The Winter Championship Season is upon us! While there are two meets that are not part of the State Championship series -- two SJTCA/Bennett Center meets -- the South Jersey GP IV Sectional Championship at the Bennett Center comes very soon! In the State series, for those who qualify at Sectionals, the NJ State Group IV Championship, and, of course, for those who qualify at Groups, the NJ State Meet of Champions! It's a very busy time, however, for many who do and do not qualify in the State series: at least four meets at Ocean Breeze and the Bennett Center are available before Groups, and then two more before the Meet of Champions! But, don't panic, coaches and athletes select who participates in the different meets! Good luck to all! GO CHIEFS!
On January 26th, 2024, some members of the team returned to the Bubble at Toms River to compete in the Olympic Conference Meet and several did very well!
Coach Shaklee was generally happy with his Distance group's performance:
"The distance squad had a good night at the Olympic Conference Meet on Friday, January 26th at the Toms River Bubble.
"Things got off to a great start in the 1600 where two freshmen, Leo Vyvyan and Ben Realley, raced. Leo got things started, racing in heat 3 of 5. He ran sub 5:10 in his first 1600 to finish 3rd in his heat! He was challenged down the last straightaway by a runner from Pennsville but held him off by 1/100th of a second with a strong kick! Ben was running in the seeded heat and had instructions to go with the leaders and "just be there" with a lap to go. Although he did not stick to that race plan, it was good to see him run so aggressively and confidently! Shortly before the 400, Ben took the lead and opened up a gap on the field which he maintained until a little before the 1200. At that point, the field had closed in and, with 350 to go, the runner from Washington Township started a strong finishing kick and went by Ben who did his best to chase him. Despite running 63.6 for the last 400, Ben did not quite catch the lead runner. However, he still finished in second with a time of 4:28.75, eclipsing the previous Cherokee Freshman Record of 4:30.34, set by Chris Spisak at the South Jersey Invitational (outdoors) in 2017! Ben's strong finish, coupled with the fact that he led most of the race, indicates that, in the right race, he is capable of something even faster right now! (Ever notice how the coach strongly applauds a great race but ends by saying he expects more NOW?!)
"The 800 was next and, although it did not go as well as hoped, senior, Andrew Free was still able to finish in 2nd place in the Olympic Conference division (6th place overall)!
"The final event for the distance squad was the 3200 where all three athletes, Silas Matteson, Ben Weiner and Anthony DiBatista, all set new personal records! Silas was in heat two of three and he ran a great tactical race, staying with the leader until the last 250 meters where he started his kick and held the lead to the finish, running a 33 second PR (16th place overall)! In the final heat, which featured a very deep field of runners, Ben Weiner knocked 7 seconds off of his previous best to place 12th, while Anthony DiBatista recorded a one second PR to place 15th!"
Among the Sprinters/Hurdlers, in the 55m Dash, Lance Cheng raced 7.18 and took 18th/36 overall (includes both Olympic and Tri-County Conference totals), and Bankole Arole clocked 7.30 and took 25th/36 overall; in the 400m Dash, Carlo Brown raced 57.16 and finished 17th/46 overall; and Bankole Arole clocked 58.38 and took 24th/46 overall; and in the 55HH, Daniel Raider raced 9.97 and finished 50th/61 overall. Finally among the Sprinters, the (unnamed by Coach Vicidy) 4 X 4 team clocked 3:58.58 and finished in 17th/20 overall.
The High Jumpers experienced a lot more competition and both cleared a little below their PR's! Sam Green was forced out at 6' 0" and finished 3rd/32 overall, and Noah Calderon went out at 5" 0" and finished 25th/32 overall.
Finally, the Shot Putters, except for one, were a bit off their feed too! Team leader Shane Sloan finished in 14th/60 overall with a sub-par thrown of 39' 1.50"; and Fransisco Sandoval was also disappointing with a 34' 0" throw that left him in 28th/60 overall. Alex Goode was the exception and gave the Putters something to smile about when he threw a PR of 36' 5.50" and finished 21st/60 overall!
Details at: NJ.MileSplit.
Our photographer was there and here are a few of his pictures. These and many others are available on our Google site.
On January 29th, 2024, another group of runners, jumpers, vaulters and throwers traveled to The Bubble for the SJTCA Winter Meet # 14. No major records were set but there were several nice performances!
