Cherokee Cross Country Pictures, 2019, Page III





"The Bigs!"


So far this year, Cherokee's standing in the state has been based on the reputations of the coaches and the returning Varsity runners, and, while the JV and Freshmen have defended Cherokee's reputation admirably, now is the time for the Varsity to step up in several major meets and reinforce that standing! Shore Coaches, SJ Open, BC Open . . . they are the early "Bigs" and they will set the standard for the rest of the season! GO CHEROKEE!





~~ Holmdel Update ~~

Curious about what has happened at Holmdel over the years? MileSplit has these updated NJ Historic Holmdel Lists that provide a "merged" look at the top teams and individuals who raced the course! See anyone you know? NJ.MileSplit.

(Posted on ccctf.com last year and it's still interesting!) Several years ago, Kevin Callahan (no relation to our former coach, Mr. Callinan) used the "Map My Run" website to chart Holmdel's Championship Course, including changing elevations, and it provides some interesting information to the curious! For example, the first mile of the race feels like you're "climbing" Mount Everest but what's really the difference between the course start and the highest point on the course, and where is that high point? (Hint: our photographer often shoots outgoing races at the course highpoint!) How deep is that bowl? At the 2-mile point, almost every coach yells, "It's all downhill from here," but is it really? You probably have lots of questions and this website offers many answers! If you haven't seen it, give it a look! Map My Run.

A little less sophisticated but clever for the time it was produced, this map created by the Holmdel Cross Country team years ago (and now preserved by MileSplit) shows the course electronically! Click on the Start "button." MileSplit.




~~ MileSplit's Boys NJ Cross Country Team Rankings # 4 ~~


On October 2nd, 2019, NJ.MileSplit announced their NJ.MileSplit Boys NJ Cross Country Team Rankings # 4 and, despite not running this week, kept The Chiefs in 2nd place on the list! Reality arrives this week when Shore Coaches is contested! Haddonfield dropped to 4th behind Westfield, and Ocean City, who also did not run, advanced to 9th! There may be a message here: don't run and advance! GO CHEROKEE!

Details at: NJ.MileSplit.





~~ SJTCA Cross Country Team Rankings # 4 ~~


On October 2nd, 2019, the South Jersey Track Coaches Association announced their SJTCA Cross Country Team Rankings # 4 and once again, Cherokee was selected 1st on the list! The 2nd through 5th list changed a little since last week: Haddonfield, Cherry Hill East, Kingsway and Ocean City, with East and Kingsway changing places. Let's hope Cherokee remains # 1 after Shore Coaches on October 5th! GO CHEROKEE!

List at SJ Track.







~~ Shore Coaches Invitational ~~


On October 5th, 2019, the team traveled to Holmdel Park, the state's championship course, for the Shore Coaches Invitational their first in-state challenge of the season and they learned a lot!

Coach Shaklee offered this summary:

"The Shore Coaches Invitational was the first real test of the year for the Cherokee team. It went pretty well but definitely showed us that we still have a lot of work to do to be where we want to be by season's end!

The Freshmen got things off to a nice start, placing 9th in a field of 24 teams despite the fact that one of the top runners, Patrick Ditmar, is out with an injury. Connor Jacob led the way with a strong 4th place finish in the field of 284 runners! His time of 11:33 is one of the fastest ever by a Cherokee athlete and only 17 seconds off of the Cherokee record set three years ago by Chris Spisak! Tommy Bromley had a solid race in 20th with a time identical to that run by Ethan Wechsler when he was a freshman! Ben Hackney had another good outing finishing 38th in the deep field and Danny Hassall ran his best race yet to place 86th with a time close to what Ty Jackson ran as a freshman!

The JV team also ran well in the last race of the day! Danny Boria led the way with an exceptional race to place 2nd behind Cherry Hill East's 2nd man varsity (running JV probably because of SATs and arriving too late for the varsity race). Danny's time of 17:16 was a course PR by 59 seconds and puts him at 53rd on the All-Time Cherokee Holmdel List! Danny earned Runner of the Meet honors for the smart, focused, tough way he competed from start to finish! GO DANNY! Behind Danny, Cherokee had several other excellent performances! Bryan Lafferty showed he is on his way back to form with a very focused effort from start to finish which enabled him to place 22nd in the field of 332 runners! Jameson Crozier continued to impress with yet another strong race, only 12 seconds off of what he ran on the much easier Dream Park course a few weeks ago. Behind him, Lucas Hatch and Kevin Hess both had excellent races, running even faster than their times from Dream Park! These four led the team to a 6th place finish out of 23 teams!

