The Winter Championship Season is upon us! First, there are several meets that are pretty interesting but not officially "state" championship meets: the SJTCA Winter Meet # 13 at the Bennett Center, the SJTCA Winter Meet # 14 at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Center on Staten Island; and the last of Cherokee Shot Put series, Throw Down # 3. After that, the State series begins in earnest with the South Jersey GP IV Sectional Championship at the Bennett Center! Then, for those who qualify, the NJ State Group IV Championships, and, of course, for those who qualify at Groups, the NJ State Meet of Champions! It's a brief run for those who fail to qualify at Sectionals but a long run for those who continue to advance! Let's hope the Chiefs have many qualifiers! GO CHIEFS!
On February 7, 2020, many of the younger guys on the team traveled to The Bennett Indoor Sports Complex for the South Jersey Track Coaches Association Winter Meet # 13, an opportunity for Freshmen and Novices to compete against others at their own age or experience levels.
Coach Shaklee sent this on the performances of the distance squad:
"The Cherokee distance team enjoyed a successful night on Friday at the SJTCA Frosh/Novice Meet at the Bennett Athletic Complex!
"The meet began with one Varsity event - the 3200m Run. Joe Natoli represented Cherokee well, placing 13th and establishing a new PR!
"Both the 800m and 1600m were combined frosh/novice events and the Cherokee results were impressive in both! All three runners in the 800m - Tommy Bromley, Patrick Ditmars and Jameson Crozier - established new PR's while placing 5th, 6th and 20th respectively! Each athlete closed well over the final 200m showing that they have the potential to run even faster!
"The final distance event, the 1600m, was equally impressive for the Cherokee runners! Aiden Dickinson established a new PR and finished 22nd overall, 9th in his heat! In that same heat, Ben Hackney ran a terrific race, staying focused throughout and placing 4th in the heat, 14th overall with a 10-second PR! In the final heat, Bryan Lafferty also ran a very impressive race, finishing 2nd in his heat (behind Schalick's #1 runner who had no business running in a novice meet!) and 3rd overall! Although not quite a PR, it was Bryan's best indoor time and certainly his best race of the year to date!"
Official results at: NJ.MiileSplit.
After this meet, NJMileSplit produced a list of the top-25 Freshmen throughout the state in each event and it's a tough one to make the cut! Freshman Tommy Bromley made the big time, listed 19th in the 1600m with his 4:51.99 clocking at Bennett in late January! We'll see if he and his close-running but unlisted classmate, Patrick Ditmars get a chance to advance on this and the 800m list! Article at: NJ.MileSplit.
On February 10, 2020, two of Cherokee's elite distance runners traveled to the fantastic Ocean Breeze Athletic Center for the South Jersey Track Coaches Association Winter Meet # 14! Ethan Wechsler and Chase Miller entered an unusual 3200m Run where several the top racers actually shared pacing duties!
Coach Shaklee provided this description of the race:
"Really nice efforts by both Ethan and Chase! The pacing duties were shared by Ethan, Cinnaminson's Austin Gabay and Haddonfield's Martin Riddell. Gabay took the group through the 800m in 2:21 with Riddell and Ethan sharing the next four laps to come through the 1600m at 4:42-4:43. After another well-paced 800m, things heated-up over the final four laps with Gabay taking the win in a new state Indoor Season best time of 9:15.9, Riddell finishing in 9:17.62 and Ethan setting a new indoor PR of 9:20.37 for 3rd!
"The only Cherokee runner to run faster indoors was Marc Pelerin, whose 2 mile time of 9:15.08 at the Eastern States Championships in 2002 converts to a 9:11.86 for 3200m!
"Chase ran with the 'chase pack' (ha ha!) and eventually pulled away to place 4th at 9:40.69, only .04 off of his indoor PR from last year's state meet where he placed 5th!
"With two weeks until the Sectional Championships, the boys are starting to roll into race shape!"
Reuben Frank, of NBC Sports Philadelphia, and writer of the South Jersey Track Coaches Association's blog, From the Backstretch, commented on the race! It is also available on our server at Austin Gabay runs all-time S.J. #11 in epic 3,200 battle with Martin Riddell, Ethan Wechsler at Ocean Breeze!!!!!. Five exclamation points! Wow!
Official results, videos, and additional details at: NJ.MileSplit.
