On December 2, 2019, The Sun Newspapers named Ethan Wechsler the "XC Athlete of the Year!" OK, it's not ESPN but reporter Ryan Lawrence wrote a nice article at: Sun Newspapers and it is copied on our server at: Sun Newspapers name Ethan 'XC Athlete of Year'.
On December 3, 2019, a strong contingent of Cherokee athletes and parents returned to Aulette's Ballroom for the South Jersey Track Coaches Association Banquet to celebrate the accomplishments of all of South Jersey's Cross Country runners and especially of our team members Ethan Wechsler and Chase Miller!
Former Coach Callinan, now working on "the dark side" at central adminiatration, did a great job as the evening's MC, and Ethan and Chase looked very tidy in their suits and ties when they were named to the "All-South Jersey Team!"
Robert Kellert Editor of NJ.MileSplit, attended the event and there's a link on their website at: NJ.MileSplit.
The season's over and only the Team Banquet remains . . . it's a good time to go back and look at our Seniors before they really knew what they signed-on for! Several laced their racing flats way back in Middle School (maybe earlier?!): Ethan Wechsler, Mike Gavio, and Bobby Hackney. Three others made their appearances in Freshman year: Chase Miller, Ty Jackson and Matt Campbell. And two (lunatics?) came out in their Senior year (something about "a bucket list" or a "death wish"): Kaleem Daanyal and Spencer Floyd!
Look back on some Middle School (and earlier?) pictures of Ethan, Mike and Bobby!
How about those guys and "the Newbies" -- Chase, Ty and Matt -- early in Freshman Year?
Talk about "Newbies," here are Kaleem's and Spencer's earliest appearances in Cherokee uniforms! Seems like only yesterday!
On December 3rd, 2019, NJ.MileSplit reviewed the team and individual rankings at Holmdel Park in 2019 and 2020.
In 2019, Cherokee's team ranked 5th behind CBA, WWPN, Mendham and Haddonfield; and, individually, Ethan Wechsler ranked "tied for 5th" behind the usual suspects, Jack Jennings, Liam Murphy, Kevin Antczak, and Luke Johnson, and tied with Shaw Powell. In addition, Chase Miller, 26th; Ty Jackson, 51st; Nico Grilli, 74th; Brett Shea, 92nd; and Matt Gavio, 128th.
In 2020, using the present returners, MileSplit ranked Cherokee's team 12th with Cherry Hill East the only South Jersey team ranked ahead in 4th! Individually, Nico Grilli, 25th; Brett Shea, 36th; and Danny Boria, 88th, are the only returning Chiefs in the Top-100!
Complete details at: NJ.MileSplit.
On December 11th, 2019, the team, with their coaches, parents and friends, returned to school for the annual Cherokee Cross Country Banquet, a celebration of what was accomplished throughout the season! Once again, Coach Shaklee summerized the proceedings:
"The Cherokee Boys Cross Country Banquet was held on Wednesday, December 11th in the Cherokee South Cafeteria (yeah, we are pretty fancy!). After a few welcoming remarks, dinner was served. During dinner, we had a slide show of photos from the season (courtesy of RunningWorksPics) with some music in the background. After dinner we began with some remarks from the coaches. Coach Thompson went first and thanked the athletes for their hard work and dedication, and the parents & alums for their support. He also talked about the season and how significant the accomplishments were. Coach Shaklee went next and echoed the thanks to athletes, parents and alums as well as thanking the booster club for their support and Mr. Smyth for his photos and running the website. Next, Coach Shaklee related the highlights of the season from the Cherokee Challenge through the Nike Northeast Regionals, with special emphasis on the Group 4 State Championship.
"The athletes were then presented with their awards (Varsity, JV, Frosh), a team booklet and a training booklet. Athletes were called up by class beginning with the freshmen and individual highlights for each athlete were shared. Coach Shaklee presented the Freshmen and Junior awards while Coach Thompson presented the Sophomore and Senior awards. All seniors were also given a team plaque which included a team photo and a list of team accomplishments.
"Once all athletes had been recognized, the All-County, All-Conference and All-South Jersey recipients were presented. Then, the three recipients of the Super Chief Award (varsity letter and a 3.65 or higher GPA) were presented to Chase Miller, Brett Shea and Conor Jacob.
"Finally, The three special awards were presented:
"The Most Improved award went to Jameson Crozier who improved from 19:11 last year to 17:46 this year!
"The Unsung Hero award went to Chase Miller who was a consistently strong #2 man in every race all year and a great team leader!
"The Most Valuable Player (MV Runner?) award went to Ethan Wechsler for the second year in a row! In addition to being one of the top runners in the state (4th in MOC), Ethan is a living example of what focus, dedication, determination and hard work can do! In his first race of his Freshman year, he was our 5th Freshman at the Cherokee Challenge! To go from that to 4th in the entire state, and 2nd fastest Cherokee runner ever at Holmdel, is impressive and well deserving of this award!
"The seniors then each said a few words of reflection and thanks and presented gifts to the coaches including a State Championship plaque, a state championship fridge magnet and a t-shirt with the colleges that the seniors will be running for next year."
The list of the Team and Individual Accomplishments for 2019.
This year's "Booklet Cover" is: here!
Coach Shaklee's message to the team is at our : Cross Country Main Page.
The following are selected pictures from the event provided by the Wechslers and Mrs. Jackson! Thanks!
On December 18th, 2019, NJ.MileSplit announced the All-State Teams from the Cross Country season and, no surprise, Ethan Wechsler was selected for the 1st Team! Check out the others selected for the First, Second and Third teams at: NJ.MileSplit.
-- On January 5, 2020, the Burlington County Track Coaches Association announced the Burlington County All-Decade Cross Country Team that included a few of Cherokee's finest! First and foremost is Shawn Wilson '13 selected as the Runner of the Decade, followed by Justin Kelly '18, Jack Shea '17, and Ethan Wechsler '20! Others on the team included Austin Gabay '20 and Mike Ungvarsky '17 of Cinnaminson; and Connor Herr '12 of Shawnee.