight turns) in mid-January! Chris Spisak did an excellent job on the lead-off 1200m leg, taking it out hard and stringing out the field. He held on well to hand-off in a tie for 2nd. Kevin Milligan, in the 400m, lost some time running wide around the first couple of turns but still managed to hand off in the lead! Brandon Marks did a great job on the 800m leg, knocking 2 seconds off of his pervious season-best and putting Cherokee right in it at the hand-off! Finally, Justin Kelly, anchoring in the 1600m leg, bested his Outdoor PR by 2 seconds and brought the team home in 3rd! Their time, the fastest for Cherokee since 2001, and the fastest in Burlington County since then as well, puts Cherokee 6th on the state list for the season and should give the guys great confidence at the Eastern States Championships in New York next month! Reuben Frank of Comcast Sports reported on this race in his SJ Track Blog, and it's copied on our server at: Reuben Frank on Kelly and DMR.
The distance squad medaled again in another challenging event, the 4 X 800m Relay! Ty Jackson ran a strong lead-off to put Cherokee right in the mix! His time was the fastest 800m on the team so far this year! Ethan Wechsler followed but he suffered a "wardrobe malfunction" -- his shoe came untied and off! -- that slowed him a bit! Still, he managed to keep Cherokee in the top 6! Chris Spisak, doubling back from the earlier DMR, ran very aggressively, trying hard to put us back up with the top 3. It was a brave effort but the aggressive pace probably cost him a bit of time over the last 400m. Regardless, the Chiefs remained in the top 6 when Justin Kelly, also doubling back, got the baton! Despite being tired, he ran a tough anchor leg and moved Cherokee into 5th by the finish! While the time wasn't quite what they had hoped for, placing in both the DMR and the 4 X 800m was a great sign of things to come!
The Sprinter/Hurdlers distinguished themselves in several events! In the 4 X 200m Relay, Rome Young, CJ Lee, Andrew Elsey and Will Delendik ran their fastest time of the year, with both Will Delendik and Andrew Elsey clocking PR splits! The team placed 17th in a field of 46 teams! In the Sprint Medley Relay, CJ Lee, Andrew Elsey and Will Delendik all ran strong legs to give Chase Miller the baton in good position! Chase ran a PR on the anchor 800m leg and Cherokee finished 3rd in the heat and 17th overall in a field of 50 teams! Finally, among this group, the Shuttle Hurdles Relay raced their fastest time of the year by about 3 seconds! Tra Cabbagestalk, Joey Carrol, Ty Ortiz and Naledge Brown clocked the fastest Indoor SHR since 2010 and the 5th fastest in Cherokee history, with Joey Carrol and Ty Ortiz setting new PR's!
In the High Jump, Joey Carrol tied his PR of 5' 8"!
In the Throws, both Luch Pizarro and Kieran Kelly threw the second-best throws of their lives! Luch threw less than 2" shy of his PR, and Kieran threw 5" shy of his!
Official details at: Nj.MileSplit.
On January 22nd, 2018, the previously-postponed SJTCA Winter Meet # 4 was contested. Cherokee took several athletes to compete in a few of the events!
The team entered only two Sprint events: the 400m and the 55m Dashs! In the 400m, Senior Joe Sands lowered his indoor PR to 57.33; and Junior Aatish Gupta dropped his lifetime best (indoors and outdoors) to 58.19! Aatish's race was especially challenging as he and two others raced the final 50m side by side until the finish line! A collision at the line didn't stop him from finishing 1st in the heat! In the 55m Dash, Freshman Chima Opara was the highest placer for the Chiefs as he lowered his PR from 7.43 set in the first SJTCA meet of the season to 7.32 tonight! Sophomore Angelo Calderon was just 0.03 off his best with a time of 7.35; and Freshmen Mike Wolfe and Dylan DiPietro made their debuts in the event and clocked times of 7.70 and 8.11, respectively!
Similarly, the team entered only two Distance events: the 1600m and the 3200m Runs. Sophomores Ethan Wechsler and Chase Miller brought home the only medals from the meet as they finished 2nd and 3rd in the 1600m Run. They both established new lifetime bests in the process! Ethan's time was 4:34.16 and Chase came across the line in 4:34.94! The race started fast but settled in and Chase slipped by the leader on the inside just after the halfway point. Ethan went with him and they began to string out the field. They were able to drop everyone but a Highland runner. Ethan closed in 64.7 and Chase in 65.4 for the last 400m but the Highland runner closed just a couple tenths faster and they ended up 2nd and 3rd!
