The second part of the Early Spring Season is a time of continuing preparation for the season and especially for the championship meets at the end of the season! Gradually improving speed, strength, endurance, and skills are the keys to success! It continues with the Eagle Relays at Central Regional High School; the Night of 3200's at Cherokee High School; the Penn Relays in Philadelphia; the South Jersey Open, Individuals at Delsea High School; the Night of 3200's at Holmdel High School; and the South Jersey Open, Relays at Rancocas High School.
GO CHEROKEE!
On April 18, 2019, the team split with Sprinters and Throwers traveling to the Eagle Relays at Central Regional High School in rocking Bayville, NJ and the distance team staying home for Cherokee's "Night of 3200's."
Our photographer stayed at home for the "Night of 3200's" but official results and videos are available at: NJ.Milesplit.
On April 18, 2019, Cherokee hosted their annual "Night of 3200's" and the team enjoyed many successes! Coach Shaklee reported:
"Fifteen Cherokee runners competed in our 'Night of 3200's,' along with 268 competitors from other teams. Of the fifteen, eleven established personal records at the event! In the case of Dom Gazzara, Bradley Popler, Jameson Crozier, Christian Bennett and Dylan Korte, it was their first 3200m on the track as Cherokee athletes. Still, there were some good debuts, especially Dom Gazzara's race which saw him take 2nd place in Heat 7 (of 13 heats)!
Matt Campbell and Bryan Lafferty raced in Heat 9. Bryan managed to dip under 11:00 and should run considerably faster at next month's Holmdel meet! The highlight of the night, however, may have been Matt Campbell's race! He not only PR'd by a half a minute but he won his heat with an absolutely flawless race! Matt bided his time through the first mile then took control of the race in the 2nd mile for a decisive win with a 12-second negative split!
Tyler Jackson, Nico Grilli, Mike Gavio, David Jackson, Brett Shea and Bobby Hackney all ran in Heat 12. Ty, Nico, Mike and Bobby all set new PR's with the first three all going under 10 minutes for the first time! Tyler closed well to finish in 9:43.51 which puts him 25th on the All-Time Cherokee list! Ty now has the distinction of being the only runner in Cherokee history to be on the 800m and 3200m list, but not the 1600 list. It seems likely that he will add his name to that list before season's end! Both Nico and Mike knocked 12 seconds off of their previous bests to move to 37th and 41st respectively on the Cherokee list with their times of 9:52.88 and 9:56.17!
In the seeded section, Heat 13, Chase Miller found himself between the leaders and the chase pack after three laps and he struggled over the last mile but still ran a highly-respectable sub-9:40 race! Ethan Wechsler continued his great year with another PR, dropping 5 seconds to 9:16.66 and moving to 5th on the All-Time Cherokee list, just 5/100th of a second behind Justin Kelly in 4th! Unfortunately, that nice time only managed to get him 2nd but there is clearly more there and we are anxious to see what he can run at the Holmdel meet!"
Results at: NJ.MileSplit.
On April 26 and 27, 2018, Cherokee sent two teams of sprinters across the river to The University of Pennsylvania's Franklin Field and The 125th Annual Penn Relays! This is a crazy-great multi-day meet and an incredible opportunity for Track athletes to challenge the best runners from around the United States and the Caribbean, and even though it's mid-season (not peak-season) for New Jersey athletes, it's a great experience! The meet runs, when not interrupted by lighting strikes, smoothly but everything else around it is in chaos! Mobbed corridors, stretching and warming-up athletes everywhere, hucksters selling everything imaginable! But, look, in the future, knowledgeable track friends will always ask, "You run Penns?" and it's always very cool to say, "Yeah, I did." They'll ask you what you ran but few will ask how well because most of them got killed!
This year, Cherokee entered two relay events with four athletes who had competed at the Penn Relays before -- Will Delendik, Tra Cabbagestalk, Tyler Ortiz and Ty Jackson -- and two who had not -- Mike Andes and Andrew Elsey -- and expectations were high!
