STEP-UP CHEROKEE! GO CHIEFS!
Last year was a good, if not very good year! We had great front runners and a strong group of developing runners! We won the County, Sectionals, took 3rd at Groups, and 9th at the MOC! Any other team might call that a great year but, with Cherokee's extraordinary history, and the talent we had on the team, it was only a good year! This year, we lost our two best runners (and leaders) but check it out: this year, we've got the talent, we've got the coaching, we've got the guys who have experience and enjoy winning, and we've got the guys who are willing to work for it!
Set your minds to it now because it begins NOW, and, a long time from now, it ends at Nationals! Not at the MOC, at Nationals! Prepare this summer by doing the physical and mental foundation-work necessary to reach that ambitious goal! GO CHEROKEE!
It's true! "It's hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk!"
Afterwards, perhaps a cooling sea breeze and refreshing ocean water at the beach?
On July 4th, 2024, a typically hot and humid day in South Jersey, Marlton sponsored the 4th of July 5K and many members of our current team and many of our Alums were expected to compete. Alas, not to be!
Only two members of our current team raced the event -- in-coming Junior Logan Bromley and in-coming Freshman Dylan Weiner! Logan, somewhat weakened by the large arm cast he was wearing, finished 8th/385 overall in 18:30; and Dylan finished 23rd/385 overall in 21:15. A detailed results page, including a good finish line video, is available.
See Alums 2024 - 2025.
Our photographer was unavailable because he hurt himself by falling off his bike (1) while training for the Gravel Ride Up Spruce Knob, a 55-miler in West Virginia that he planned to race with his son, Bruce, on July 13th; (2) when he was hit by a car in front of Matteo Evola's pizza shop in Cinnaminson; or (3) when he was dismounting his bike in his driveway in Moorestown?
OK, it was #3 and rib injuries are very painful! Don't tell his mother about the language he has been using!
Back in the day, one of Coach Shaklee's early coaching successes occurred at Cherry Hill H.S. East in 1981 when he was instrumental in training Bruce Miller, the adopted son of our present-day photographer, to become "the SJ Runner of the Year!" (Interestingly enough, Bruce won the Shore Coaches CC Meet up in Holmdel by quite a bit and set the course record at the time! This was before they turned it into a "turnpike" and his time was a record-setting 16:02! Bruce continued to compete as a runner (at WVU) and biker and, today, at age 61, he competes in long and short distance (mountain) bike races in West Virginia! This past week on July 13th, he raced the 55-mile course, took 5th in the younger 50+ age group at the Gravel Ride Up Spruce Knob completing the multi-terrain course in 03:56:07, averaging 13.7 mph.)
We bring this up to illustrate the "SJ Runner of the Year" successes Coach Shaklee has had (and hopes to continue having) during his coaching years and here we go back over the list!
Coach Shaklee began his coaching career at his Alma Mater, Cherry Hill H.S. East, after he graduated from Drexel University and began working for his Teacher's Certification and graduate degree. In those days before the Internet, the newspaper sports pages, especially the Courier-Post of Camden, dominated the selection of the best teams and individuals in South Jersey. In Cross Country, an All-South Jersey Team, the SJ Coach of the Year and the SJ Runner of the Year were selected. In this last area, Coach Shaklee made an immediate impression, bringing two of East's athletes to the apex of South Jersey running! Later, he transferred from East to Shawnee, and then to Cherokee, where he would continue to emphasize that goal to his athletes!
Here is the most recent list of his athletes named SJ Runner of the Year.
1981 Bruce Miller (CH East)
1983 Bill Stewart (CH East)
2001 Marc Pelerin
2002 Keith Kreiger
2004 Tom Yersak
2011 Shawn Wilson
2012 Shawn Wilson
2015 Jack Shea
2018 Ethan Wechsler
2022 Patrick Ditmars
2024 ?
Besides a great coach, what else do you need to become the SJ Runner of the Year?
On July 18th, 2024, a fairly decent day squeezed between two periods of humid, 90+ days, the coach scheduled a tempo workout in the back woods of the Cherokee Challenge and our photographer stopped by to witness the workout! Comfortably seated near the old grain towers, he took quite a few pics, and then in the shade of the Shot Put area, he shot some there as well! Here are a few of the pictures he took and the rest are available on the District's Google site. (These pics are higher resolution than those below on this site so, if you want to keep or share them, cut and paste from the Google site!)
Let's review, whether you were at practice our not! The team looks good at the top but, if one or two men go down, Cherokee is, at best, an average team in NJ! We need everyone to continue building and we need everyone below 4th or 5th to step-up, big time . . . that takes months of determined practice! Remember, YOU are an important runner on the team, all of you, the team needs you, and what you do matters to the team! GO CHIEFS!
Coach Shaklee invited red foxes to patrol the course and encourage his runners to up their paces!