Most of the Sprinters were inexperienced or rusty but it was a nice opportunity to gain time in their spikes! In the 55m Dash, Mateo Rosario and Adam Neyland improved on their 2nd attempts at the 55m, Mateo finished in 49th/105 overall at 7.24 and Adam at 102nd/105 overall at 8.76. Matthew Muschek finished in 74th/105 overall in 7.51. In the 400m Dash, Liam McCloskey ran faster last Spring but set an Indoor PR in 54.44, finishing 15th/73 overall; Ben Stillwagon clocked 60.52, a little off his PR, and finished 50th/73 overall; and Noah Sime clocked 63.84, finishing 61st/73 overall in his first try in the event! In the 800m Run, Luke Ehly finished 34th/68 overall and clocked 2:20.69, and Jack Finley finished 53rd/68 and clocked 2:32.24, both on their first outings this winter.
In the Field, High Jumpers Sam Green and Noah Calderon matched their PR's of 6' 2" and 5" 4" respectively, with Sam finishing in 1st/22 overall and Noah in 16th/22 overall. Pole Vaulters Tobin and Shamus Horwath vaulted well. Tobin just missed his PR of 8' 6" while clearing 8" 0" and finishing 16th/25 overall, and Shamus matched his recent PR of 8' 0", tying his brother (and others) in 16th/25 overall. Shot Putters Jordan Stone and Max Stone were again "off their feed" with Jordan throwing 26' 06" and finishing 48th/58 overall and Max finishing 54th/58 overall. Both off their PR's!
Neither the MileSplit photographer nor our photographer were available for this meet.
Details at: NJ.MileSplit.
On February 2nd, 2024, Cherokee brought the best guys from the Winter Season to The Bubble for the NJSIAA Sectional Championships, South, GP 4 and a number of them, especially the Distance squad did very well!
Volunteer Distance Coach Shaklee was torn between accompanying an adult runner with whom he has been coaching for years to the Olympic Trials Marathon in Florida or staying with his well-trained and confident high school runners at Sectionals. He chose the first!
No doubt, Coach Shaklee saw the videos of the three Distance races and has something to say soon about each of the excellent races run by his guys, so quick summaries of all results -- Distance, Sprints, Hurdles, Throws and Jumps -- will be enough for now.
The Distance guys were outstanding, taking 1st in all three races with some fine backup as well! Double-winner, Senior Bobby Poplau took big points, first in 800m, where he missed his PR by only 0.13 second, and then in the 1600m, with a technical metric PR of 4.26.83 - but an earlier and faster Mile PR - 4.22.90!
Behind him, in the 800m Super-Freshman, Ben Realley took 7th/28 overall in a PR of 1:59.75; and in the 1600m, Senior Andrew Free took 9th and missed a new PR by 0.23 second!
Finally among the Distance runners, in the 3200m, Senior Nick Kuenkel took 1st/28 overall in a PR of 9:17.31; followed by Junior Liam Tindall in 3rd while clocking 9:37.21, just about 6 seconds off his PR; and Junior Ben Weiner in 10th at 9:59.26, a sub-10 PR!
Coach Shaklee sent the following to add to what was said already. "The team took 3rd at Sectionals behind Toms River North and Washington Twp. Of the team's 40 points, 36 came from the 800, 1600, and 3200, with Sam Green supplying the remaining 4 points with his 4th place finish in the HJ. At Groups, Bobby will be the 3rd seed in the 800. Nick will be the #1 seed in the 3200 while Liam will be the 10th seed."
Among the Sprinters and Hurdlers, three failed to score in the 400m Dash but set new PR's! Carlo Brown crossed the line in 56.85 and finished 30th/37 Overall; Nimai Kumar crossed in 57.59 and finished in 33rd/37 overall; and Carter Rutter crossed in 59.41 and finished 36/37 overall. In the 55m Dash, Arole Bankole finished 32nd/37 overall in 7.19, a PR for this season but he had a better last winter; and Vincent Ha finished 34th/37 overall in 7.39, also a PR for this season but he had a better last winter. Finally, in the Hurdles, Dan Raider finished his event in 27th/28 Overall, in a PR of 9.73.
Lastly, the Jumpers/Vaulters and Throwers! At the High Jump, Sam Greene took 4th/10 overall, clearing 6' 2" in the competition; and Pole Vaulter, Tobin Horwath cleared 9' 0" to set a new PR and finish 15th/17 overall in the event! Throwers Shane Sloan finished 14th/37 overall with a throw of 40' 08"; and his teammate Fransisco Sandoval followed in 23rd/37 overall with a throw of 38' 09".