In the 4 X 100m Relay, Andrew. Mike, Tra and Will raced a tad faster than last year's team -- really, 0.28 seconds -- and finished 23rd out of 126 teams in their "heat!" There were 5 "heats" of this type, with over 100 teams per heat! Coach Thompson reported that it was a cool and wet day for racing, including a 45 minute delay/evacuation because of thunder and lightening, but the team moved the baton well! He was especially impressed by Andrew Elsey's strong start! If you're really compulsive and want to know exactly where the team came out, check out Events/Heats 326 - 330 at: Friday Schedule. Cherokee was in 328.
In the South Jersey 4 X 400m Relay, Mike, Ty Jackson, Andrew and Ty Ortiz combined to finish well! Last year, the team clocked 3:31.41 and finished 10th of 31 South Jersey schools! This year, despite blustery winds, the team crossed the line a little faster, 3:31.17, but finished 2nd/16 overall in the South Jersey, Large Schools race!
Coach Thompson sent this detailed comment on the race:
"Mike Andes is new to track but he was given what most think is the toughest job in a relay: getting a strong start! He proved to be up to the task as he darted off the line and put himself in decent position. At the end of the first curve, a runner (Pennsauken?) went down right in front of him and Mike hurdled the kid, going over the rail into Lane 3 in the process! But he kept his balance and continued to race! The first exchange was a tough one as Mike had trouble finding Tyler Jackson. He did his best, plowing through the tight group of fifteen other teams, and passed the baton to Ty! Once Ty got it, he did what he does best . . . running a consistent and fast 400m! Andrew Elsey ran the third leg and got out fast, perhaps too fast, but he put the team into 2nd place where they would finish! His fast start caught up to him but he hung in there and passed the baton to Tyler Ortiz. Tyler also got out well and managed to keep a good distance between him and the following teams, crossing the line in an official 3:31.17! Former Coach Lynn was in the stands and reported these unofficial splits: 53.29, 51.72, 52.73, 53.25."
Coach Thompson provided a from-the-stands video of the 4 X 400m Relay race at: Google Video.
Knowing how track guys like the math, Coach Thompson added up the details on each of the relays! On Friday, 549 high school 4 X 100m Relay teams competed and Cherokee finished 130th, with the 9th fastest time among South Jersey teams! On Saturday, 534 high school 4 X 400m Relay teams competed and Cherokee finished 147th, with the 14th fastest time among South Jersey teams!
Specific details on their heat/event at: Penn Relays SJ Large Schools 4 X 400.
Main page for Penn Relays results at: Penn Relays Schedule/Results.
Our photographer was unavailable for the meet, and NJ.MileSplit is no longer allowed to photograph the event. However, USATF posted numerous "membership" videos from the meet at USATF Videos AND, if you belong to Runnerspace.com or know someone who does, both races appear to be available! Oh Mama!
On May 2, 2018, Cherokee sent a number of athletes to the SJ Open, an invitational, evening meet at Delsea Regional High School in Franklinville.
Coach Kramer reported on Luch Pizzarro's performance in both the Discus and Shot Put saying, "Luch had a really good day! In the disc, he threw 150' 10" which is a 16' PR (editor's note: a 16' PR is insane!) and good enough for 6th place! His throw is the farthest a Cherokee disc-thrower has thrown since Tom Nessler in 2005! In the Shot, he threw 53' 8" and he took 3rd place! These were the best places a Cherokee thrower has achieved at this meet in a long time!"
Coach Shaklee reported that "many of the Distance runners will compete in the 3200m tomorrow at Holmdel but a number of guys raced here at the Open and two did especially well! Freshman Dom Gazzara, improved his PR by 7 seconds in the Frosh 1600m, and Bobby Hackney PR'd in the 800m despite being boxed in coming off the last turn.
Coach Petruzzi highlighted four of his top runners! Tre Cabbagestalk clocked a 16.08 PR in the 110m High Hurdles and Joey Carroll clocked his own 60.60 PR in the 400 IH! In addition, both Mike Andes and Mike Elsey set nice PR's in the Open 400m, Andes at 50.96 and Elsey at 52.25!
Official results and race videos available at: NJ.MileSplit.
Part II of this meet, The SJTCA Open (Relays), will be contested on Saturday
On May 3, 2018, Cherokee took a small group of their Distance squad to the Holmdel "Night of 3200s, a crazy night with 19 heats of the 3200m Run, working from the "not so great" in Heat 1 to an incredible contingent of "really great" in Heat 19!
