After 45 years, the premier national high school XC championships, first presented by Kenney and then Foot Locker, were canceled. Back in the day,
for Cherokee, the Regional Championships were at Van Cortlandt Park, a challenging course in the middle of NY City. From there, the top 10 went to
Nationals at the glorious Balboa Park in San Diego, California. Over the years, despite many talented runners at Cherokee. only two of our athletes
qualified and raced at Nationals: Mark Pelerin '02 and Shawn Wilson '11.
Following years of experience, Coach Shaklee knew his athletes were tired after a season of competition and he left the possibility of competing at one of a two up-coming post-season Regional races to the athletes themselves: the Nike XC Regional 5K Championships, open to teams and individuals, and the Brooks XC Regional 5k Championships, for individuals.
This year, only Sophomore Jack Tindall felt strong enough to compete. After a magnificent victory at the NJ State Group 4 Championships, Jack got sick and, for him, raced poorly at the Meet of Champions. There were two weeks before the Brooks race and, as Jack recovered, he insisted on racing at Regionals and continued to train with Coach Shaklee.
Jack's racing was anticipated by Robert Kellert, the editor of NJ.MIleSplit: "Jack Tindall of Cherokee HS has the potential to play upset here. Tindall started to really hit his stride at Group 4 State Championships with a Holmdel Park PR of 15:54. Unfortunately, after that he came down sick ahead of the NJSIAA Meet of Champions and finished 39th with a 16:29. It feels like we were robbed of a potentially great performance at MOCs and Tindall could showcase that higher ceiling here in Boston. He enters the meet ranked 10th based on speed ratings."
Jack raced well on a cold and windy day in Boston's Franklin Park. Details are few at this time but his finish of 14th/114 overall in a 5K PR of 15:43.8 was the top NJ finisher and just missed the Top-10 finish required to advance to San Diego! GO JACK!
Details at: NJ.MileSplit.
Our photographer was unavailable and the following pics from Brooks were fiddled with by our photographer. The Google versions are not much better but they are available at: Brooks Pics.
For several years, Alums and Present-day Cherokee athletes, ran the Marlton 10th Annual Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning, and, for several years, our photographer covered the race! But not this year. He was looking forward to a restful morning. and then dinner at the coach's house! Obviously slipping, he never thought of any turkey's trotting.
Quite a few Chiefs, Alums and current athletes, were "racing," some for real. some for holiday fun. Our first Alum and 1st overall (1136) was Anthony Zurzolo '17 15:33, pace 5:00; and our first current runner and 5th overall was Hamza Salahuddin '28 (a Freshman who probably shouldn't be racing hard now) 16:02, pace 5:10!
Too many to list now so check out the details at: Run Sign Up.
No pictures are available but the address above includes a video of the race. Team members advised our photographer to see Jonathan Merkel's heroic effort to PR in the race! He placed 32nd in PR 19:20, pace 6:15. GO JONATHAN!
On December 2nd, 2025, the athletes, coaches, parents and friends met as a team for the last time this season at the annual Cherokee Cross Country Team Awards Banquet! There they met several outstanding (in their day!) Alumni individuals - Jeff Storch '97 and Mark Pelerin '02 who congratulated the team for the season's accomplishments, introduced them to the Cherokee Cross Country and Track & Field Alumni Association, reviewed some of the activities they supported, encouraging graduates and parents to join, and awarded small scholarships to our seniors.
From there, Coach Shaklee and Coach Thompson reviewed the achievements of both the team and individuals on the team by class, and then honored several key individuals on the team with the Coaches' Awards, including Rookie of the Year; Most Improved; Unsung Hero; and MVP!
~~ The Underclassmen ~~
~~ The Seniors: Carlo Brown, Dom Pileri, Logan Bromley ~~
~~ Team Accomplishments ~~
RVA RELAYS COMBINED CHAMPIONS
BURLINGTON COUNTY CHAMPIONS
OLYMPIC CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS
SOUTH JERSEY GROUP IV CHAMPIONS
STATE GROUP IV - 2nd
STATE MEET OF CHAMPIONS - 5th
~~ Coaches' Awards ~~
Repeatedly, Coach Shaklee stresses the importance of the Coaches' Awards both to him and the athletes. Firstly, they are given by the people who really know the athletes and know the most-deserving of all! They were selected not simply because they were the fastest runners . . . the coaches also consider their dedication to the team and its values, their leadership, character, self-discipline and self-motivation, sportsmanship, competitiveness, and persistence. Congratulations to the following athletes who were selected to receive the Coaches' Awards:
Rookie of the Year: Hamza Salahuddin
Most Improved: Max Harada
Unsung Hero: Ben Realley
Most Valuable: Jack Tindall
~~ Post-Season Honors ~~
Tired of all the speech-making and posing for pictures, the group turned to the food provided, served and cleaned-up by the parents! SPECIAL THANKS to the parents who worked the Cherokee Challenge. sponsored the Awards Banquet, and for all the help they gave their sons, the team and coaches throughout summer and the season! And thanks for the blankets! Hysterical! Oops! . . . delightful! Let's scream . . . YOU GO, PARENTS!
Delightfully compulsive - some would say "insanely addicted" - Coach Shaklee's extensive Cherokee XC Booklet, 2025 is available at this ADDRESS.
Thanks to the Mmes. Kumar, Salahuddin and Tindall for their help with the banquet pictures. Their pictures, as well as our photographer's, are available on our Google Page.
Special thanks to Coach Shaklee for all he has done . . . and still Head Coach despite Coach Thompson's pretensions, before and after the Haddonfield Intramural contest! In 2007, after his first victory over Coaches Shaklee and Callinan, Coach Thompson was quoted as saying, "It's no surprise. I knew I could out-coach those two old guys if given the opportunity! I expect, now, that I'll be named the team's Head Coach and then we'll finally win the Meet of Champions!" Since then, he has 7 victories in his column, with the last three in a row. With Coach Shaklee's 13 wins, not even close, Thompson!
On December 8th, 2025, the South Jersey Track Coaches Association held their annual banquet at Aulletto's Ballroom (now named Sapphire Grand) and named the Team, Coach, Runner and the SJ All-Stars of the Year! Haddonfield had an excellent team this year and they, their coach, their top runner and two other Bulldogs were named, while two of Cherokee's finest were named to the twelve-man All-South Jersey team: Jack Tindal and Ben Realley!
Our photographer was unavailable but Coach Thompson and Mrs. Tindall provided the following pictures from the event:
~~ Congratulations to everyone and thanks for all your efforts this season! ~~
~~ NEXT YEAR: ALL-AMERICAN! ~~
~~ GO CHEROKEE! GO CHIEFS ~~