Details at NJ.MileSplit,
Our photographer contracted COVID last week and has been unavailable for several Track Meets. He will not shoot at our meets on February 5th (Ocean Breeze) and February 6th (Bubble) but probably will shoot on February 12th at OB!
For technical reasons, NJ.MileSplit's photographer, Mae Kellert,
a friend of Cherokee, shot only half the Sectional Championships and some of her 22 Cherokee
pictures are posted below. All of her Cherokee pictures are available at our
Google site.
Their videos give a great view of the track action, however.
We think Mae Kellert may be the Aunt of one of our runners! Guess which one? Total Cherokee pictures available: Sprinters: 6 pictures; Andrew Free: 4 pictures; Bobby Poplau: 12 pictures!
On February 5th, 2024, Cherokee brought a mixed group of guys to compete at the relatively new Ocean Breeze Track and Field Center on Staten Island, New York. Ocean Breeze has a fast, banked track comparable to The Armory track, and an infield that allows Sprints, High Jump, Pole Vault, Long Jump and Triple Jump to proceed at the same time as the longer track races. A number of our guys took advantage of this opportunity!
On the Infield, the Short Sprints started early. In the 55m Dash, Mateo Rosario finished in 7.25 (0.01 off his PR), 77th/114 overall; Matthew Muschek clocked a PR 7.47 and finished 95th/114 overall; and, in their first 55's, Noah Sime clocked 7.56 and finished 102/114 overall, and Dan Raider clocked 7.91 and finished 113th/114 overall. In the 55 HH, Dan Raider clocked 9.51, a PR by 0.22, and finished 55th/77 overall.
After the Infield Sprints cleared, in the High Jump, Sam Green managed only 6' 0" and 3rd/25 overall; and in the Triple Jump. Noah Calderon cleared an Indoor PR of 38' 4.75" and took 12th/19 overall. Lastly, in the Shot Put, Micah Diaz threw a PR 36' 6.25" and finished 16th/60; Brody Ludman cleared 34' 01", and finished 29th/60; and Anthony Maszlanka matched Brody's 34' 01" exactly, tied an earlier PR, and he finished 30th/60 overall.
On the Track, three athletes raced the 200m Dash for the first time! Mateo Rosario clocked a 25.19 and finished 64th/84 overall; Matthew Muschek timed a 25.37 and finished 67th/84 overall; and Noah Sime timed 25.99 and finished 76th/84 overall.
Overall, the Distance squad had a hell of a night on the Track! Volunteer Assistant Coach Shaklee was unavailable but he's collecting information and soon will summarize his view of the evening. Until then, here are the details!
In the 800m Dash Tate Midore finished 8th/83 overall in a PR 2:05.52, and Matteo Evola finished 18th/83 overall in an Indoor PR of 2:09.85! In the 1600m, Liam Tindall finished 1st/76 overall in liesurely (!) 4:34.29; Ben Weiner finished 9th/76 overall in a PR 4:45.53; and Freshman Sean Sooy finished 19th/76 overall in a PR of 4:52.86! In the 3200m, Anthony DiBattista clocked a PR 10:13.11 and finished 8th/28 overall; and Silas Matteson finished just behind Anthony in 9th/28 overall with another PR 10:17.27!
Those are some very nice races but, with all due respect, the highlight of the evening was the 4 X 800m Relay!
Coach Shaklee sent some brief notes on the Distance squad's performances that follow here:
"The night went well for the distance runners!
"3200: Both Anthony DiBatista and Silas Matteson lowered their PR's by several seconds to place 8th and 9th!
"800: Tate Midora used a fast last lap to win his heat and place 8th overall with a new PR! For Matteo Evola, it was a rust-buster as it was his first 800 since last Spring.
"1600: Liam Tindall won the race with a negative split! Ben Weiner dropped his PR in the 1600 by 2.5 seconds to place 9th! Freshman, Sean Sooy, did a nice job in his first 1600, running 4:52 to place 6th in his heat and 19th overall!
"4 x 800: The highlight of the meet as the team of Ben Realley, Andrew Free, Nick Kuenkel and Bobby Poplau ran 7:53.90 to win by almost 10 seconds! Their time is the fastest time in the state so far this winter and the 5th fastest in the nation! Ben started it off with another sub-2:00 clocking! Andrew PR'ed by 2 seconds on the second leg, and both Nick and Bobby had PR's on the 3rd and 4th legs!"
Reuben Frank of Comcast and NBC, put a lot of details on the 4 X 800 Relay in his blog, "From the Backstretch".