On February 11, 2020, our photographer was on campus and he came upon a group of beautiful young ladies -- not from Cherokee -- all wearing the same shirt with a pithy statement -- "Embrace The Chase" -- emblazoned on their backs! Surely it has something to do with our teammate?! Who else could be "the Chase?!" You decide!
On February 11, 2020, Cherokee hosted the last of this year's series of Shot Put events: the Cherokee Throw Down # 3.
Official Results at NJ.MileSplit.
On February 17, 2020, the team traveled up the NJ Turnpike to the Ocean Breeze Athletic Center on Staton Island, NY for the South Jersey Track Coaches Association Winter Meet # 15!
Coach Shaklee sent this comment on the performances of his distance runners:
"All the racers were affected by the ridiculous way the event was organized. Races were called 45 mins to an hour early and, once checked in, the athletes were forced to stand by the side of the track without sweats or the opportunity to do any additional jogging or striders. It negated any warm-up they had done and left each of them less prepared to race than they would have been with proper warm-up! Despite this, there were a number of fine performances!
"Mike Gavio got things started off nicely in the first event of the meet, the 3200! He ran a tactical race, covered each move and finished well to win with a new indoor PR! Mike is ready to contend for a top 6 finish, and a place in the following week's state meet, at this Sunday's at the South Jersey Group 4 (Sectional) Championship!
"Both Ben Hackney and Jameson Crozier ran excellent races in the 800! Ben won his heat and set a new PR by 4 seconds! Jameson placed 2nd in his heat and PRed by 5 seconds! A great way for both runners to finish their indoor seasons!
"While it didn't go quite as well for Tyler Jackson in the seeded section, he still managed to run sub-2:00 and finish 3rd in a tactical race that went out much too slowly. Tyler will be ready for a more aggressive race at Sectionals on Sunday!
"Ethan Wechsler, Chase Miller and Brett Shea all ran well in the 1600, placing 1st, 2nd and 4th overall! Ethan soloed a 4:21 showing that he is ready to roll as we head into the championship season! Chase closed his last 200 in 31 seconds to run away from the rest of the field and setting a new indoor PR in the process! Brett had a huge PR, almost 5 seconds faster than his best from last spring! He also closed well which indicates he may have more in the tank for Sectionals this Sunday!
"Ethan, Chase and Brett each had only a couple of minutes (literally!) to recover before joining Tyler Jackson on the 4 X 400. The order of events was changed at the last minute without warning which meant that their 4 X 4 heat was the next event after their heat of the 1600! Tyler, who had some time to recover after the 800, got the team out to a lead but the three 1600 guys could barely move as they tried their best despite the massive amount of lactate still in their systems! It was painful but they lived through it!
"In the meet's last event, the 4 X 800, the team of Lucas Hatch, Tommy Bromley, Patrick Ditmars and Bryan Lafferty, finished 5th. While no PR's were set, all four runners came close to their best times!
"And now, on to the Championships! Sectionals this weekend, Group States next weekend, and the Meet Of Champions the following weekend! The guys are fit and ready!"
Official results and videos at: NJ.MileSplit.
On February 23, 2020, the team returned to the Bennett Center in Toms River for the NJSIAA South Jersey Group 4 (Sectional) Championships, the first qualifying step to the State Meet of Champions!
Coach Shaklee sent a glowing report on his team's performance:
"The distance team had a successful day at the SJ Group 4 Sectional Meet on Sunday.
"In the 1600, both Ethan Wechsler and Tyler Jackson advanced to the State Group 4 Championships by placing 3rd and 4th respectively! In a tactical race, both athletes ran big negative splits and both closed the last 200 under 30 seconds to secure their spots! Ethan ran 28.4 on his last lap and almost nipped the 2nd place runner at the line; and Tyler finished in 29.7 to pull away from the 5th place finisher! Tyler's time was an indoor PR! Brett Shea ran a solid race as well, finishing in 9th with his second fastest 1600 ever!
"Tyler Jackson doubled back in the 800 and survived a poor start to work his way up to a 4th place finish, advancing to the State Group Championships in two events! Freshman Tommy Bromley ran an aggressive race and held on to set a new 800 PR! Lucas Hatch was Cherokee's 3rd man in the 800, running just a couple of seconds off his indoor best!
