In the past, usually weekly throughout the season, the South Jersey Track Coaches Association ranked the Top-10 Cross Country teams in South Jersey and, on October 21st, the Association announced their most-recent list. In it, the Chiefs were ranked 3rd behind Cherry Hill East and Haddonfield, and they were followed by Washington Township, Kingsway, Ocean City, Highland, Shawnee, Haddon Township and Triton. Once again, most of this is "smoke and mirrors" because few teams have competed against each other or even competed on the same courses! But let the debate begin! GO CHEROKEE!
On October 24, 2020, the team returned yet again to DREAM Park for the Olympic Conference Championships and came home disappointed!
Again, "The Phantom" sent the following comments about the meet!
"The team finally got the chance to run in a championship race and the varsity squad responded with a strong showing, finishing just 3 points behind heavily favored Cherry Hill East, South Jersey's top ranked team! After winning the previous four Olympic Conference American Division Championships, it was disappointing to come up just short but credit goes to Cherry Hill East for living up to their pre-meet ranking!
"Senior Captain Nico Grilli didn't have his best day but still ran well to finish 2nd, just 2 seconds behind the winner! Following him, the team's other Senior Captain, Brett Shea had his best race of the year so far, finishing 6th, just 1 second behind East's 2nd man! Brett's time was his 2nd fastest and his best time ever at Dream Park! Behind him, Sophomore, Conor Jacob had his own great race! He showed a terrific finishing kick, passing four runners in the last 200 meters to place 7th with a new PR by 19 seconds! Cherokee's 4th man, Senior Dylan Odud, continued his pattern of improvement with a season best time by 9 seconds and a 13th place finish; and our 5th man, Sophomore Patrick Ditmars, also had another good race, knocking 16 seconds off his previous best to place 17th and come within 6 seconds of catching East's 5th man! Cherokee's 6th and 7th men, Junior Bradley Popler and Freshman Nick Kuenkel were not at top form but still ran tough to finish in 23rd and 30th place respectively!
"While not satisfied with a 2nd place finish, the team was encouraged by the improvement shown and the shrinking gap between us and the East squad!
"Cherokee's JV team did not fare as well as only three of our eighteen runners set new PR's! Freshmen Bobby Poplau and Luke Reistle set new bests by 2 and 1 seconds respectively! On the other hand, Freshman Jack Delaney, knocked 29 seconds off his previous best with an outstanding effort! Overall, the group looked like they needed a break from racing which they will get, their next race coming two weeks from now.
"The varsity squad will race next Saturday in the Burlington County Championships, seeking our 7th consecutive victory, and then not race again until Sectionals on November 10th!" GO CHEROKEE!
"All the runners who PR'd or had season best times were in contention for Runner of the Meet but, after consideration, it really came down to two - Jack Delaney in the JV race and Conor Jacob in the Varsity event. It was a tough call as they both competed exceptionally well but the coaches made the decision to give Conor Jacob the award based on his smart, tough race and his great finishing kick!" GO CONOR!
Details at: NJ.MileSplit.
In his blog, Reuben Frank commented on the race and, in passing, he listed the Top-10 times run at the 3-year-old DREAM Park Cross Country course. Of the ten, Cherokee holds five of the places and we still have Sectionals to go!
1st: Ethan Wechsler, 15:12 in 2019
5th: Nico Grilli, 16:01 in 2020
6th: Chris Spisak, 16:01 in 2018
7th: Chase Miller, 16:04 in 2019
9th: Tyler Jackson, 16:07 in 2019
Funniest line of the day: "I bet you're getting some really great pictures in this fog and mist!" Drollery or just dumbassery?
On October 31, 2020, the Burlington County Coaches Association hosted the annual Burlington County Cross Country Open, the county championships, at the Rancocas Valley Sports Complex in Easthampton. For 40 years, the meet was held at Mill Creek Park in Willingboro but, because of the pandemic, it was moved. For traditionalists, this is unfortunate because it doesn't allow comparisons to race results from all those years! Hurumph! Also because of the virus, the racing was limited to the county's Varsity teams only and no spectators were allowed! (That last decision was way over the top -- Cross Country is outdoors and no one sits or stands very close to one another!)
