Coach Shaklee sent the following comments on the event:
"Coming off the Olympic Conference Meet, and a decisive victory over a very good Cherry Hill East team, we entered the South Jersey Sectional Championships full of confidence and ready to extend our sectional win streak to six! Cherry Hill East, however, was out to stop us. They were more determined and more focused than a week ago and they made things interesting over the later stages of the race.
"Our seven athletes were all running in a very large pack (which included East's seven as well) through more than half the race before things got going. When the real racing began, the pack strung out pretty quickly. As it did, it became clear that it was going to be a much closer race against Cherry Hill East this time around. As expected, Jack Tindall led the last segment of the race and opened up a small lead by the finish. His time of 15:27 was the fastest time of the day and broke his own freshman course record by seven seconds! East runners took the next two spots with Liam Tindall and Ben Realley finishing fourth and fifth, Liam with a five second improvement over the conference race and Ben one second off his conference time! Enzo Corona and Ben Weiner both ran strong races, improving by fourteen and nine seconds respectively, to take eight and twelfth and secure the team win! Sean Sooy and Logan Bromley finished fourteenth and twenty-third as our sixth and seventh men.
"The Runner of the Meet is a tie between Enzo Corona and Ben Weiner! Both rose to the occasion and had their best races of the year when we needed them! Congratulations! GO Enzo! GO Ben!
"The final result was a 10 point margin of victory over Cherry Hill East and a sixth consecutive sectional championship for the program, giving us fourteen total, twice as many as the second highest championship total (seven for Toms River North)! The team improved the Dream Park Course 5-Man Average Record they set at the Olympic Conference Meet by three seconds with an average of 15:45! While there were some good races from several of our seven, and it was great to win another sectional title, we know that we have to do better if we intend to take the State Group 4 title next Saturday at Holmdel Park. Our focus for this week is to physically and mentally prepare for that challenge."
Reuben Frank, writing for the SJTCA Blog, highlighted Jack Tindall's performance at Sectionals: Frank on Jack Tindall.
Details at: NJ.MileSplit.
Again, our photographer is unavailable but three Cherokee parents, Mesdames Kumar, Healy and Butler stepped up and took a number of great pictures at Sectionals that are available at: Edited Boys Google Link.
Here are a few of those pictures, slightly edited:
On November 9th, 2024, the team returned to Holmdel Park, site of the state's championship cross country races, for the NJSIAA State Group 4 Championships!
Remember back in late June when we stressed the importance of team members "stepping up" to fill roles they hadn't imagined for themselves? No one was permanently #1 or #3 or #20, we said! Step up! Reach for heights you never imagined, for roles you never played on the team! We stressed that with a picture from our campus:
STEP-UP CHEROKEE! GO CHIEFS!
Certainly that term has been heard and heard again over the past few weeks!
Let's see if Coach Shaklee emphasized "stepping up" in his review of Group 4 States!
"The Cherokee Boys Cross Country Team headed to Holmdel Park on Saturday, November 9th, for the Group 4 State Championship race. With five of the top ten ranked teams in the state in our race, we knew it would be a tough competition, especially since our top runner, Jack Tindall, had been sick during the week and was not back to 100%.
"North Jersey Section 2 champs, Westfield, ranked fourth in the state, came in as the slight favorite over us (ranked fifth) and Cherry Hill East (ranked sixth), with ninth ranked Ridgewood and tenth ranked Manalapan also in the mix.
"As a team, we had talked about the importance of getting out and into position in the first 1000 meters of the race and, as the field exited the woods up by the tennis courts,it was clear that the boys had taken that to heart with six of our seven in the large lead pack. As has been the case in every race we've been in this year, no one showed any interest in pushing the pace and things slowed down heading to the mile mark which the pack hit in the low to mid 5:30s, a very conservative start. With that slow a start, it was not possible to say which teams were in contention since the pack was so large.
"By the two mile, things had changed significantly, and not for the good. Cherry Hill East was running great and they were clearly winning the team race with a mile to go. Jack Tindall had faded and was struggling to hold it together. Liam Tindall was also struggling and it looked like it was not going to be our day.