Coach Shaklee reported on the night:
"Of the seven Cherokee runners on Friday at Holmdel, five set new PR's! In Heat 10, Mike Moraschi knocked a couple seconds off his previous best while Bryan Lafferty took 4 seconds off of his best time from last year! Matt Campbell was next up in Heat 11 and he had another strong outing! After getting pulled out a bit too fast, Matt still managed to hang with the pack and move up over the course of the race to drop under 10:30 for the first time with a 6-second PR!
Nico Grilli and Mike Gavio were in Heat 16 and also got pulled out fast. It took its toll on both runners but Mike managed to hold on and set a new PR by 6 seconds. In Heat 17, Chase Miller had the opposite problem . . . a race that went out too slow! He was able to negative split for a season best by 5 seconds!
The best race of the night came in the final of the night, the seeded heat, which featured the strongest contingent of 3200m runners in the state! Ethan Wechsler took full advantage of the ideal conditions and the great competition to set an new PR by 6 seconds and finish 7th, setting a new Cherokee junior class record of 9:10.9! That time also moves Ethan to # 3 on the All-Time Cherokee List with only Marc Pelerin (9:01.89 in 2002) and Shawn Wilson (9:04.05 in 2013) ahead of him!"
In his 'From the Backstretch' Blog, dated May 3rd, 2019, Sports Writer Reuben Frank reported on the race briefly noting that "Cherokee junior Ethan Wechsler, 7th, 9:10.90. Wechsler dropped his PR from 9:16.66 at the 'Cherokee Night of Racing' two weeks ago. He gives Cherokee three runners at 9:10 or faster. His time is sixth-fastest in Burlington County history and fastest since Shawn Wilson, also of Cherokee, ran 9:04.05 in 2013." Mr. Frank also provided two interesting lists of Top South Jersey 3200m Performances Since the 1970's and the Top 12, All-Time Burlington County 3200m Performances copied to our website: Frank Lists.
Official results at: NJ.MileSplit.
On May 4, 2018, the team took the short bus ride over to Rancocas Valley High School for Part II of the SJTCA Open, the Relay portion.
Since many of the Distance squad competed on Thursday or Friday, Coach Shaklee sent a small contingent for both training and experience. He reported the following: "On Saturday, at the SJTCA Relays, Tyler Jackson used the meet to get in some needed speed work, running 52.7 on the 2nd Place Sprint Medley Relay, and 52.5 on the 3rd Place 4 X 400m Relay; and Dom Gazzara, Jameson Crozier (PR), Christian Bennett (PR) and Dylan Korte (PR) finished 9th in the Junior Varsity 4 X 800m Pelay, running 4 seconds faster than their seed time!" (Dom also won the "Safe At Home Plate" and the "Bruised Elbow" Awards! GO DOM!)
Coach Kramer was very happy with the Throwers' performances! He reported: "The Throwers had a really good day! Early on, Nathan Chang and Aiden King both threw PR's in the Javelin! Later, in the Shot Put, Jake Mesey, Max Fisher, and Jack Heron also threw PR's; and Brad Craton threw his own PR in the Discus! In the JV Javelin, Spencer Floyd and Jeremy Krementz also PR'd and they combined to take 3rd place in the event!"
Coach Petruzzi applauded Tre Cabbagestalk's new PR in the 400mIH of 60.49, and the 4 X 100m Relay team of Andrew Elsey, Mike Andes, Tre Cabbagestalk, and Will Delendik as they dipped below 44 for the first time: 43.97. He expects them to make a significant statement in the up-coming County and Conference Championships! He also liked the performance of the 4 X 400m Relay team of Andrew Elsey, Tyler Jackson, Tyler Ortiz and Mike Andes as they clocked a season PR of 3:27.32, highlighting the 51.8 and 50.9 run by Elsey and Andes respectively! Finally, he praised the JV Sprint Medley Relay team of Lorenzo Kinsman (55.9), Joshua Penn (25.6), Elijah Gil (24.7) and Lucas Hatch (2:12.2) as they took home medals running 3:58.30 with nice legs by all!
Official results at: NJ.MileSplit.