Additional details at NJ.MileSplit.
Neither NJ.MileSplit's photographer (doing Sectionals) nor ours were available for this meet. Our photographer expects to shoot the next OB meet on Monday, February 12th! Be There or Be Square!
On February 6th, 2024, Coach Viscidy took a group of mostly young, less-experienced athletes to The Bubble, some to race for the first time and some to try an event they hadn't tried before! No school records were set but most now have a PR or two that they can talk about and compare to others!
In the 55m Dash, three athletes tried it for the first time! Wahn Kim clocked 7.73 and finished 35th/44 overall; Jaxson Sharkey timed 8.17 and finished 43rd/44 overall; and Max Hodges clocked 8.71 and finished 44th/44 overall. Those three returned to race the 200m Dash for the first time: Kim finished 38th/48 overall in 28.04; Sharkey finished 44th/48 overall in 29.40; and Max finished 47th/48 overall in 31.36. They were joined by another 1st timer, Tobin Horwath who finished in 28th/48 overall in 26.17.
In the 400m Dash, James Repsher clocked 1:09.38 and finished 23rd/24 overall; and John Miller clocked 1:10.30 and finished 24th/24 overall. Finally, on the Track, in the 800m Run, Ben Stillwagon crossed the line in 2:20.51 and finished 12th/22 overall; while Jack Finley timed a 2:30.28 and finished 15th/22 overall.
You're right, not great but all are beginners, all but one are Freshman with little training so far! Their next step is to make a commitment to (1) train hard in practice every, be so proud of what you accomplished that day that you'll brag about it at the dinner table; and (2) remember that first race and run faster the next time, be so proud of what you accomplished that day that you'll brag about it at the dinner table! ; < ) GO CHEROKEE!
Inexperienced but determined Junior Tobin Horwath set a new PR while clearing 9' 6" in the Pole Vault! He finished 1st/2 overall in the event!
Upperclassmen Shane Sloan, Fransisco Sandoval and Alex Goode competed in the Shot Put! Alex flung the Shot 41' 6.75" and took 1st/22 overall; Fransisco heaved it 37' 05.50" and finished 8th/22 overall; and Alex put it a PR distance of 37' 04.50" and finished 9th/22 overall!
Complete meet details at: NJ.MileSplit.
Neither NJ.MileSplit's photographer (doing Sectionals) nor ours (finally tested COVID negative on February 7th) were available for this meet. Our photographer expects to shoot the next OB meet on Monday, February 12th!
On February 12th, 2024, Cherokee took Sprinters, Jumpers and Distance men to the SJTCA Winter Meet #17 at Ocean Breeze, Staten Island, NY. and a number of good things happened!
In the 55m Dash, Bankole Arole clocked 7.25 and finished 72nd/119 overall; Mateo Rosario clocked 7.29 and finished 79th/119 overall; Vincent Ha clocked 7.43 and finished 96th/119 overall; and Daniel Raider clocked 8:06 and finished 115th/119 overall. In the 200m Dash, the same guys competed, except Dan: Arole crossed the line in 24.84 and finished 65th/96 overall; Rosario crossed in 24.90 with a less-than a 1/2 second PR, and finished in 67th/96 overall; and Ha crossed in 25.90 and finished in 79th/96. In the 400m Dash, Carlo Brown raced in 56.38 and finished with a small PR in 49th/81 overall; Matthew Muscheck raced in a first-time 400m PR of 56.87 and finished in 57th/81 overall; and Carter Rutter raced in 57.94 with a huge 2-second PR and finished in 66th/81 overall.
In the 800m Run, Tate Midore clocked a 2-second PR in 1:03.75, finishing 9th/76 overall; and Andrew Free clocked 2:05.91, while finishing in 13th/76 overall! In the 1600m, probably "the best race of the year" SO FAR! Nick Kuenkel led throughout, finishing 1st/69 overall in 4:15.26, and took the race against teammate Bobby Poplau, 2nd/69 overall in 4:15.34! The two of them were closely followed by Liam Tindall, 3rd/69 overall in 4:26.15! Three PR's! Yikes! . . . Yikes! . . . Yikes!
In the 3200m, Freshman Ben Realley, ran his own excellent race, and set a signicicant 1st PR of 9:49.56, while taking 2nd/29 overall! Yikes!
Finally, in the 4 X 800m Relay, Andrew Free, Freshman Sean Sooy, Anthony DiBattista and Silas Matteson clocked 8:52.05 and finished 9th/12 overall.