"Ethan Wechsler doubled back in the 3200 and finished 3rd in a highly competitive field. Like Tyler, he also advanced to Groups in two events! Despite being tired from his 1600 effort, Ethan's time was less than 1/2 a second off of his best indoor time run fresh on the banked Ocean Breeze track! Chase Miller came through with a 5th place finish, setting a new indoor PR in the process and also advancing to Groups! Although not his best race, Mike Gavio still ran well to finish 8th in the field of 40!"
Our photographer, often at the starting line, complained several times to the race starters because they allowed what he thought was an unfair situation on the starting line. The routine has the runners stand three steps back from a curved starting line and, on command, they move to the line and wait for the gun to fire. In almost every race, the athletes squeezed towards the inside and, besides creating an unsafe situation for the starting runners, it was very unfair to many of the runners, especially the smaller ones. He's still working on the meet's pictures but he especially enjoyed the "Great Escape" performed by Tommy Bromley in the start of the 800!
Official results and race videos at: NJ.MileSplit.com.
Coach Shaklee sent this short video to some of his coaching friends and opened a brisk discussion on distance running in America. One wry commentator mentioned one of his distance athletes who complained because the school had assigned his parking spot on the far side of the lot; and almost everyone remembered the father or grandfather who "walked 10 miles to school!" . . . and how the distance grew as Dad or Pop Pop got older! Enjoy this brief view of Kenyan life and its relationship to running success at: YouTube.
On February 29, 2020, three of Cherokee's top distance runners returned to the Bennett Center in Toms River for the NJSIAA State Group 4 Championship and, if you weren't there, you missed three great races, with one of them, probably one of the greatest races ever run by a Cherokee athlete!
Coach Shaklee sent the following comments on his runners:
"Three Cherokee athletes towed the line for the Group 4 State Championships at the Bennett Center on Saturday. Tyler Jackson competed in the 1600, while Ethan Wechsler and Chase Miller ran the 3200.
"First up was the 1600. Although he had a difficult time getting into a rhythm due to the tactical nature of the race, Tyler was able to finish 7th, advance to the State Meet of Champions, and set a new personal record by almost 2 seconds! His 4:23.41 puts Tyler at number 13 on the Cherokee All-Time 1600m List! Only five of those in front of him - Marc Pelerin, 2002; Justin Kelly, 2018; Shawn Wilson, 2012; Ethan Wechsler, 2020 and Steve Burkholder, 2010 - ran faster indoors!
"In the 3200m, Ethan and Chase, were facing a very deep field of talented runners! Chase qualified by placing 5th in the South Jersey Group 4 (Sectionals) last week with an indoor PR of 9:37.32. He ran a terrific race this week, dropping almost 9 seconds to finish 6th with a new overall personal record, a half a second faster than his previous best from last Spring's Group 4 State Meet! Chase ran smart in the early stages, tough through the middle and he closed very well - 31.0 on the last 200 - to finish with his best race to date! He is ready to take a few more seconds off at next week's State Meet of Champions!
"Ethan was faced with the tough task of racing the two runners who beat him last week at the sectional meet, Oliver Adler of CH East and Jackson Braddock of Southern, as well as two other strong runners who won their sectional races in North 2, Jackson Barna of Ridge, and Central, Vidhur Polham of South Brunswick. The race was honest from the start and the first 1600 passed in 4:37 with Braddock leading. When it started to slow, Polham went to the lead. Ethan covered each move and stayed in position to contend for the win. With one lap to go and four runners still in contention (Barna had fallen off the pace), Ethan put his head down and went to the lead with an aggressive move. He kept it up down the backstretch but Adler still managed to close the gap. Coming off the last turn, Ethan found another gear and pushed to the finish with Adler responding in kind. At the line it was too close to call but the auto-timing showed that Adler had just edged in front by the smallest of margins - .03 seconds! Despite the loss, it was, without a doubt, one of the best races Ethan has ever run! Definitely a race to be proud of! Ethan's last 200 was covered in 27.7 seconds and he finished in 9:12.90, 8 seconds faster than his time from last week and only 2 seconds off of his outdoor PR! In addition, he is now only a second off of the Cherokee Indoor 3200 record of 9:11.86 run by Marc Pelerin 18 years ago! That record is certainly in danger next week at the State Meet of Champions!"