Earlier in the day, the Varsity took to the course with a lot of high expectations heaped upon them thanks to their 2nd place ranking in the state! It was the first 5K of the year for the Varsity and they were missing both Brett Shea and Dylan Odud due to injury. In addition, a couple of the runners were a bit under the weather and not racing at 100%. Despite all of that, the boys came through with a solid team race finishing 3rd (missed 2nd on a 6th man tie-break) in the uber-competitive A race! So competitive, in fact, that when results of the day were merged, the team actually moved up to 2nd out of all of the hundreds of teams that raced over the course of the day! Ethan Wechsler, was a little off his A-game but still managed a 5th place finish in a very competitive field with the 10th fastest time of the course ever by a Cherokee runner! Chase Miller was also a bit off of his best form but gave a strong effort to place 18th! Both Ethan and Chase were faster this year than they were at last year's Shore Coaches Meet. The highlight for the varsity was the improvement shown by our next two runners, Ty Jackson and Nico Grilli! Ty improved by 46 seconds and moved up to 21st on the All-Time Cherokee Holmdel List with his 20th place finish! Right behind Ty in 23rd was Nico, who had a 37-second PR of his own to move up to 23rd on the All-Time Cherokee Holmdel List! Mike Gavio finished the scoring for the team with his 34th place finish and a new Holmdel PR by 6 seconds! Our 6th and 7th men, joining the "Sub-18 Holmdel Club," were Bobby Hackney in 58th and Matt Campbell in 81st!

With more than a month to prepare, and with the return of Brett and Dylan, the team should be ready for something special by States and MOC!"

Incredible amount of detail at: NJ.MileSplit. Also, Reuben Frank, formerly at the Burlington County Times and now at NBC Sports, Philadelphia, wrote about this meet in the SJ Track Blog: From the Backstretch and it's copied on our server at Frank's Blog. Geeze, only three exclamation points . . ..


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~~ MileSplit's Boys NJ Cross Country Team Rankings # 5 ~~


On October 8th, 2019, NJ.MileSplit announced their NJ.MileSplit Boys NJ Cross Country Team Rankings # 5 and, despite not running their best at Shore Coaches, the Chiefs dropped only one place on the list! CBA remained at 1st, West Windsor-Plainsboro North HS advanced to 2nd after beating Cherokee at Shore, and Cherokee held onto 3rd place in the rankings! Haddonfield didn't run and they dropped three places to 7th on the list; and previously unranked Cherry Hill East made it to 10th place. GO CHEROKEE!

Details at: NJ.MileSplit





~~ Who Needs Wechsler?! ~~


On October 10th, 2019, for grins, NJ.MileSplit decided to analyze the results at Shore Coaches in a variety of ways. They excluded the top runner on each team and ranked them; they excluded the top seven on each team and ranked them; and they merged all the teams that competed and ranked them. Check out how The Chiefs did in each ranking at NJ.MileSplit.






~~ SJTCA Cross Country Team Rankings # 5 ~~


On October 10th, 2019, the South Jersey Track Coaches Association announced their SJTCA Cross Country Team Rankings # 5 and Cherokee remains at 1st on the list! The 4th and 5th teams did a small flip-flop from last week: Haddonfield, Cherry Hill East, Ocean City and Kingsway, with O.C. and Kingsway changing places. Let's hope Cherokee solidifies that ranking after the up-coming SJ Open! GO CHEROKEE!

List at SJ Track.






~~ SJTCA Open ~~


On October 12th, 2019, the team separated into two with the Varsity staying home to practice while the JV and Freshman traveled to Delsea High School for the South Jersey Track Coaches Association Open, AKA, "The SJ Open." Coach Shaklee attended both and he sent some early-morning pictures of the Varsity about to practice as the sun came up over the horizon! (Our photographer thought the pictures suggested dance practice and made some suggestions to the coach for the future.)


Early practice Early practice Early practice Early practice


After practice, the coach drove to Delsea in time to see his athletes compete. He sent the following comments:

"While the Varsity took the day off to get in a good workout, Cherokee entered both the JV and Freshmen races at the SJ Open and had a successful day!

The Freshmen got things started with their 3rd place finish led by Connor Jacob who also finished 3rd individually with another good race! Tommy Bromley, Ben Hackney, Joe Hough (who had his best race of the year) and Danny Hassall completed the scoring for the team. Sixth man, Dennis Golembiewski had his best race of the year to date as well!

The JV team finished 2nd led by the outstanding races of Jameson Crozier and Bradley Popler who placed 3rd and 6th respectively! Jameson broke 18 minutes for the first time with a very focused, determined effort while Bradley ran the best race of his career, going out with the leaders and never letting up! It was a huge PR for both athletes and, consequently, they were selected as Co-Runners of the Meet! GO JAMESON! GO BRADLEY!

Next up, the team heads to Mill Creek Park in Willingboro on Friday for the Burlington County Open!"

Details at: NJ.MileSplit.

Our photographer covered the meet from the finish line and was stunned by the number of athletes -- literally, dozens! -- who gave up their positions to one or two competitors when they slowed down before crossing the line! He said, "That's insane! You race for 4,990 meters to beat those guys and then you let-up near the finish line and allow them beat you! Check out meet results posted over the season and see how many teams took second, or third, or fourth by one or two points! Really, that's insane!" His advice: RACE 5,001 Meters! Stay focused! RACE at the start, in the middle AND through the finish line! "It ain't over 'til it's over!" . . . to quote Yogi Berra!



