On October 3, 2007, Cherokee met the Pennsauken High School Cross Country team, a group that has struggled for years to return to what it once was. Again, however, this was not the year. Using the event as a training session, and having the runners do a "threshold" pace throughout the race, Cherokee still swept the first eight places. The score: 15 - 50.
Dual Meet Record: 4 - 0! GO CHEROKEE!
On October 4, 2007, Coach Shaklee entered two runners in the Burlington County Frosh - Soph Meet at Rancocas Valley High School's Sports Complex: Freshman Ryan Bobb and Sophomore Mike Czuba. Ryan took 6th in the Freshman race, finishing the 3K competition in 11:48; while Mike took 12th in the Sophomore race, finishing the 5K race in 20:07. Complete results at: Ed Colona's Webpage
On October 6, 2007, Cherokee traveled to the premier cross country course in New Jersey, Holmdel Park, the site of the state championship meets in November, for the Shore Coaches Invitational. The results were very satisfying!
Several key athletes were missing. "Ted" Schickling was still trying to set the school record in the New SAT's, and Rob Roselli was suffering from another allergy attack in New Jersey's crazy autumn weather . . . the high 80s and very humid in October! The coaches responded by moving Ryan McNair, the JV Champion at the recent Ocean State XC Invitational, into Varsity, and calling on the other JV runners to fill the gap left by the loss of McNair and Roselli.
The Varsity squad, led once again by Alex Yersak, took 2nd overall in their race, with Alex taking 4th and Chris Applegate taking 9th! They were followed by Sean Hartnett, who was named the "Runner of the Meet" -- GO SEAN! -- Ryan McNair, and Matt McCarroll, all of whom ran impressive PR's and made up the scoring members of the team!
The JV squad took 3rd overall! Led by Steve McCarroll in 7th, and closely followed by Kyle Smith and Ian Foley in 10th and 11th, with Evan Stone and newcomer Doug Baals in 20th and 21st, the entire team ran PR's on Holmdel's challenging 5K course!
With this experience, the team is looking forward to the next time they'll be running at Holmdel: the State Group Championships in November! GO CHEROKEE!
Complete results at: Fraulo Racing
On October 9, 2007, the Cross Country teams from all four Lenape District schools -- Lenape, Shawnee, Seneca and Cherokee -- met at Gloucester County College to compete for bragging rights within the District, and this year Cherokee won the honor!
Again led by Senior Alex Yersak, the Varsity team of Ted Schickling, Sean Hartnett, Chris Applegate, Marc Saccomanno, Ryan McNair and Matt McCarroll ran well against strong teams from their cross-district rivals!
Although they competed in the same race, the meet was scored as separate dual meets. Against Lenape High School, the score was 21 - 40, with Cherokee taking 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th and 7th! Against Shawnee High School, the score was 18 - 43, with Cherokee taking 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th! And against Seneca High School, the score was 18 - 45, with Cherokee again taking 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th! GO CHEROKEE!
Marc Saccomanno, Ryan McNair and Matt McCarroll ran PR's on the "B" course at GCC, and, after watching Marc Saccomanno battle and overcome an excellent Shawnee runner in the final stretches of the race, the coaches selected Marc as the "Runner of the Meet!" GO MARC!
Dual Meet Score: an undefeated 7 - 0, and American Division Championship! GO CHEROKEE!
On October 13, 2007, the team traveled to Delsea High School -- the site of the up-coming SJ Sectionals -- to compete in the SJ Open. But, instead of racing the Varsity squad, the coaches decided to sit-out six of the team's top runners and turn the responsibility over to the Junior Varsity. The results were excellent!
Practically everyone on the team ran PR's and some were truly outstanding! Ted Schickling dropped 56 seconds off his time on the same course last year; and Steve Burkholder dropped 49 seconds! Steve McCarroll, Rob Roselli, Ian Foley, Frank Devine, Doug Baals, Tyler Mauro . . . all had their fastest 5K's ever! Freshman Ryan Bobb ran under 20 minutes for the first time and, coming in 91st, beat 119 other runners! And for the first time, Kyle Smith, named the "Runner of the Meet," dropped under 18:00 in the 5K, crossing the line in 17:28 for a 37 second PR! GO KYLE!
Without the 6 Varsity guys, the team still took 6th place in the Varsity race against the best in South Jersey, and 3rd in the JV race! GO CHEROKEE!
Complete results at: SJ Open Results.