"And that was when the character of this team really shone through! Over the last mile, they refused to give up and, to a man, they chased people down. Coming into the finish, East had two runners in front of our first, their third in front of our third and their fourth in front of our fourth. In each of those battles, however, our guys kept fighting and they stayed close, minimizing the amount of points we were down. In the team scoring, East's top two were seventh and ninth, but Ben Realley and Logan Bromley were tenth and eleventh, making the score 16 to 21 in favor of Cherry Hill East after two runners each. Jack Tindall held it together and finished strong in fifteenth, one place behind the third East runner (after 3 each, the score was 30-36). With East's fourth man finishing seventeenth, we needed a strong effort from our remaining runners to stay in contention . . . and we got it! Although he was not at his best, Liam Tindall toughed it out for an eighteenth place finish, in 16:43, to make the score 47 to 54 after four.
"Cherry Hill East's fifth man, like his teammates before him, set a new PR on the Holmdel course, finishing in 28th in the team scoring at 16:57, giving them a final score of 75 points. However, right behind Liam was sophomore, Sean Sooy, in nintheenth at 16:43, giving us a score of 72 points and an eighth state championship! For good measure, Enzo Corona finished 21st in the team scoring with a time of 16:46. With a one through six spread of only 25 seconds, this was the epitome of a team race and capped off a season in which this group has continued to find ways to win! Even Ben Weiner, who had an off day in 54th at 17:29, has much of which to be proud. This was not his day but his outstanding effort last week helped secure our sixth consecutive sectional championship and propelled us into the state meet on a high note!
"Coach Thompson and Coach Shaklee could not be more proud of these young men! Perhaps more than any other group in Cherokee Cross Country history, this team truly exemplifies what it means to be a TEAM. They are there for each other and they feed off of the energy of the pack. Even those who did not make the top seven were instrumental in our success! Their dedication and hard work all year long has been inspiring to the varsity seven and they were out on the course on Saturday cheering for their mates and keeping them motivated and focused from start to finish!
"We are excited as we look forward to next week and the State Meet of Champions! We know that whatever happens, these guys will handle it, work as a team, and get the best result they are capable of. How do we know this? Because, that's what they do every time they go to the line!"
The coaches named Logan Bromley the Runner of the Meet! He stepped-up incredibly from his Sectional race, running the same time at the much more difficult Holmdel Park course than he ran last week at Dream Park! It was a 63 second Holmdel PR and it came when we most needed it. Simply, if he didn't do that, we don't win!" CONGRATULATIONS, LOGAN!
Details at: NJ.MileSplit.
Reuben Frank highlights the team's tight running to cheer their 8th State Championship at: SJ Blog.
Our photographer was unavailable but several MileSplit photographers provided several great pics from the meet! Some will be posted here and they and others will be posted at our: Google site.
On November 16th, 2024, the team returned to Holmdel Park for the NJSIAA State Meet of Champions!
Coach Shaklee offered this comment on the performance of his team:
"The Cherokee Boys Cross Country Team completed the "regular season" on Saturday, running to a third place finish at the New Jersey State Meet of Champions at Holmdel Park. After three very tough races in a row, rising to the occasion took a lot of focus and determination from this team!
"Freshman, Jack Tindall, was attempting to return to form after a post-Sectional illness that sapped his energy for the Group Meet and still had him not feeling 100%. On top of that, the metatarsal tendon injury that had been plaguing him all season was becoming even more of a problem. Despite these obstacles, Jack (as always) came in determined to get the most out of himself and he performed admirably, finishing 15th in a field of 160 with a time 27 seconds faster than last week! It would have been a freshman record on the course had he not already set the record with a faster time at Shore Coaches! He now has the two fastest times ever by a freshman at Holmdel.
