Cross Country, 2008

-- Over two weeks in August, three Alums, Kevin Hurley ('01), Marc Pelerin ('02), and Will Andes ('06), served as counselors at Coach Shaklee's RunningWorks Cross Country Camp. Kevin and Will worked at Canadensis, while Marc worked at both Blair and Canadensis.

-- On August 30, 2008, Alum Mike Candy ('05) of Philadelphia Biblical University opened his senior season at the Delaware Valley College Invitational. Mike finished the 8K race in 13th overall out of 145 runners, in a close-to-PR time of 29:06. Complete information on the meet at: PBU Athletics. Pictures from PBU site. GO MIKE!

-- On September 13, 2008, several Alums at The College of New Jersey, Rich Nelson ('06), Alex Yersak ('08), and Kevin "Ted" Schickling ('08), competed in two races at the Old Nassau Run in Princeton, NJ. Rich and Ted ran the 8K, with Rich finishing in 72nd in 28:45.80, and Ted finishing in 86th in 29:29.00. Alex competed in the 6K race, finishing in 23rd in an impressive 20:28.40! GO RICH! GO TED! GO ALEX! Complete results at: TCNJ Athletics.

-- On September 13, 2008, Alum Mike Candy ('05) of Philadelphia Biblical University raced the 8K at the Mule/Falson Classic XC Invitational at Cedar Crest College in Allentown, PA. Mike led his team and finished 26th overall in 30:28.5. Complete results at: PUB Atletics.

-- On September 20, 2008, Alum Mike Candy ('05) of Philadelphia Biblical University competed in his third race of the season, the Philly Metro CC Meet, an 8K on Philadelphia's famed Belmont Plateau course. Mike took 1st on his team in the 128-man race, recording a 27:51.59, and finishing 10th overall. This is a significant PR, especially on this difficult course! Full results at: Geocities Results.

-- On September 23, 2008, three Alums from The College of New Jersey, Rich Nelson ('06), Alex Yersak ('08), and Kevin "Ted" Schickling ('08), competed in the Mainline Invitational, a relatively small meet on the campus of Haverford College. The 4-mile race included athletes from Haverford, Swarthmore, Villanova, and TCNJ. A group of "unaffiliated" athletes including Alum Marc Pelerin ('02), now at the Moorestown Running Store, was also in the 97-man race. Marc finished first among the Alums, taking 20th place overall in 20:41.99; with Alex close behind in 23rd overall (16th college) in 20:51.89! Rich followed in 46th overall in 21:42.93; and Ted crossed the line in 65th overall, clocking a 22:25.33. Complete results at: TCNJ

-- On October 3, 2008, three Alums from The College of New Jersey, Alex Yersak ('08), Rich Nelson ('06), and Kevin "Ted" Schickling ('08); and one from Philadelphia Biblical University, Mike Candy, competed in the Paul Short Invitational, an 8K race at Lehigh University. Alex had his first real introduction to "the bigs" when he raced against some of the top athletes in the country in the top-seeded "Brown" race. He finished 3rd on his team and 161st in the race (295 finishers), in a time of 25:46, averaging 5:12 mile pace! Rich and Ted competed in the College Men's JV race, with Rich finishing in 120th place (out of 340 "affiliated" runners), clocking a 27:02, and averaging 5:27 per mile. Ted followed in 196th place, crossing the line in 27:52, and averaging 5:32 per mile. Mike Candy competed in the College Men's "White" Race, finishing in 97th place (out of 269 runners), clocking a 27:48, and averaging 5:36 per mile. All the details are available at: Paul Short Run

-- On October 4, 2008, Alums Alex Yersak ('08) and Ted Schickling ('08) stopped by the Shore Invitational to see Cherokee perform and to do a long run there at Holmdel. Naturally, a picture was taken and, as luck would have it, the TCNJ website also posted new pictures of the two of them. Compare the selections. Don't the TCNJ pictures look like those post-mortum pictures you see on TV detective shows? You know, the potential witness looks at the Poloroid and says, "Wow, what happened to these guys?!" And the detective says, "They're dead . . . murdered." You decide.