Reuben Frank, of NBC Sports Philadelphia, and writer of the South Jersey Track Coaches Association's blog, From the Backstretch, commented on the 3200m and provided some background! It is also available on our server at Oliver Adler, Ethan Wechsler run all-time S.J. #5 and #6 in 3,200 in monster 3,200 battle at Group 4 states!!!!!! . . . I know, insane, isn't it? . . . six exclamation points! But worth every key stroke!
Official results, videos and pictures at: NJ.MileSplit. The videos are sometimes annoying to find, so here's Ty's race at: NJ.MileSplit; and Ethan and Chase's race at: NJ.MileSplit.
On March 1, 2020, the NJSIAA merged the results from the six Groups Championships and announced the seeding for the upcoming MOC. In the 3200m, where 30 advanced, Ethan Wechsler, with his 9:12.90 finish at Groups, is seeded 5th; and Chase Miller with his 9:28.81, is seeded 12th! In the 1600m, again where 30 advanced, Ty Jackson, with his 4:23.41, is seeded 15th!
On March 8, 2020, three of Cherokee's top distance runners, having qualified at last week's Group States, traveled to the Ocean Breeze Athletic Center on Staten Island, NY for the NJSIAA State Champions!
Coach Shaklee reported the following soon after the meet:
"Things got started on a very positive note in the 1600 meter run! Tyler Jackson ran a picture-perfect race with even splits and a strong finish to win the first heat in an incredible new PR (by almost 5 seconds!) of 4:18.83! (That's when things got goofy!) An official error in the 2nd heat saw everyone kicking one lap early and then being told to continue for another lap! The result was that Tyler's time held up for 2nd place overall! His time was not only a huge PR but it also moved him all the way up to # 7 on the All-Time Cherokee 1600m list!"
"While the 3200 did not go quite as spectacularly, both Ethan Wechsler and Chase Miller ran well. Ethan dropped 7/10th of a second off of his Indoor PR set last week, running 9:12.20 to take 7th! For the record, Ethan now has three of the top seven 3200 times ever run by a Cherokee runner! Marc Pelerin '00 has three and Shawn Wilson '13 has one!
"Chase found himself in no-man's land early and was forced to do much of the pace work through the first 2/3's of the race. Despite that, he was still able to run his 2nd fastest Indoor time and his 3rd fastest time overall!"
Reuben Frank, of NBC Sports Philadelphia, and writer of the South Jersey Track Coaches Association's blog, From the Backstretch, commented on the 3200m race and, as usual, provided a variety of interesting All-Time lists! It is also available on our server at: AUSTIN GABAY RUNS # 11 TIME IN STATE HISTORY IN MIND-BLOWING MEET OF CHAMPIONS 3,200!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, his capital letters, and, yes, we counted them . . . thirteen exclamation points! An All-Time record!
(But there's more to the 1600m story than Coach Shaklee knew on race day! On the following two days, Reuben Frank and Jim Lambert, former Sports Reporter for the Trenton Star-Ledger now writing for NJ.MileSplit, reported on the final decision in the 1600m race made by NJSIAA and their articles are available on our server at: Cherokee's Tyler Jackson runs the race of his life . . . but the result is not what he expected!!!)
Huge congratulations to Cherokee's new STATE CHAMPION, TY JACKSON!
Results, videos and lots of other stuff at: NJ.MileSplit. Also, there's a specific feature on the 3200m Run at: NJ.MileSplit.
On March 11, 2020, the National Scholastic Athletic Foundation canceled the New Balance National Indoor Championships at the Armory because of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. That ended the dream of Cherokee's distance aces, Ethan Wechsler, Chase Miller, Brett Shea and Tyler Jackson to re-set what they thought was a vulnerable record in the 4 X 1600m Relay! Back in 2016, Cherokee's Mike Zurzolo '17, Justin Kelly '18, Jack Shea '17 and Nick Falk '17 set the current record at 17:45.37 (converted from yards) at the New Balance Outdoor Nationals. Maybe later, guys?!
In the meantime, NJ.MileSplit provided the Final Rankings for Indoor, 2020 in every event and added a list that goes 1,000 deep in the rankings! Surely you can find your name somewhere!
Check it out: NJ.MileSplit rankings.
On March 17, 2020, at the beginning of the Coronavirus Pandemic, Reuben Frank, using his own records and NJ.MileSplit, began a project to list all the South Jersey County Indoor Record Holders on his blog, From the Backstretch, and the Burlington County list is available on our server at: Burlington County Indoor Record Holders.