"Fifteen seconds after Jack finished, sophomore, Ben Realley, crossed the line in 26th place. While Ben's time was slightly off of what he ran at the Group Meet, it was still a nice effort and kept us in the mix for a podium finish. Ben has been super consistent and dependable all year, so his performance at MOCs was no surprise!
"Behind Ben, junior, Logan Bromley overcame a poor start and moved up continually over the last two miles to finish in 34th place. He passed 29 runners over the last mile of the race! Logan was followed closely by seniors, Liam Tindall, in 41st and Enzo Corona in 43rd. Liam and Enzo have been focused and determined all season and, even in races that were not going their way, they never gave up! They have been indispensable to the success of the team!
"For good measure, sixth and seventh men, sophomore, Sean Sooy, and senior, Ben Weiner, were both across the line soon after Enzo. Other than CBA, Sean and Ben were faster than any other team's six and seven runners! Our seven man spread of just 52 seconds was also the second best on the day, behind only CBA!
"When the scores were announced, we found ourselves in third place, with Haddonfield taking second behind (yes, you guessed it!) CBA. While we were a little disappointed to lose to a South Jersey team, we were satisfied that, as always, this group of athletes competed and never gave up! It was another good team race and a nice way to end the regular season. Next, the boys will compete in the Nike Northeast Regional Championships on November 23rd in New York, as the Evesham Harriers Club Team!"
The coaches selected Ben Weiner as the Runner of the Meet!" He put a lot of pressure on himself at both Groups and MOC and that often backfires but he was the only one of us to clock a PR at the MOC! CONGRATULATIONS, BEN!
Details at: NJ.MileSplit.
Our photographer was unavailable but here a few pictures from the photographers at NJ.MileSplit. These and the rest of the pictures are posted on our Google site.
On November 23rd, 2024, the best of the team, Varsity and JV, supported by Alumni, parents and coaches, traveled to Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls, New York, for the Nike Northeast Regional Cross Country Championships, but the results screamed like a large whoopie cushion!
Coach Shaklee was pretty blunt in his evaluation of the meet. Basically he said it was his fault. Paraphrasing: "I misjudged their mental and physical condition. Our missing #1 runner may have bothered them but I have a good bunch of guys who I thouht would still perform. Not sure what they were thinking at the start but the race got away from them and they were never in it. Several JV runners worked hard on a hard course but the only one who stood out was Tate Midora, the Runner of the Meet"! CONGRATULATIONS, TATE!
Again, our photographer was unable to shoot the meet. Usually he can depend on others but, despite a new blond look that should attract commercial photographers, no pictures of the Cherokee runners can be found on the MileSplit or Nike sites.
Details at: NY MileSplit. Your membership to New Jersey MileSplit will give access to New York MileSplit. Also, Nike has results and free pictures but you have to dig for them! Our photographer found no Cherokee atletes pictured. Hurumph!
Coach Thompson provided two pictures of our Varsity and JV teams at Regionals:
Nike provided this somewhat blurred landscape view of the race:
On November 28th, 2024, a number of Alums and current Cherokee runners raced the 9th Annual Marlton Turkey Trot 5K and, once again, Cherokee did well in the race! Jack Shea '17 and Ethan Wechsler '19 set the pace with Jack in 1st (14:35) and Ethan in 2nd (14:48)! Mike Zurzolo '17 followed in 3rd at 15:54. Current runners ran the race a bit less stressfully: Jack Finley finished in 24th at 19:42; Sean Sooy took 25th in 19:45; and Sam Wright took 27th in 20:21.Others were there too! Check out the results!
Detailed results at: Run Sign Up.
Our photographer was unavailable but Mrs Tindall herded together a group of Alums and present-day Chiefs for a picture:
December 1, 2024, the races are over, the season is done, the banquet is coming soon . . . let's go back and look for the earliest pictures of our guys in the earliest days of our partnership!
Only one competed in the Cherokee Challenge before high School: Enzo Corona! The rest are most likely pictured in their first year at Cherokee, and most likely in the Cherokee Challenge!
That's when they first "bought in" and eventually became State Group 4 Champions . . . twice! GO CHIEFS!