-- On October 11, 2008, Alum Mike Candy ('05) of Philadelphia Biblical University, once again found himself on the challenging 8K course at Philadelphia's Belmont Plateau, this time at the Cabrini XC Invitational. And, this time, Mike finished the race in 44th place (out of 172 finishers), clocking a 28:22.21. His team took 12th place out of 16 teams. For more information, see: Cabrini Results

-- On October 11, 2008, Alum Marc Pelerin ('02), of the Haddonfield Running Company, ran the Heroes to Hero Memorial 5K Run in Gloucester City, NJ. Marc finished 6th overall in 15.21 . . . not bad for a store clerk! Details at: CompuScore. Alums seeking to keep-up with the fascinating Running Adventures of Young Marc can access his blog at: Marc's Blog. This picture shows Marc encouraging a Shawnee runner -- Shawnee?! . . . look, pictures don't lie! -- at the recent Burlington County Open!

-- On October 18, 2008, Alum Alex Yersak ('08) of The College of New Jersey traveled to Williamstown, Massachusetts for the Plansky Invitational. The meet is a relatively small 8K event run on the campus of a local high school. Alex finished 10th in a field of 100, and 3rd on his team in 26:54.6. The team took 2nd behind nationally ranked M.I.T. Complete details at: Williams College.

-- On October 24, 2008, Alum Kevin "Ted" Schickling ('08) of The College of New Jersey was one of the key figures from TCNJ running the Main Line Invitational at Haverford College. Ted ran the 4-Mile Alumni Course at Haverford in 21:29, about 5:22 miles, finishing 17th overall and 2nd on his team! Full results at: TCNJ Athletics.

-- On November 1, 2008, Alum Alex Yersak ('08) of The College of New Jersey participated in the 2008 New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships at Richard Stockton College. There he finished in 6th overall and 3rd on the team (26:18.97) helping TCNJ win its 15th consecutive NJAC championship and 20th league title! The team took, 1, 3, 6, 7 and 9th to score 26 points in the race, with Rowan a distant 2nd with 63 points! In addition, the NJAC named Alex the "Cross Country Rookie of the Week" for the fourth time this season, as the top first-year finisher in the championhip race! Complete results at: TCNJ Athletics.

-- On November 1, 2008, Alum Mike Candy ('05) of Philadelphia Biblical University, once again traveled to Cedar Crest College in Allentown for the Colonial States Athletic Conference Championships and cut minutes off the time he ran there in September! Finishing 1st on his team, and 12th overall, Mike completed the 8K race in 28:34.7 and helped his team take 5th place in the meet. And, as a result, Mike was named a member of the Colonial States Athletic Conference Cross Country Second Team. Complete results at: PBU Athletics. Picture from PBU website.

-- On November 1, 2008, Alum Marc Pelerin ('02) did his morning run in Lumberton, NJ at the Family Services 5K Run and ended-up crushing famous Kenyan Paul Mwangi in a torrid battle! Well, OK, that's an exaggeration . . . Mwangi is 41 and, for a Kenyan, practically obese! He probably weighs 160 . . . 165, and he's probably an American citizen! Anyway, he and Marc surged at various times throughout the race but, in the end, Marc kept the lead, winning by 8 seconds in 16:10! Marc picked-up $250 as the winner but, since this was a charity race, he probably donated the money back to the organizers! Results at: L and M Sports. Race description and pictures at: Blog of Pelerin.

