Coach Shaklee sent his report quickly! We always appreciate his weather report though he missed the light frost that greeted those who arrived an hour and a half before the gun sounded for the first race! "It was a cold and windy morning that greeted our photographer when he arrived!" But we delay!
"It was a cool, windy day on Saturday, November 1st, when the team traveled to DREAM Park for the Sectional Championship meet. The conditions were much like they had been for our conference meet a week and a half earlier, but with a slightly stronger wind.
"We were going in missing senior captain, Logan Bromley, who is out for the rest of the season with a foot injury. Logan ran 15:52 at DREAM Park last year so it was a big loss. Still, with the seven guys we were running, we knew that, with decent races, we would come out on top! The coaches spoke to the guys about not pushing the pace early and, instead, tucking in and just going with the pack That strategy may have unwittingly led to a problem for junior, Gavin Danielewicz. Since most of the top runners were keying off of the individual favorite, our top man, Jack Tindall, no one took the pace out and everyone was running on top of each other. Gavin's heel got clipped early and his shoe came partially off. He tried to keep it on for a while but eventually realized he needed to kick it off and do his best with one bare foot. As a result, he did not finish where he certainly would have if that did not happen. Senior co-captain, Dom Pileri, was having an off race as well so, all of a sudden, things seemed a little less certain. We needed others to step up!
"Jack certainly did so! He executed the race strategy perfectly, staying tucked in through two and a quarter miles before moving to the lead and dusting the field with a last mile of 4:43! Although just a sophomore, Jack is now a two-time Sectional Champion!
"Behind Jack, Ben Realley, was in a battle with the top two Cherry Hill East runners over the final mile. Ben managed to beat one but came up just a bit short of the other, finishing in third to give us a low four points after two runners. Our third man, Sean Sooy, had another good race, closing well over the second half to finish in sixth, beating East's third man by two places! Max Harada, our fourth man, could not match his great race from the conference meet but held it together enough to finish in fourteenth, six places ahead of East's fourth man! It then came down to our 'seventh man,' Leo Vyvyan, to wrap things up for us. Leo has been running consistently strong races all year and he continued that trend, moving from seventh man to fifth man and finishing in eighteenth to complete the scoring for the team. For good measure, Gavin 'one-shoe' Danielewicz, finished one place behind Leo, giving us six runners in before East's fourth, for a 42 to 59 victory! For his strong run, Leo was selected as Athlete of the Meet1 The coaches appreciated the way he kept his composure and stayed focused and determined all the way! And, although it was not his best, Dom Pileri still was the first seventh man to cross the line, two places in front of the seventh man from Cherry Hill East!
"It was not the prettiest of wins but it was a win, and it gave us a seventh consecutive victory and it was Number Fifteen overall for the program!
"Next up, the team will return to Holmdel to race in the State Group 4 Championship Meet on Saturday, November 8th. We will need good races from everyone to contend for the championship!"
Reuben Frank of Comcast and NBC Sports, continues to write his blog for the SJTCA and he wrote on the team's Sectional success at: SJ Jersey Blog. Mr. Franks' article can be found on our server at: Frank77.
Details at: NJ.MileSplit.
Last week, our photographer was given the task of making Ben Realley beautiful . . . well, maybe he said "handsome" or simply "better looking" . . . in his pictures! Stunned by this request from a guy who is already beyond "handsome," and who already has many glorious pictures of himself in our collection, our photographer wondered what he could do by using PhotoShop and other technology to improve Ben's looks?
After hours of applying PhotoShop and AI technology to original pictures of Ben, as well as personal descriptions of Ben by his many admirers, we came up with the following that we hope makes him "better looking." The beard was applied after many requests. Whadda ya think?
That problem solved, let's get to the Sectional pictures! Here are a few and these and the rest are available on our Google site!
First, we have to thank Coach Thompson's phone handled by Coach Thompson, Coach Jarvis and an unknown parent for these post-race pictures! Some great stuff here and the rest are on the Google site.
Now for the regular stuff:
Coach Shaklee sent the following and made it sound OK:
"After winning our seventh consecutive sectional championship last week, we headed into the Group 4 State Championships knowing we would need good races from all seven runners to contend for the championship. Manalapan, ranked second in the state, came in as the favorite. We were ranked third (a generous ranking) and Ridge was ranked 6th. It seemed clear that it would be a three-team race for the top spot. Once again running without senior captain, and 16:26 Holmdel man, Logan Bromley.