In the Jumps, Tobin Horwath missed his 9' 6' Pole Vault PR by 0.06", finishing at 9' 0" and in 23rd/28 overall; Sam Green was off a bit, finishing 3rd/13 overall with only a 6' 0" clearance. But Noah Calderon, in the Long Jump, set a significant PR of 18' 0" and finished 23rd/39 overall; and, in the Triple Jump he covered 38' 01" and finished 11th/20 overall.
Volunteer Coach Shaklee accompanied his boyos up to Ocean Breeze and had this to say about their evening:
"The boys distance team had a good outing at the SJTCA Meet #17 at Ocean Breeze on February 12th!
"Ben Realley got things started off with a [realley?] well run 9:49.57 second place finish in the 3200! With State Champion Payton Shute well out front, Ben was effectively running solo the whole way and still managed an excellent time, accentuated by his strong finish (64.4 for the last 400 and 30.0 for the last 200)! With his performance, Ben became the first freshman in school history to make all three distance lists - Sub-2:00 for 800m, sub-4:30 for 1600m and sub-10:00 for 3200m! And, we are still in the winter season! Can't wait to see what he runs outdoors!
"The 800 was highlighted by the 2-second PR recorded by Tate Midora who is now our 4th fastest 800 runner of the season! Andrew Free set a new open PR, although his auto-split time from last week's 4 x 800 was a little faster.
"The 1600 provided one of the best races of the night . . . and that was between Cherokee teammates! Nick Kuenkel led from start to finish although it was very tight at the finish line with Bobby Poplau only .08 behind! They both set new PR's while recording the 5th and 6th fastest times in the state this year! ALSO, Nick's time of 4:15.26 puts him in a tie with Patrick Ditmars as the 3rd fastest Cherokee runner in school history for THE 1600, while Bobby's time of 4:15.34 makes him the 5th fastest in school history (and, once again, we are still in the winter season!) Behind them, fellow teammate, Liam Tindall, set a new PR of his own to take 3rd place!
"Andrew Free came back on the 4 X 800m and led off with another solid leg. The highlight of the 4 X 8, however, was the aggressive, tough leg run by freshman, Sean Sooy, who dropped 6 seconds off of his previous best with an impressive 2:11.0 split despite being pulled out very fast and having to really focus to hang on over the last lap!
"All-in-all, a very good night for the distance squad! Good luck to Nick, Bobby and Liam this Saturday at the Group 4 State Meet at the Toms River Bubble!"
Reuben Frank, NBC Columnist, Radio personality on 94-WIP, Blogger "Eagles Eye", also writes a column for the SJTCA web. This article, "Nick Kuenkel, Robert Poplau run two of the fastest 1,600s in S.J. history at Ocean Breeze!!!!!!" can be found at: From the Backstretch.
Details at NEW YORK MileSplit: NY.MileSplit.com.
Last night, our photographer got there but had trouble with both his cameras -- he forgot his glasses, he is old and can't tell from memory what half the settings on his cameras do anymore -- so he quit shooting his real cameras late in the meet and starting using his iPhone! I know, pathetic. He'll do better, maybe soon!
There was no MileSplit photographer at the meet but our photographer was , , , sort of. He shot over 1,000 pics which he intended to share with NJ.MileSplit. Unfortunately, things went wrong and he deleted all Non-Cherokee pics and saved as many Cherokee pics as he could. Below are some from the meet and they and the remainder are on our Google site! If your picture isn't there, then the photographer blew the picture or he never found you at the meet when it was appropriate to shoot.
On February 13th, 2024, Coach Matthew Hoffman and his Throwers hosted the third of their Shot Put meets at home, the Cherokee Throw Down #3 and over 150 athletes competed, some of whom are expected at the State Group Championships this Saturday.
The formatted results include some mysterious numbering -- perhaps to distinguish Varsity, JV and Freshman -- but no legend is included so we'll just identify our athletes in the order in which they appear and their possible PR's!
Shane Sloan led the team with a throw of 40'08.25", about a foot below his PR; Fransisco Sandolov followed with a throw of 34' 04.50", about 7" below his PR; Alex Goode, who has been improving all season, was off only about 3" with his 37'01.50" throw. Anthony Maszlanka stayed within an inch of his PR with a 34'05" heave; but Brody Ludman threw 33' 10" and lost about 2 feet from his PR of a few weeks ago. Micah Diaz had a similar result, losing almost 4'0 (33'10.50") from his throw of 36'6.75" a few weeks ago! And Jordan Stone threw 25'00" and lost about 6'0 from his best!
