Welcome to the webpage for The 28th Annual Cross Country Cherokee Challenge!

This unusual meet, sponsored by Cherokee High School, Nike Sports Equipment, RunningWorks and The Running Company of South Jersey, with its shorter racing distances, class scoring, and unique coed team scoring, provides a great opportunity for runners to begin the competitive season, and we hope you "take the Challenge" this year!

Originally intended to be a "low-key" racing opportunity, over the years it has evolved into a fairly hard-core "sprint" for the top level High School 2 mile XC runners, and the top-level Middle School 2400m XC racers in the region!

Last year, 2024, our 28th Anniversary, the weather threatened after a week of heat in the 90's and high humidity. Luckily, it turned out cloudy, relatively cool though still humid. The course was dry and firm and the racing was great! There was one impressive new course record -- Freshman Jack Tindall of Cherokee High School smoked the 3200m course, clocking 9:54, the third fastest time of the day (behind two North Penn athletes who won the Junior and Senior Races) and the fastest New Jersey time, dropping the Freshman Course Record of 10:09 by 15 seconds!

More than 100 teams from three states brought over a thousand athletes to race the course! In addition, Tomahawk Timing, using chip-timing, quickly posted the results of each race on-site and on the Internet!

Congratulations to the Boys CC team from the Cherokee High School , and to the Girls CC team from Ocean City High School on winning the team championships at the 2024 Cherokee Challenge! GO CHIEFS! GO RED RAIDERS! Also, congratulations to the combined Girls and Boys squads from Cherokee High School on winning the Co-Ed Championship! GO CHIEFS!

For years now, the NJ.MileSplit Network has reported directly from the meet! Robert Kellert, the senior editor, was at Cherokee again in 2024, reporting the action directly from the finish line, and all of his work, including the results, videos, interviews and thousands of pictures from the meet since 2004, can be found at: NJ.MileSplit!

We hope your team "took the Challenge" in 2024 and was part of the best cross country meet in New Jersey; and we look forward to seeing you again at our next Cherokee Challenge!