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~~ MileSplit's Boys NJ Cross Country Team Rankings # 6 ~~


On October 15th, 2019, NJ.MileSplit announced their NJ.MileSplit Boys NJ Cross Country Team Rankings # 6 and, despite the Varsity remaining idle this week, the Chiefs remained at 3rd place on the list! CBA and West Windsor-Plainsboro North HS remained at 1st and 2nd after decent outings at Manhattan, and Cherokee held onto 3rd place in the rankings! Haddonfield ran Manhattan well and advanced three places to 4th on the list! Kingsway ran pretty well at Manhattan and moved onto the "ranked" list at 8th, while Cherry Hill East, winners of DIV 3 at the SJ Open, dropped from the list! GO CHEROKEE!

Details at: NJ.MileSplit.






~~ SJTCA Cross Country Team Rankings # 6 ~~


On October 16th, 2019, the South Jersey Track Coaches Association announced their SJTCA Cross Country Team Rankings # 6 and Cherokee remains at 1st on the list! Somewhere along the line the voters are going to stop believing the voodoo and demand that The Chiefs earn their exalted place on the list but so far, so good! The 4th and 5th teams remain the same as last week: Haddonfield, Cherry Hill East, Ocean City and Kingsway. Will Cherokee show-up for the Burlington County Open?! GO CHEROKEE!

List at SJ Track.






~~ Burlington County Championships ~~


On October 18th, 2019, the team traveled to Millcreek Park in Willingboro for the Burlington County Championships, an event where Cherokee teams have excelled for decades! Coach Shaklee sent the following after-action report!

"The Cherokee team had a good day at the Burlington County Championships on Friday at Millcreek Park in Willingboro!

The JV race went first and got things started off in fashion with Cherokee putting eleven athletes in the top twenty-two in a field of 165 runners! Freshman Conor Jacob led the way with a great race to take the individual victory! Conor's time would have placed him 14th in the Varsity race, making him Cherokee's overall 6th man! For running an absolutely perfect race - smart, focused, determined - Conor earned Runner of the Meet honors! GO CONOR!

Behind Conor, the Chiefs took the next four spots, and five of the next six, to shut-out the rest of the county (if they were a combined team) by the score of 15 to 45! Those spots were taken by Matt Campbell - 2nd, Joe Natoli - 3rd, Bradley Popler - 4th, Jameson Crozier - 5th and Aiden Dickenson - 7th! To put it in perspective, with the times run by the JV team, they would have placed 5th in the County Varsity Championship race!

In the Varsity race, Cherokee was equally impressive! The individual battle between Ethan Wechsler and Cinnaminson's Austin Gabay lived up to expectations with Gabay taking the victory in a new course record (breaking the 17-year old record of Cherokee's Keith Krieger from 2002) and Ethan finishing 2nd in a time just a second off of the former record! Behind Ethan's 2nd place finish, the next four Cherokee runners ran as a pack for two miles and all finished well over the last 1.1 to take places 3 through 6 - Chase Miller 3rd, Brett Shea (in his first race since return from injury) 4th, Tyler Jackson 5th and Mike Gavio 6th! The result was a Cherokee victory by 70 points over runner-up Rancocas Valley! Cherokee's 5th man beat the top runner from every team in the county with the exception of Cinnaminson! It was the 6th County Meet win in a row for the team and the 21st overall, dating back to 1988 when the Chief's won their first county title! GO CHEROKEE!

Next up, the team faces a tough battle against a strong Cherry Hill East team on Wednesday in the Olympic Conference Championships at, what is expected to be a wet, Dream Park.

Details at: NJ.MileSplit.

Reuben Frank wrote about the meet in SJTCA Blog and it's copied on our server at Frank's Blog: From the Backstretch. Oh man, another with only three exclamation points so maybe he wasn't that impressed. : < (

The following identifies the seventeen Burlington County XC State Champions since 1947: Champions.

Coach Thompson's team pic!


Thompson's Team Pic

BC Champs BC Champs BC Champs BC Champs BC Champs
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Varsity Winners

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BC Champs BC Champs BC Champs BC Champs BC Champs





~~ MileSplit's Boys NJ Cross Country Team Rankings # 7 ~~


On October 21st, 2019, NJ.MileSplit announced their NJ.MileSplit Boys NJ Cross Country Team Rankings # 7 and, after their victory at the Burlington County Championships, the Chiefs remained in 3rd place on the list! CBA and West Windsor-Plainsboro North HS remained at 1st and 2nd. Curiously, Haddonfield dropped one place on the list as they sent only one runner - a sophomore who took a close second - to the Camden County Championships! (What happened to the unspoken "Cherokee Rule:" if you don't compete, you advance or stay where you are?!) Kingsway won their county championship but dropped one place on the list! Also, Cinnaminson's Austin Gabay, who had to break a 17-year old record at the Burlington County Championships to beat Eathan Wechsler, got only "Honorable Mention" in the Athlete of the Week category behind a CBA guy who won his county but not in record time! GO CHEROKEE!

Details at: NJ.MileSplit.









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