In the 3200m Run, Seniors Jonathan Conn and Matt Smith crossed the finish line so close even the electronic timing had a tough time distinguishing between the two: Jon was clocked at 10:35.43 and Matt was a hair back at 10:35.44! The race did not set up well for them as they got pulled out too fast and then found themselves without a pack to run with. To their credit, they kept racing hard and managed respectable times but still a ways off of their respective PR's.They finished 9th and 10th overall!
In the Field, Cherokee entered only two Shot Putters: Senior Josh Morgan and Junior Ethan Hilburn. Josh had a best throw of 26' 3" which is the second best throw of his life (indoors or outdoors); Ethan set a new PR (by 1") with a best throw of 24' 9"!
Official details at: NJ.MileSplit.
NOTICE: Rather than take "all that time" to learn how to tie his shoes correctly, one of our athletes is testing a new locking device -- Lock Laces For Toddlers -- guaranteed to prevent shoes from coming untied in a race (or in the playpen)! We'll watch this experiment closely and report on its effectiveness throughout the season!
On January 24th, 2018, a large part of the team returned to the Bennett Center in Toms River for the South Jersey Track Coaches Association Winter Meet # 9. Here are some highlights:
Among the Sprinter, it went pretty well, especially for Kevin Milligan who ran 52.4 in the Open 400m Dash even after getting his spikes ripped off at the 200 meter mark! (Yeah, I know, what is it with Cherokee athletes losing their shoes?! In 14 days, three experienced athletes finished their races with only one shoe!) Kevin returned in the 55m Dash where he managed to keep his shoes on and clock a PR of 7.06! Also in the 55m Dash, Tray Cabbagestalk broke 7.0 and clocked a 6.98 PR; CJ Lee set his own PR of 7.03; and Joey Carroll did the same dropping his PR to 9.47!
Tray Cabbagestalk returned in the 55m High Hurdles and set another PR 8.77!
In the Jumps, Kenny Sprankle broke through in the Pole Vault and cleared 11' for the first time; and Liam DiFerdinando cleared 5' 6" in the High Jump, a 6" PR!
Our photographer was unavailable for this meet.
Official details at: NJ.MileSplit.
On January 27th, 2018, about 40 members of the team returned to Staten Island, NY for the Ocean Breeze High School Invitational and an unusually high number came home with medals and/or Personal Records! (Coach Lynn counted 27 PR's!) The following are Coach McMichael's memories of the day:
Things got started with the bang as Ethan Wechsler and Chase Miller did great things in the Varsity 2 Mile Run! Ethan finished 4th in the White Division race, clocking in 9:39.60, which equates to 9:36.24 for 3200m! That demolished the PR he set last outdoor season of 10:50.74! Chase finished 9th in the same race, clocking 9:55.07, which converts to 9:51.62 for 3200m! That beats his PR of 9:57.54 from last outdoor season! Reuben Frank of Comcast Sports reported on Ethan's race in his SJ Track Blog.
As the 2 Mile Run was taking place, action got started on the infield with the 55m High Hurdles. Coming into this meet, Naledge Brown's old PR in the 55m Hurdles was 9.14. He ran 8.78 today! Joey Carroll also lowered his PR in the 55m Hurdles from 9.47 to 9.41 today! Their teammates, Tray Cabbagestalk ran 8.63 and Tyler Ortiz ran 9.44!
Back on the oval, the next event was the 800m Run. Brandon Marks ran 2:02.71 in the Red Division race. That obliterated his old Indoor PR of 2:13.57 and lowered his Outdoor PR of 2:02.77. Teammate Jake Hyzy broke his Indoor PR in the 800m by over 2 seconds, dropping from 2:20.70 to 2:18.55! Matt Zeitz also dropped his Indoor PR in the 800m from 2:32.14 to 2:28.20. Mike Iannotta ran 2:07.38 and George Villanueva clocked in at 2:30.47.
Then, as the 800m was taking place, the focus shifted back to the infield for more short sprints as the 55m Dash was contested. Andrew Elsey had the best time of the day for the Chiefs by running 6.96, which is a big PR for him as he has never run under 7 seconds before! His PR coming into the season was 7.19 and his best time prior to this meet was 7.08! Freshman Chima Opara cut his PR in the 55m Dash from 7.32 to 7.24 today; and Joe Juliano dropped his PR in the 55m Dash from 7.88 to 7.78! Other teammates ran well but didn't clock new PR's: Tray Cabbagestalk ran 7.06; Kevin Milligan ran 7.15; Angelo Calderon ran 7.33; and Mike Wolfe ran 7.72.
