This page marks the official beginning of the Spring Season, starting with the Buena Relays (April 1st), the dual meet with Cherry Hill HS East (April 4th), and the Haddonfield "Last Chance" Meet (April 6th); followed by the Hall of Fame Relays (April 8th), the Colts Neck Relays (April 15th), the Highland Frosh/Soph Meet (April 17th), and the dual meet with Lenape (April 18th).
Buena Relays
On April 1, 2006, Cherokee's sprinters and jumpers participated in the Buena Relays at Buena, NJ and, despite a strong wind and a brief but fierce rain shower, many performed well! Highlights include the Vault team of Sophomore Matt Addezzio and Freshman Eric Pontrello, who vaulted 10' and 11" 6" respectively, to take 4th place overall; and the Shuttle Hurdles team of Aaron DeCaires, Robin Chen, Chris Chen and Mike Brocco who ran 1:09.3, with Robin Chen at 16.3 and Freshman Mike Brocco dropping more than a second off his PR at 18.6! Matt Wright launched a PR in the Jav of over 140'. Intermediate Hurdlers Robin Chen ran an impressive 62.8, while Aaron DeCaires finished in 63.3. Several jumpers did well too: Freshman Major Mobley triple-jumped 34' 4", while in the Long Jump, Chris Steliga hit 19' 11" and Demetrius Richardson hit 18' 1". Finally, the High Jump team of Freshmen AJ Valentine and Major Mobley combined to take 5th place in the JV competition with jumps totaling 11'.
The meet was a long one with the bus leaving school at 8:15 AM and not returning until around the same time in the evening! The last events were run on a track that was indirectly illuminated by the lights on the football field.
While the Varsity and JV 4 X 400 teams ran on a dark track, the vaulters were finishing up under the dull illumination of the football field lights. Here are a few shots of Eric Pontrello that illustrate the conditions.
Dual Meet: Cherry Hill High School East
On April 4, 2006, the Cherokee team traveled to Cherry Hill H.S. East for their first dual meet of the season. Despite a gusting wind and temperatures in the high 40s, the team scored a narrow victory over a strong East team, 74-2/3 to 65-1/3. Highlights include a sweep in the distance events with Will Andes, Rich Nelson, Alex Yersak, Vin Marziano, Colin Cunningham and Greg Bredeck taking all the points! Another sweep by Cherokee in the Long Jump and 1st and 2nd in the Triple Jump by Chris Steliga, Steve Watson and Aaron DeCaires also helped to strengthen Cherokee's scoring position. Robin Chen and Aaron DeCaires took 10 out of the 18 points in the High and Intermediate Hurdles. Matt Addezio and Dan Radkowski took 2nd and 3rd in the Vault, and AJ Valentine and Lynell Payne tied with an East jumper and shared 2nd and 3rd points in the High Jump. Steve Iwanczuk took 2nd in the 100m, while Dan Farid scored the lone Cherokee point in the weight events. Chris Steliga made the scoreboard in two other events as well: 2nd in the 400m and 3rd in the 200m. And finally, AJ Valentine ran two good quarters, one to take 3rd place in the 400m, and a second as the lead-off man in the winning 4 X 400m relay (with Rich Nelson, Joe Foley and Will Andes).
In the middle of the meet, the team photographer was put to work running the High Jump and, as a result, there are fewer pictures and less variety than usual.
Haddonfield "Last Chance Meet"
For several years, Haddonfield High School has sponsored a so-called "Last Chance Meet" for those hoping to qualify for the prestigious Penn Relays in Philadelphia. On April 6, 2006, Cherokee sent a 4 X 800m team to Haddonfield to take this first step towards qualifying for the "Championship of America Race" in the Penn Relays. To be considered, the team needed to run at least 8:15 but, in past years, teams needed to run below 8:08 to be accepted. As it turned out, Cherokee added a few "insurance seconds" to that by running the winning time of 8:04.1!
Freshman AJ Valentine got things started with a strong PR leg to put Cherokee in a close second behind Jackson High School. Rich Nelson moved Cherokee into the lead on the second leg, then challenged by Camden High School. On the third leg, Colin Cunningham ran another huge PR to keep Cherokee even with Camden High School at the final exchange. And then Will Andes anchored the team to victory! Camden High School finished second in 8:11.