They must have lost something on the long bus ride over?! . . . Wait, it was at Cherokee! Something in the air? The left-over stench of a Math test?
The last four guys threw in the 20s but they're pretty much beginners. Jaideep Ashokkumar had his best throw on his first time out in mid-January (24'3") and this week it was a little off at 23'7". But Rebel Johnson broke this string by throwing a new PR! Rebel threw almost 2' farther than when he began in January, 21'10" to a PR of 23'04"! Yah!
Lat's see if the remaining guys, Max Stone or Omar Rana, cracked their PR's! Max threw 23'02.75", down from his 25' 3.25" of a few weeks ago; and Omar threw 20'09.50", down from his PR of a few weeks ago, 23'05".
Overall, a tough outing for the Throwers. But you're not likely to improve every time you throw! Keep working and you'll slowly improve over time! Keep trying, keep thinking positively, eat properly and challenge your body in some physical way frequently, and don't quit on the team or yourself! Work so hard and improve so impressively that you'll be proud to invite your girlfriend, your friends and relatives to come out and see you throw giant PR's! GO CHEROKEE THROWERS!
Meet details at: NJ.MileSplit
Our photographer was unavailable for this meet.
On February 17th, 2024, only four of Cherokee's best qualified at Sectionals for the NJSIAA Group 4 State Indoor Track and Field Championships, one in the Field and three from the Distance group, and all four qualified for the up-coming NJSIAA Meet of Champions! Coach Shaklee sent his take on the competition:
"On Saturday, February 17th, four Cherokee athletes -- Sam Green in the High Jump, Nick Kuenkel and Liam Tindall in the 3200, and Bobby Poplau in 800 -- competed in the Group 4 State Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Bennett Athletic Complex in Toms River. All four athletes advanced to the State Meet of Champions to be held at the Ocean Breeze Track & Field Center on Staten Island on March 3rd!
"After finishing 4th at the South Jersey Group 4 Sectional, Sam Green improved on his standing by taking 3rd place in the State Group 4 High Jump competition! Only 6 athletes from all the Group State Meets jumped higher than Sam so he has a good shot at placing high in the State Meet of Champions!
"The 3200 Meter event had some mixed results for the team. Nick Kuenkel went into the event slightly under the weather. However, he raced tough and managed a 5th place finish in what was, far-and-away, the fastest 3200 of all the group state meets! Considering his condition going in, it was a successful run and he will be the 8th seed at the State Meet of Champions! When completely healthy, Nick will be right in the mix up front at MOC's! Liam Tindall had an excellent race! He ran very smart and controlled through the first mile (4:44.3) and was ready when things got going in the second mile (4:42.5). His 10th place finish in 9:26.88 makes him the 13th seed heading into the State Meet of Champions! It also puts him 11th on the All-Time Cherokee 3200 Meter List!
"The highlight of the meet for the Cherokee boys was the 800 Meter Run! Bobby Poplau ran to perfection and came away with a Group 4 State title! The race went out very fast, led by Raynier Galvez from Passaic County Tech (who ran 1:52.78 last spring and was second in the Group 4 State Meet and 4th in the Meet of Champions). Bobby stuck right on him and went through the 200 in 27.2 and the 400 in 55.4! He hit the 600 in 1:24.5, still in second but with several runners right on him. Off the last turn, Bobby swung wide and moved into the lead as Galvez faded. Michael Card from Howell challenged Bobby down the stretch, but Bobby was too strong and held him off to win by 2/10th of a second in 1:54.64! The time was not only a Cherokee indoor record but was also a new Burlington County Indoor record! It also makes Bobby the top seed for the Meet of Champions!
"Congratulations to all four athletes on their performances at the Group 4 State Meet! We look forward to what they will accomplish at the State Meet of Champions!"
GO BOYOS! GO CHEROKEE!
MileSplit posted Results and Videos on their site!
Reuben Frank NBC TV Columnist, Radio personality on 94-WIP, Blogger "Eagles Eye", and writer of the SJTCA webblog reported on Bobby's race in his blog article, "Cherokee's Robert Poplau wins state 800 title, shatters 23-year-old Burlington County record!!!!!!!!" at SJTCA web blog.
Our photographer and Mae Kellert, the MileSplit photographer and our friend, took pictures of all four of our stars, some of which are posted below and they and the others are on our Google site. Taken off the Internet, the MileSplit pictures at the finish line are relatively low-resolution.