"At the mile mark, it was hard to know where we stood. What was clear, however, was that usual third man, Sean Sooy, was not up where he would normally be. He was our sixth man. We had to hope he would move up as the race progressed. Jack Tindall was running in third, right behind the individual favorite, Clay Stevens from Manalapan and North 1 Sectional champ, Michael McGinty of Hackensack. He was in good position but looked as though he was hurting a little. Ben Realley was next in about 7th or 8th and, behind him, Max Harada, Gavin Danielewicz, Leo Vyvyan, Sean and Dom Pileri, all followed within 6 seconds of each other.
"When the group made the return trip from the bowl back to the two mile mark, things were beginning to look more clear. Our concern about the strained look on Jack's face at the mile was replaced by a look of amazement at what he was doing. Although he was still showing the stress of racing, he was pulling away from the field and had a twenty-five meter lead as he headed to the tennis courts. Ben was in fifth but, with his head down and a distressed look on his face, it did not seem like he was full of run. Max had moved up and was looking strong and Gavin and Leo were both running well. Unfortunately, although Sean had moved up a bit, he was still not in a good position. Dom was not far behind him and was definitely running better than he had at Shore Coaches. With a mile to go, we were in the hunt but we needed the guys to close well if we were going to take the victory.
"At the finish, Jack was the first across the line to become Cherokee's fifth individual champion (Halin 1999, Pelerin 2001, Wilson 2012, Wechsler 2018). He is the first Sophomore in 31 years to win the Group 4 State Meet! Jack's time - 15:54 -was 27 seconds faster than his Shore Coaches race and a course PR! For the absolutely brave and focused way Jack ran this race, he, without a doubt, earned Athlete of the Meet honors!
"Next across the line was Ben, in fifth place. Although he wasn't having his best day, he gave us what he could and, as a result, we were winning through two.
"When Max finished in twelfth, with a course PR of 25 seconds, things were looking good! We had a ten point lead on Manalapan.
"Gavin was next with a 39 second course PR! He finished 22nd overall and, after four, we were ahead by eleven!
"With Sean struggling, it was up to Leo to finish the scoring for us. He gave it his all and improved his course PR by 17 seconds but, unfortunately, it was not quite enough to hold the lead and we had to settle for second place, five points behind Manalapan.
"Dom passed Sean before the line and their 52nd and 53rd place finishes made them the top sixth and seventh men in the race, finishing in front of the fourth runners from every team in the field except Manalapan and Ridge!
"Upon reflection, despite the disappointment of coming up short in a race we could have won, we have to admit that, overall, there was a lot to be happy with . . . the individual champion!, five course PR's, a second place finish even though we were missing one of our top runners, six of our seven returning next year . . . all really good stuff!
"We will take the week to reflect and regroup as we prepare for the State Meet of Champions next Saturday!"
Details at: NJ.MileSplit.
Jim Lambert of MileSplit, reviewed the action with Jack in a video at NJ.MileSplit. The most ironic part of this interview is the focus on his new health diet provided by his mother, and how it kept him well, when he missed school on the following Monday through Wednesday because of sickness! Ouch!
Reuben Frank of Comcast and NBC Sports, continues to write his blog for the SJTCA and he wrote on the team's success at Groups: SJ Track Blog. Mr. Frank's article can be found on our server at: Frank75.
Our photographer generally follows two simple rules when he shoots the team while racing: don't shoot into the sun, and, if possible, avoid shadows. Given time and only one or two individuals to shoot and edit, breaking those rules can be quite "artsy," but not when you're shooting hundreds, or even just seven! The MileSplit guy at the bowl didn't follow those rules and we did a lot of PhotoShopping on his efforts!
Here are a few of our photographer's pictures, and they and the rest of his -- and the MileSplit guys' work -- are posted at our Google address! (Apologies to Leo whom I missed going and coming! Fortunately, MileSplit's Tom Smith caught him at the finish!)
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Meet details at: NJ.MileSplit.
While waiting for Coach Shaklee's summary of the action, did anyone notice that Ben was happier than Happy the Clown on his happiest day?! (Coach Shaklee frequently cut elementary school to watch Happy on his new TV! Ask him how happy was Happy?!) Ben was in every picture taken at the Awards stand and it was only after they put the Girls' champions on the stand that he reluctantly gave way! Just sayin', I guess. GO HAPPY! . . . GO BEN!
Coach Shaklee tells us how he saw the race!
