About an hour before the Penn Relays 3,200-meter relay, Cherokee coach Steve Shaklee was in the stands with the Cherokee contingent talking about the upcoming race.
“Will is going to run great,” Shaklee said.
Not: “I think Will is going to run great.”
Not: “Will should run great.”
Not: “I hope Will runs great.”
This was an absolute. Based on his training, Shaklee said, there was no way Cherokee senior Will Andes was not going to pop a huge 800 split Friday morning at Franklin Field.
Not surprisingly, he was right.
Andes split 1:55.1 and Cherokee placed 13th overall out of 61 schools in the boys invitational 3,200 relay with a time of 7:59.24 — second-fastest this year by a New Jersey school. The Chiefs missed advancing to the Championship of America race by 62-100ths of a second.
“I went out a little fast and died at the end, but I felt good out there,” Andes said. “I felt like I was ready. I actually was hoping to run a little faster.”
Andes' split was fifth-fastest out of more than 240 runners in the four 3,200-meter relay sections and best of all New Jersey half-milers.
Rich Nelson, A.J. Valentine and Colin Cunningham also ran for the Chiefs, with Valentine and Cunningham both also running PR splits and Nelson coming close despite running leadoff.
Andes last spring had an 800 best of 1:56.5, which made him the fastest underclassman in South Jersey. He ran that chasing Bordentown's Rob Novak, who later in the spring won national championships in both the 800 and sprint medley.
“It was great having Rob there last year and just being able to see what's possible and how fast you can go in high school,” Andes said. “It makes me want to keep up the tradition of fast half-milers in South Jersey.”
The fastest Cherokee has ever had is Dave Sitzer, who ran 1:53.14 as a senior in 2000.
“My goal by the end of the year is to break that school record,” Andes said. “I know it won't be easy. That's fast. But that's what I'm shooting for.”