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 thought 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 our photographer found no Cherokee athletes pictured. Hurumph!
Coach Thompson provided two pictures of our Varsity and JV teams at Regionals:
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!
When they first "bought in" and became State Group 4 Champions . . . twice! GO CHIEFS!
Some time ago, we read a Sports Psychologist in The Inquirer arguing ". . . sports are worth it, and sports are a terrific arena for parents to teach their kids life skills . . . goal-setting . . . helping kids learn the mental skills to handle their emotions. . . often helping socially-shy kids to interact and make friends for life! Sports is a terrific place for developing self-discipline in regard to practice and scholarship; and to learn delayed gratification and that you can't always get what you want. It's a great place to learn how to be part of a team, to work towards a common goal, to learn how to deal with an authority figure like a coach, which is kind of like a boss. . . . You can't script it. That's the beauty of sport. How do you cope with that?"
As you review your Cross Country season, what do you think of that?! Was it worth it?! Anything missing?
On November 29, 2022, the team met for the last time as the Cherokee 2022 Cross Country Team at an Awards dinner in their honor at the Ramblewood Country Club in Mt. Laurel! That year, the Cherokee Cross Country and Track and Field Alumni Association and the Cherokee XC Parents Booster Club sponsored a move from the school cafeteria to Ramblewood to show their appreciation for the hard work the athletes performed and the great success they had achieved: the NJ Group 4 State Champions!
Ever since Coach Shaklee took over the Cross Country team at Cherokee, some 30 years ago, long before many of today's parents were teenagers, ; < ) , the Boys' Team held their Awards Dinners in the school cafeteria. Then, it was a more intimate affair with parents bringing their best appetizers, entrees and desserts -- sharing and bragging about their gourmet expertise -- while the coaches remembered and honored the achievements of the team!
The cafeteria was decorated with balloons and streamers and the windows of the cafeteria were decorated with poster paper covered with action prints (to take home)! Videos, pictures, and the coaches themselves recalled the team's successes and wished the Seniors well, while everyone looked forward to the following year!
This year, 2024, the team repeated that incredible feat, again becoming the NJ Group 4 State Champions, and the parents and Alums asked themselves, "Well, do we go upscale again?!" They did, and this time they held the Awards dinner at the decorated Indian Sprine Country Club! After appetizers and dinner, Coaches Shaklee and Thompson reviewed the team's accomplishments of the year (see Coach Shaklee's insanely detailed Cherokee Cross Country, 2024 Booklet), recognized each runner by class, and named the special awards of the season.
Congratulations and thanks to all four of our Award winners!
After the awards, the senior athletes took over the microphone and each remarked about what the program, the coaches, and the team meant to them. Memorable quotes include: "There aren't enough good pictures of me." "You look like a cheap Los Vegas whore." "My mother wouldn't let me." Liam Tindall quietly presented a get-well card to our ailing photographer that was interestingly accurate:
He would have preferred duct tape! In the hospital a day after his knee-replacement operation, the wound was bleeding so, instead of duct tape, the medical team replaced the bandages and sealed the wound with staples . . . thump, thump, thump. thump . . .. Yikes! . . . Mom . . . help!
He was not agile enough to photograph the banquet so Mrs. Tindall grabbed her iPhone and gave us some pictures of the event! Thanks!
Finally, the coach again expressed special thanks to the parents who gave so much to the program and supported their sons in many personal and practical ways, including vocal support at meets; endless transportation duties throughout the year (not just the season); suffering with them when their races don't go as desired; catering the banquet . . . !
~ ~ Congratulations to everyone, and thanks for all your efforts this season! ~ ~
GO CHEROKEE!