"After winning the individual title at the Group 4 State Meet on November 8th, beating the top returning runner from last year's Meet of Champions, things were looking good for sophomore, Jack Tindall. He would be among a small handful of athletes with a chance to take the title at the 2025 Meet of Champions on November 15th. Moreover, with good races from all, we were in a great position to earn a podium finish as a team. Unfortunately, Jack was out of school due to illness on Monday. He was hopeful that it would pass quickly and he could resume normal training for the remainder of the week. But, it was not to be. Instead, his symptoms got worse by Tuesday - fever, sore throat, congestion, low energy - and he was unable to resume running. Although, the symptoms began to recede a little by Thursday, Jack was still sick and, as it turned out, missed the entire week of school. He was insistent that he should run at the Meet of Champions to help the team. Even though he knew he would not be anywhere near his best, he felt he could run well enough to help the team reach the podium. And so the decision was made to have Jack give it a try. Everyone else was healthy and focused on having one last good race, although several of the guys were beginning to feel the effects of a long season (In particular, Gavin Danielewicz and Leo Vyvyan, who had both run seven races already this season).
"With this as the backdrop, we arrived at Holmdel, for the 2025 State Meet of Champions, knowing we were not at 100%, but determined to do the best we could and, hopefully, achieve a podium finish (top six).
"The conditions on the day were perfect. Cool with almost no wind, and the course was firm. It would be a fast day!
"As the race began, it was hard to access how we were doing but it appeared that the boys got a decent start. With so many individuals mixed in who do not affect the team scoring, trying to gage where we were was difficult. At the mile, Ben Realley was our lead runner in around 12th-15th, with Jack about five seconds and ten places behind. Sean Sooy, Max Harada, Dom Pileri, Gavin and Leo were within about eight seconds of each other and about 15 seconds behind Jack. Our thought at this point was that we were running okay but needed to pick up some spots to make the podium. It was good, however, to see Sean up where he should be after having a bit of an off day last week.
"When they hit the two mile mark, Ben looked great and had moved up to somewhere around 10th place. He was on pace for a big PR! Jack had fallen back a little but was fighting to hold it together the best he could. Sean had moved up and was clearly well ahead of where he had been at the Group 4 race. Max, Gavin, Dom and Leo were not too far behind Sean and there was about a 10 second spread between them. It was now a question of how well they could finish and whether it would be enough to hold onto a top six finish.
"At the finish, Ben crossed the line in 11th place (8th in team scoring) with a huge 28 second course PR of 15:53, making him the eight fastest Cherokee runner of all time at Holmdel! Jack, as always, ran an incredibly tough race to finish in 39th (28th in team scoring)! Sean ran 47 seconds faster than last week to finish as our third man (55th, 36th in team scoring) with a new Holmdel PR of 16:42! Next was Max, who didn't have his best race but still kept it together for another sub-17:00 clocking and a 79th place finish (48th in team scoring)! Five places later came Gavin who ran yet another strong race to give us 52 points and complete our team scoring at 172 points, securing a spot on the podium with a fifth place finish! To top it off, sixth and seventh men, Dom and Leo, finished 59th and 67th in the team scoring making Dom the fourth fastest 'sixth man' on the day and Leo the third fastest 'seventh man'! Despite missing Logan Bromley all season due to injury, despite Jack's illness, despite all the adversity, this group showed their character and determination by what they accomplished!
"Our thanks goes out to our seniors, Dom Pileri, Logan Bromley, and Carlo Brown, for their contributions this season and over the past years. We wish them all the best in their future pursuits! To those returning, we encourage all of you to stay focused and continue to work hard. Next year is filled with promise as we have one of the top returning groups in the entire state! The future is bright!"
Here are a few of our photographer's pictures. Tough location, but MileSplit guys had some which we stole, especially Tom Smith's excellent pics at the finish line! These and all the others are on our Google site!
In his spare time, Reuben Frank of Comcast and NBC Sports, continues to write his blog for the SJTCA. His insane detail makes his readers' teeth rub! As an individual involved in SJ XC and Track and Field since the 1970s, our photographer both marvels and enjoys finding his former athletes and their competitors on many of Reuben's compiled lists. Just recently, he found the great Browning Ross of Woodbury, Villanova and the Olympics, listed as 1st in the 1942 State Championships (one race, 2.5 miles)! Very cool! Later, Brownie owned the first running store in SJ (Woodbury) and sponsored many local road races in the 70's and 80's. Check out Reuben's work at: SJ Blog.