Back on the track, the 200m Dash was contested. Kevin Milligan nipped 0.01 off of his Indoor PR in the 200m crossing the line in 23.73 today! CJ Lee ran 24.04 which chopped time off both his Indoor (24.34) and Outdoor (24.24) PR's! Rome Young ran 24.24; Tyler Ortiz ran 24.62; Chima Opara ran 25.39; Angelo Calderon ran 25.68; Naledge Brown ran 26.55; and Joe Juliano ran 27.57!
The final running event for the Chiefs was the Varsity Mile Run. Unfortunately, Justin Kelly was feeling under the weather and he was unable to complete his race. Chris Spisak finished 2nd in his heat in the Red Division in 4:26.76, which equates to 4:25.21 for 1600m. That shattered his Indoor PR of 4:42.58 and his Outdoor PR of 4:30.34! Jon Conn ran 5:00.26, which equated to 4:58.52 for 1600m. That broke his old Indoor PR of 5:06.55! Matt Smith ran 4:50.36, which converted to 4:48.68 in the 1600m! That broke his previous Indoor best of 5:04.50 from all the way back in 2016! Matt Morgan's previous PR of 5:30.57 was also set in 2016 but he smashed that time today by running 5:12.30, which equals 5:10.49 for 1600m! Bobby Hackey ran 4:49.92 (the second fastest Cherokee time of the day) which is 4:48.24 for 1600m, a drop of over 6 seconds in his PR! Dylan Odud clocked a 4:52.03, which is 4:50.34 for 1600m. That is another new PR as his previous best was 4:58.15! Michael Gavio ran 4:55.01 which translates to 4:30.30 for 1600m! That breaks his PR of 4:56.30! Brett Shea ran 4:50.22; Michael Moraschi ran 5:02.01; Bryan Lafferty ran 5:09.50; Ian Bialy ran 5:17.88; and Matt Campbell ran 5:38.13 for the full Mile!
Along with all this action on the track, the Chiefs had several guys doing very well in the field events! Luch Pizarro came in with PR's of 38' 3" (Outdoors) and 41' 3" (Indoors) in the Shot Put. He managed to get the 12 pound shot to go farther than both of those distances with a best effort today of 42' 2.5"! His teammates, Kieran Kelly threw 37' 9.5" and Darien Massimino threw 25' 11.5"!
Over at the Jumps, Liam DiFerdinando and Moses Harris had pretty impressive days! Liam cleared 19' 5" in the Long Jump to replace his previous best of 18" 9". Moses improved on his Indoor PR in the Long Jump by over a foot! His best jump today of 17' 8.5" replaced his previous Indoor best of 16' 3.5"! Mike Wolfe jumped 14' 3" today; and Nkenna Opara was just off his Indoor PR of 19' 8" with a best today of 19' 0"! Andrew Elsey returned from his performance in the 55m Dash to the High Jump where he cleared 5' 8", tying his season-PR for the third time; and Joey Carroll returned from the 55m High Hurdles to clear 5' 6" in the High Jump!
In the Triple Jump, Liam DiFerdinando returned from his PR performance in the Long Jump to do the same in the Trip! His new PR: 40" 10", which erased his old marks: 40' 0" (Outdoor) and 40' 7" (Indoor)! Following Liam, Moses Harris also double PR'ed (in the LJ and TJ) by hopping, skipping, and jumping to a new best of 36' 6" which replaces his previous PR from earlier this season of 35' 11"! As in the Long Jump, Nkenna Opara didn't break any records but he still had a solid performance with a best jump of 40' 10"!
Finally, in the Pole Vault, Kenny Sprankle was Cherokee's lone competitor and he cleared 10' 6" for the fourth time this season!
Official Results at: NY MileSplit.
Again, our photographer was unavailable for the meet. The New York MileSplit people supplied only a few marginal photographs showing Cherokee runners but they did videotape almost all the races on the track! The videos lacks the intimacy that we've become accustomed to (it's like watching a golf tournament from the GoodYear blimp!) but it is something . . .. You need to be (or know someone who is) a MileSplit member to get access to the videos. Use link above.