-- On November 4, 2008, Alum Joe Halin ('00) passed along a picture he came across. It's from 1998 and the six guys pictured just won the Burlington County Championshps with 28 points! From left to right: Mike Caputi ('00) - 8th; Aaron Boucher ('99) - 6th; Greg Robinson ('00) - 10th, Ben Werbos ('99) - 3rd, Joe Halin ('00) - 2nd; and Mike Urbanovich ('99) - 9th. Not pictured is 7th man Kevin Hurley ('01) who was 11th as Cherokee completely dominated the county! The race was run at Cherokee High School for the 4th year in a row before it returned to Mill Creek Park in 1999. The team went on to win the Olympic Conference Meet, the SJ Group IV Sectionals, and the State Group 4 Championship before finishing a close 2nd to CBA in the State Meet of Champions! The following year, Cherokee improved on this performance at the County Meet by sweeping places 2 through 8 to win with 20 points! GO CHEROKEE!

-- On November 8, 2008, Alum Kevin "Ted" Schickling ('08) of The College of New Jersey, competed in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Div III Championships, an 8K race at Colt State Park in Bristol, RI. TCNJ held out some of their runners but the team still scored 9th overall in a 48-team race! Ted finished in 83rd place, out of 322 finishers, crossing the line in 28:35 and taking 5th place on his team! Details at: Cool Running.

-- On November 15, 2008, Alum Alex Yersak ('08) of The College of New Jersey, competed in the NCAA Atlantic Cross Country Division III Regional Championships at St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY. Alex ended the season in a disappointing 79th place overall in the 8K race (234 finishers), and 7th on his team, in 27:41.9. See results at: St. Lawrence University Sports.

Winter Track, 2009

-- On December 6, 2008, Alum Kevin Merrigan ('08) of Monmouth University, opened his college racing career in a big way at Princeton University's New Year Invitational! Running on the flat and relatively slow track at Jadwin Gym, Kevin took 1st place in the 300m Dash with a new freshman school record of 35.24! Further details at: Go MU Hawks. GO KEVIN!

-- On January 9, 2009, Alum Kevin Merrigan ('08) of Monmouth University, traveled to the University of Delaware in Newark for the Winter Invitational. There he took 1st in the Division I 400m, clocking 50.89; and 4th in the Division I 60m Dash, crossing the line in 7.20! Interestingly, Kevin is now teamed with an old adversary, Geof Navarro of Absegami H.S., who took 1st in the 60m and 3rd in the 400m. For complete results: Blue Hens Results.

-- On January 16, 2009, Alum Kevin Merrigan ('08) of Monmouth University, traveled to the New York City Armory for the NYU Gotham Cup. Kevin ran 49.55 in the 400m Dash, finishing 8th overall! Complete results: NYU Athletics.

-- On January 18, 2009, Alum Marc Pelerin ('02) began his track comeback -- after two and a half years without any serious racing -- at the Kentucky Invitational on the campus of the University of Kentucky in Lexington. Starting the 3K with high expectations, Marc took it out with the best of them but, as he reports on his Run-Marc-Run Blog, he seriously miscalcuated and finished in 14th with a disappointing time of 8:43.38. Complete results at: UK Athletics.

-- On January 23, 2009, Alum Marc Pelerin ('02) participated in the John Covert Classic at Lehigh University. The field was disappointing in the Mile Run and Marc easily outdistanced his opponents, finishing 1st in 4:22.10, six seconds ahead of his closest competitor. His race, he reported in his Run-Marc-Run Blog, was more of a time trial (two 2:10 halfs) than a race. Results at: Lehigh.

-- On January 24, 2009, Alum Kevin Merrigan ('08) of Monmouth University, participated in the Boston University Terrier Invitational where he ran 6.76 in the 100m Dash, finishing 28th in a field of 67 finishers. Also, Kevin ran 22.23 in the 200m Dash, taking 10th place in a field of 104, and qualifying for the up-coming IC4A's! Kevin also led-off in the 4 X 400m Relay, helping his team to finish in 3:17.80, 5th overall, and also qualify for the IC's! See results at: Go Terriers.