Burlington County "Hall of Fame" Relays
Yeah, yeah, we've heard the argument that "Real men compete under all conditions!" but Cherokee decided to test that proposition and, in fact, proved that only "really dumb men" compete in the driving rain! On April 8, 2006, the team was scheduled to compete in the day- long "Burlington County "Hall of Fame" Relays at Maple Shade, but, with the weathermen calling for heavy rain, temperatures in the 40s, and winds between 15 and 25 mph, the Coach decided to sit this one out! By the way, the weathermen were right, for once, and the meet was canceled after two events! The Coach is a genius!
Reuben Frank, Sports Reporter for the Burlington County Times was at the meet and reported on the difficult conditions and the running of the two events. As an aside, he wrote the following paragraph: "Cherokee Coach Steve Shaklee decided Friday after seeing yesterday's forecast to not even bother with the meet. That puts him in the early lead for BCT Coach of the Year consideration." We have to agree!
Colts Neck Relays
On April 15, 2006, for a change of pace, instead of going south to the Bridgeton Relays, Cherokee traveled north to the Colts Neck Relays at Colts Neck High School in Central New Jersey. The team performed well at this meet where only 20 teams from New Jersey were invited to attend. All of the Cherokee track relay teams won medals, finishing 3rd through 6th in their respective events. Of special note, Cherokee's vaulting team of Matt Addezzio and Eric Pontrello tied for 1st place, together vaulting 23' 6". And Eric's individual vault of 12' 6" broke the SJ Freshman Vault Record by a full foot! The Javelin and High Jump Relay teams finished 7th and 8th respectively but thrower Demetrius Richardson and jumper Lynell Payne set PR's in their events. Steve Watson, with a jump of 41', helped his team take 5th in the Triple Jump. Additional information on the meet at: Colts Neck Track.
Highland Frosh-Soph Meet
On April 17, 2006, most of the team's Freshmen and Sophomores participated in the Highland Frosh-Soph Meet at Highland Regional High School in Blackwood, NJ, while others rested for upcoming races. Freshmen highlights from the meet include Chris Applegate's 1st place finish in the 3200m with a huge PR of 10:53. Chris ran negative splits of 5:33 and 5:20, with a last quarter in 71, to take the victory from a determined Oakcrest runner. He was closely followed in 3rd place by Mike Saccomanno in 11:02.7. Another Freshman, Tony Cotton took 2nd in the 200m dash in 23.7; while Mike Brocco took 2nd in the 110HH in 18.3!
Sophomore highlights include Lynell Payne's 2nd place in the High Jump (5' 6") and 3rd place in the Shot (an impressive 40' 6"). Also, Demetrius Richardson took 2nd in the Long Jump (18' 5").
Dual Meet: Lenape High School
On April 18, 2006, Cherokee hosted a dual meet with district rival Lenape High School and, despite not having their top vaulter (family vacation), one of their top sprinters (injury), and one of their top discus throwers (broken arm), they posted a 73 - 57 victory against Lenape. Once again, the distance team, which included Alex Yersak, Colin Cunningham, Rich Nelson, Will Andes, and Vin Marziano, among others, swept their three events! Sprinter Steve Iwanczuk stepped out of his usual role and won the shot with a PR toss of 39' 9"! The Long Jumpers/Triple Jumpers, led by Steve Watson and Chris Steliga, scored big points in their events, and Steliga reinforced that by taking the 400m in a PR performance of 51.3! Finally, Robin Chen took 1st in both the 400IH (60.2) and the 110HH (16.7)!
Bishop Eustace Prep Frosh-Novice Meet
On April 21, 2006, many of Cherokee's Freshmen and Novice runners participated in the Bishop Eustace Prep Frosh-Novice Meet at their new track facility along the Cooper River. Besides the PR's set by Freshmen Chris Applegate and Marc Saccomanno in the 1600m, taking 4th and 5th overall in 5:04.7 and 5:07.9, they, with Kyle Burch and Evan Stone took 2nd place in the 4 X 800m Relay! Sophomore Brandon DiIenno took 4th in the Novice 200m in 26.4. And a Novice relay team of Joe Foley, Major Mobley, Chris Ruhl and Binah Moore won the 4 x 400m (3:55.6) and took 2nd in the 4 X 800m! Here are some pics from the meet. Sorry the photographer missed the first race!