Once again, "The Phantom" sent a summary of the action:
"It was business as usual for the team on Saturday as they once again dominated the Burlington County Meet, winning the school's 22nd county championship! Indeed, twenty of those victories have happened in the last twenty-six years and this was our 7th in a row!
"Although it was not our best race of the year, it was more than good enough as we finished with 35 points, 45 fewer than runner-up, Shawnee in 2nd with 80 points!
"Nico Grilli became the 10th individual County Champion for Cherokee with a controlled early pace and a strong last mile! Nico finished 13 seconds in front of the 2nd place finisher, his teammate, Brett Shea, who ran a strong race of his own to record his highest finish in a meet this year and an improvement on his 4th place finish from last year! Nico and Brett, the two senior captains, did a great job of setting up the victory for the team with their 1-2 finish! Behind those two, we had four other runners in the top 17 finishers - Dylan Odud in 7th, Patrick Ditmars - 12th, Conor Jacob - 13th, and Bradley Popler - 17th!
"The coaches selected Nico Grilli as the Runner of the Meet! Nico ran a very patient race, following his race plan to perfection! He did not take the lead until the last mile and was still able to pull away for a 13-second victory!" GO NICO!
Details at: NJ.MileSplit.
In his blog, Reuben Frank commented on the race. A copy of his brief remarks is also available at Nico Grilli, Brett Shea lead Cherokee to 7th straight Burlington County title!!!. Really, Roob, seven straight titles and only three exclamation points?????
On November 7, 2020, many of Cherokee's Junior Varsity and Freshmen returned to DREAM Park and competed in the South Jersey Track Coaches Association Open. "The Phantom" made the following comments:
"While the varsity runners trained through for Sectionals, the rest of the team participated in the SJTCA Open meet on Saturday, November 7th. Conditions were pleasant with bright sunshine, a very light breeze and temperatures in the 50's at race time.
"The JV event went first and Cherokee dominated the small field of runners, taking the first 4 places and scoring 19 points. The individual victory was achieved by Freshman Luke Reistle who won by 9 seconds and established a new 5K PR by 19 seconds! Behind Luke, Juniors, Jameson Crozier, Kevin Hess and Lucas Hatch took the next 3 spots! Other PR performances were turned in by Freshmen, Silas Matteson and Nimai Kumar in 10th and 11th place!
"With our top seven training though this meet, and injuries keeping several other athletes from competing, our team in the Varsity race consisted of one Junior, Aiden Dickinson, two Sophomores, Joe Hough and Tommy Bromley, and two Freshmen, Andrew Free and Julian Hatch. Despite the lack of Varsity experience, this group still managed to place 6th in the field of 11 teams, led by Joe Hough in 21st place in the field of 78 runners!
"The coaches selected Freshman, Luke Reistle as the Runner of the Meet because he not only won his race but set a new PR (in training shoes)!" GO LUKE!
Official details at NJ. MileSplit.
On November 10, 2020, many of Cherokee's Junior Varsity and Freshmen returned to DREAM Park and competed in the South Jersey Track Coaches Association JV and Frosh Open. "The Phantom" made the following comments:
"The Freshmen and JV runners returned to Dream Park for the final race of the year, the SJTCA JV/Frosh Open, on Tuesday, November 10th. It was unseasonably warm with temperatures in the mid-70s and that, coupled with the short turnaround from Saturday's meet, made it a difficult challenge for each runner. While several individuals raced well, only one managed to end the season with a new PR, Freshman Silas Matteson, who knocked almost a half a minute off of his previous best! Although it may not have been the best day for the team, Cherokee still managed to win the Freshman Team Race and the JV squad took 2nd overall!
"In addition to Silas, the other notable performance was turned in by Junior Aiden Dickinson who tied his PR from last year while finishing 5th overall!
"The coaches selected Silas Matteson as the Runner of the Meet for the great race he ran to end the season with his best effort of the year!" GO SILAS!
Official details at NJ. MileSplit.