-- On January 30, 2009, Alum Kevin Merrigan ('08) of Monmouth University, ran several 400m races at the Penn State National Invitational in State College, Pa. In the Open 400m Dash, Kevin clocked a 50.63 and finished 15th in a strong field; and in the 4 X 400m, his team of two Freshmen and two Sophomores crossed the line in 3:18.49, finishing 14th out of 25 teams! Article and results at: Go MU Hawks.

-- On February 6 - 7, 2009, Alum Kevin Merrigan ('08) of Monmouth University, competed in the Giegengack Invitational at Yale Univesity. Kevin took 5th place in the 200m Dash, crossing the line in 22.46, and he took 2nd in the 400m Dash, finishing in 49.57! Still partial results recorded on 2/9/09 at: Yale Results.

-- On February 7, 2008, Alum Kevin "Ted" Schickling ('08) of The College of New Jersey, competed in the Princeton Invitational at Jadwin Gym on the campus of Princeton University. Apparently this was the first time Ted competed since Cross COuntry. He ran the 1600m, finishing in 4:38.88 for 14th place in the event. Results at: Go Princeton.

-- On February 12, 2009, Alum Marc Pelerin ('02) traveled to the NYC Armory for a Thursday Night at the Races sponsored by the New York City Roadrunners Club. Marc outclassed the competition in both the 1600m (4:13.4 HT) and the 800m (1:56 HT) and completely psyched himself up for the future! Results posted soon at: NYRR.

-- On February 13, 2009, Alum Kevin "Ted" Schickling ('08) of The College of New Jersey, traveled to the NY City Armory for the Rider-Lafayette Invitational. Ted competed in the Mile, running a 4:37.63 to finish 30th in the event. Details at: Rider pdf.

-- On February 21 and 22, 2009, Alum Kevin Merrigan ('08) of Monmouth University, competed in the 2009 Northeast Conference Championships at Landover, Maryland. On the first day of competition, Kevin qualified 3rd in the 400m Dash, crossing the line in 50.31, but he failed to qualify in the 200m Dash, where he was tenth overall and only the top nine advanced! On the second day of competition, Kevin scored some points for the team when he took 7th in the 400m Dash finals (50.86); and he and the rest of the 2nd place 4 X 400m Relay team scored big points and earned Second Team All-NEC honors for their performance (3:20.85)! Complete are available at: MU Hawks pdf.

-- On February 26, 2009, Alum Duong Nguyen ('08) of Rutgers University, Camden Campus, wrote to say that he is now running for the university. Results indicate that he competed in three meets this year -- the Frank Colden Invitational at Ursinus College in Collegeville, PA; the Haverford Quad Meet at Haverford College in Haverford, PA); and the NJAC Championships at the New York City Armory -- running both the 55m Dash and 200m Dash. Details can be found at: Rutgers Athletics

-- On February 27, 2009, Alum Marc Pelerin ('02) again traveled to the NYC Armory for a NYU FasTrack Invitational where he ran what has to be his PR in the Indoor Mile: 4:08.58! (Previous best indoors, 1600m in 4:09.59; and a reported 4:08.49 outdoor mile.) Marc took 2nd in a photo-finish battle with another runner, only .08 of a second separating the two! Check out Marc's Run-Marc-Run Blog, for details of the race! For official results: NYU Athletics.

Spring Track, 2009

-- On March 21, 2009, several Alums participated in the Haddonfield Adrenaline 5K Run, the old Bancroft Run, and made a remarkable showing for their old alma mater! Marc Pelerin ('02) set the pace, finishing in 3rd overall in an impressive 14:43; Vin Marziano ('06) showed that he too was ready to race by finishing 21st in 15:57; and Aaron Boucher ('99) crossed the line in 16:27, finishing in 30th place! GO ALUMS! Results at: L and M Sports Results.

The pictures favor Marc because the photographer did not know Vin and Aaron were in the race!

-- On March 27 and 28, 2009, Alum Kevin Merrigan ('08) of Monmouth University, competed in the 14th Annual Monmouth Season Opener at their field in West Long Branch, N.J. Kevin was coming off a late-season injury but he helped the 4 X 100m Relay (42.24) and the 4 X 400m Relay (3:22.97) win both events, and he placed 5th in the 400m Dash (50.03). Results at: Go MU.

-- On April 4, 2009, Alum Kevin Merrigan ('08) of Monmouth University, traveled to William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia for the 44th Colonial Relays. The team finished an impressive 4th overall, with Kevin competing in three relay events. His team took 2nd overall in the 4 X 200m (1:27.24), 3rd in the 4 X 100m (41.72) but was DQ'd in the 4 X 400m race! Complete results at: William and Mary Athletics.

-- On April 4, 2009, Alum Duong Nguyen ('08) of Rutgers University, competed in the Osprey Open at Richard Stockton College in Pomona, NJ. Duong ran the 100m Dash against an insane wind in 14.17. Other details at: Stockton Osprey Results.

-- On April 11, 2009, three Alums were in action but under very different conditions. Two participated in the wind and rain-swept 2009 New Jersey Open at The College of New Jersey. Alum Alex Yersak ('07) of The College of New Jersey, competed in the 3000m Run, finishing 16th in a field of 39 in 9:19.86. Also running was Duong Nguyen of Rutgers University, who ran the 100m Dash (13.14) and the 200m Dash (27.45). Complete results from the NJ Open at: TCNJ. At a more pleasant venue in Virginia, Alum Kevin Merrigan ('08) of Monmouth University, participated in the University of Virginia's Lou Onesty/Milton G. Abramson Invitational but he had mixed results. In the morning's 4 X 100m Relay, he ran the third leg and helped his team earn a second place finish with a combined time of 42.05 . . . another IC4A qualifying time! But in the afternoon, Kevin registered a DNF in the results. Complete results from Virginia: Virginia Sports.

-- On April 17, 2009, two Alums were in action. Alum Marc Pelerin ('02) of the Haddonfield Running Company, competed at Princeton University's Larry Ellis Memorial Invitational. Marc ran the 1500m, finishing in 3:55.39. Princeton results at: Go Tigers. And Alum Duong Nguyen ('08) of Rutgers University, participated in the Widener Invitational in Chester, PA. Duong ran the 100m in 13.44. Details at: Widener Results.

-- On April 18, 2009, Alums Kevin "Ted" Schickling ('08) and Alex Yersak ('08), both of The College of New Jersey traveled to Moravian College in Behtlehem, PA for the Greyhound Invitational. Ted ran the 1500m in 4:17.49, finishing 26th in a field of 45; while Alex ran the 5000m in 15:54.20, finishing 4th in a field of 13. Results at: Moravian Athletics.

-- On April 19, 2009, we heard from Alum Aaron Boucher ('99) on his upcoming assault on the course at the Boston Marathon! One aspect of his preparation came on March 29, 2009 when he ran the Ocean Drive 10 Miler -- a race run concurrently with the Ocean Drive Marathon, the 10 Miler begins in Cape May and ends on the boardwalk in North Wildwood -- finishing 2nd overall in 55:28! The main page for the Ocean Marathon/10 Miler is at: Ocean Drive Marathon, while the 10 Mile race results are at: Ocean Drive 10 Miler.

-- On April 20, 2009, Alum Aaron Boucher ('99) raced in the 113th Boston Marathon! Aaron finished the race in 2:54.57, averaging 6:41, and taking 785th place against a field of over 25,000 registered runners. Not sure what his plans were but his 1/2 Marathon time of 1:16.59 (5:50 miles, plus or minus) was on pace for a very impressive 2:34 finish but his 1:38 (7:30 miles, plus or minus) over the second half of the race undermined his great early effort. Results at Boston Marathon: highlight "Boston Marathon" in the top menu, scroll down and click on "2009 Boston Marathon Results," and then enter Aaron's bib number (1207) for his 5K splits throughout the race!

-- On April 23, 2009, Alum Marc Pelerin ('02) of the Haddonfield Running Company, competed in the best part of the famous Penn Relays Carnival at Franklin Field: Thursday's Distance Night! Marc competed in the Olympic Development 5K and looked great until he fell off the pace in the last three laps. He finished 15th in 14:43.72. Race results at: OD 5K Results.

-- On April 24, 2009, Alums Alex Yersak ('08) and Kevin "Ted" Schickling ('08) of The College of New Jersey competed in the Lions Invitational at their track in Ewing, NJ. Both were in the 1500m Run with Alex finishing in 19th overall, clocking 4:16.25, and Ted not finishing the race. Results at: TCNJ Results.

-- On May 2, 2009, several of Cherokee's Alums were active! Alum Marc Pelerin ('02) of the Haddonfield Running Company, returned to George Mason University, where he received a graduate degree in communications, to compete in the Patriot Open. He ran the 800m, finishing 8th overall in 1:54.60. Results at: Go Mason. Also competing this weekend in the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships at Rowan University were Alums Alex Yersak ('08) and Kevin "Ted" Schickling ('08) of The College of New Jersey, and Duong Nguyen ('08) of Rutgers University. Alex ran in the 5000m, finishing 6th overall in 15:39.83; and Ted ran in the 1500m, finishing 11th overall in 4:19.24. Duong competed in the 100m Dash (13.35) and the 200m Dash (27.31). TCNJ won the conference championship for the 12th straight year! Details at: TCNJ Athletics. And finally, Alum Kevin Merrigan ('08) of Monmouth University, competed in the Northeast Conference Championships at Monmouth. Kevin ran a PR of 48.53 in the prelims of the 400m, finishing in 2nd overall and qualifying for the finals on May 3rd! Details at: NEC Results, Day 1.

-- On May 3, 2009, Alum Kevin Merrigan ('08) of Monmouth University, continued what he began the day before in the Northeast Conference Championships at Monmouth. He took 3rd in the finals of the 400m Dash, finishing in 48.68 and earning six points for the team; and then he led-off in the 4 X 400m Relay and helped the team take 2nd in 3:16.37, earning another eight points! With those points and others, Monmouth won its seventh Northeast Conference title; the last was in 2007! Complete results at: NEC Complete Results.

-- On May 9, 2009, Alum Kevin Merrigan ('08) of Monmouth University, participated in the NYC Qualfying Challenge at Icahn Stadium in New York City. Kevin ran a 48.50, a PR, and certainly an Alumni record, in the 400m Dash to qualify for next weekend's IC4A Division I Championships! Results at: Icahn Stadium.

-- On May 11, 2009, Alum Marc Pelerin ('02) of the Haddonfield Running Company competed at the Swarthmore College Last Chance Meet, formerly known as the Tuppeny Meet, on the campus of the college. Marc finished 13th overall in the 1500m Run, clocking 3:51.57, an 4-second outdoor PR in the 1500m! Results at: Swarthmore Results.

-- On May 16, 2009, Alum Aaron Boucher ('99), running his first race since the Boston Marathon, competed in the Breakneck 5 Miler in Sewell, NJ. Aaron took 6th in the race, finishing in 30:23. In passing, Coach Cal's brother, Ted Callinan, won the race. Results at: L and M Sports Results.

-- On May 16, 2009, Alum Kevin Merrigan ('08) of Monmouth University competed in the 2009 ECAC and IC4A Outdoor Championships at Princeton University. Kevin clocked 49.30 in the trials of the 400m, and led-off in the 4 X 400m Relay that clocked a 3:17.84. Both times were a tad off Kevin's and the team's PR's, and neither was good enough to qualify for the finals. Still, it was quite a year for a Freshman! Results at: ECAC Sports.