This page marks the early part of the Championship Season: the Cherokee Invitational (May 16th); the Olympic Conference Championships (May 17th); the Burlington County Championships (May 20th); the Eastern Regional Relay Championships at Willingboro HS (May 22nd); the Indian Frosh Finale (May 23th); the Haddonfield Twilight Meet (May 24th); and the Eustace Throw Meet (May 25th).
Cherokee Invitational
On May 16, 2006, Cherokee's Track and Field teams hosted the Cherokee Invitational, a meet designed for "novices" -- those not expected to qualify for County or Sectional Championships -- in the sport. While many athletes performed well, the highlight of the meet for Cherokee was the 1st place, 110' throw of the disc made by Mike Guadian . . . a big PR! Other medal-winning performances included: Tony Cotton's 5th in the 100m (11.92) and 4th in the 200m (24.34), and Mike Medvec's 2nd in both the 1600m (4:54.28) and 3200m (10:58). Also, Joe Foley took 3rd in the 800m (2:11.27), and Matt Applegate took 5th in the 1600m (4:58.58). In the field events, besides Guadian's throw, Lynell Payne took 2nd in the Shot (39' 5"), with Kyle Magulick taking 3rd in 38' 7". Dan Radkowski tied for 2nd place with a vault of 9' 6"; Dan McCusker took 3rd in the Jav at 122'; and Justin Turner took 5th in the High Jump at 4' 10".
There are no pictures available because the photographer suffered a "senior moment" during the event.
Olympic Conference Championships
On May 17, 2006, several of Cherokee's Varsity performers who qualified for the Olympic Conference Championships traveled to Pennsauken High School to compete for individual conference honors. Only one, however, returned with a 1st place medal: Freshman Eric Pontrello stunned his older opponents by vaulting a new South Jersey Freshman Record of 13' 6" and beating the rest of the field! Eric's vault made him only the third Freshman in state history, and the first in 29 years, to reach that height!
Reuben Frank Sports reporter for the Burlington County Times wrote an article on Eric's victory. See an edited version at: Pontrello Stars in Olympic Meet
Other medal-winners at the meet included: Rich Nelson, 2nd in the 800m; Vin Marziano, 5th in the 1600m; Kevin Schickling, 1st in the 2nd heat of the 1600m; and Steve Watson who was 3rd in the Triple Jump.
Burlington County Championships
On May 20, 2006, Cherokee's Varsity traveled to Maple Shade High School for the Burlington County Championships. The meet began very well with Vin Marziano taking 1st in the 3200m (9:38.3), closely followed by Greg Bredeck in 3rd (9:46.0) and Kevin Schickling in 8th (10:08.7). All were PR performances! It also ended well with Eric Pontrello taking 2nd in the Vault (12' 6")! And there were other good performances too. Rich Nelson did a PR 1:58.34 and took 2nd in the 800m. Steve Iwanczuk made the finals in the 100m: first qualifying in 11:59, and then taking 5th in the finals in 11.44. Vin Marziano came back in the 1600m, taking 5th in 4:40.10; and Mike Medvec ran 4:53.84 in the same race. Chris Steliga took 5th in the Long Jump (20' 3/4") but retired for the day because of an injury; and Steve Watson took 4th in the Triple Jump (41' 4").
Meet details available at: Ed Colona
Eastern Regional Relay Classic
On May 22, 2006, Cherokee's Varsity hurdlers and jumpers traveled to Willingboro High School for the Eastern Regional Relay Classic. The main highlight was in the Shuttle Hurdles where Aaron DeCaires, Chris Chen, Robin Chen and Mike Schiafone ran a season- best 1:04.8! The pictures below, showing Cherokee hurdlers in the 400IH, were provided by Pat Montferrat, a friend of Cherokee Track.
Indian Frosh Finale
On May 23, 2006, Cherokee's Freshmen -- without the Distance squad which will compete at the up-coming Haddonfield Twilight Meet -- traveled to Pennsauken High School for the Indian Frosh Finale. There were many PR performances but the most obvious was the overall performance of Major Mobley who scored in four areas: 1st in the HH with a 16.5 PR; 2nd in the Triple Jump; 5th in the 400IH; and 5th in the Long Jump! Tony Cotton also made the day's "highlights" with his 3rd in the 100m (11.2) and 5th in the 200m! AJ Valentine took 4th in the HJ (5' 6"), followed by Justin Turner's 6th place (PR 5' 2")!
Haddonfield Distance Night
On May 24, 2006, Cherokee's distance squad traveled to Haddonfield High School for the Haddonfield Twilight Meet, a unique experience designed to celebrate the distance runners in the region! For Cherokee, that meant 14 of 18 competitors setting a PR, some by a lot!
In the 800, Freshman Ryan McNair returned from injury with a huge PR dropping a ridiculous 11 seconds off of his previous best with a 2:20.8! Not to be outdone, Joe Foley and Steve McCarroll each dropped big PRs in the Varsity 800, Joe running an outstanding 2:06.8 with Steve running a negative split 2:13.5 (a 6 second PR)!
In the 1600, Freshman Rob Roselli finished 2nd in his heat of the Freshman 1600 with a 5 second PR of 5:16.3. In the Varsity race, Rich Nelson won with his first sub 4:30 clocking of 4:28.0 with Vin Marziano 2nd in 4:30.3! Greg Bredeck PRed at 4:33.4 and Liam Eells and Geoff Schellack both dropped huge amounts from their previous PRs, running 5:12.5 and 5:14.6 respectively!
In the 3200, Mike Medvec raced well to finish 2nd with a PR of 10:31.9 while the Freshman contingent all PRed with some outstanding efforts! Chris Applegate was the first Cherokee Frosh across the line, running a 4 second PR of 10:44.9. Marc Saccomanno dropped 8 seconds to PR at 10:54.1. While those were both excellent races, it was Sean Hartnett and Evan Stone who really showed how to set a PR: Sean dropped over 50 seconds -- Yikes -- to just miss dipping under 11:00 with his time of 11:00.9, while Evan demolished his 12:05 PR running an incredible 10:59.7! Double Yikes! Adam Henricksen also ran well, holding on gamely after a much-too-fast opening 400 to PR with a time of 12:14.1
All in all, one of the best distance nights Cherokee has ever had!
The pictures are rough because of the darkness. Only one picture from the last event, the starting line, is available.
Bishop Eustace Throw Meet
On May 24, 2006, at the same time the distance squad was headed for Haddonfield, the Weight guys were on their way to another specifically designed meet: the Bishop Eustace Throw Meet, in Pennsauken NJ. Highlights there included Lynell Payne's 42' 1" PR and 3rd place showing in the Shot! Close behind Lynell was Kyle Magulick's 39' 5 1/2" PR, which took 6th place! Other PR's in the Shot came from Sean Kahn and Nick Walker! In the Disc, Harrison Axelrod, Honour Hillaire and Nick Walker also threw PR's to end their seasons on a positive note! For the record, Senior Glen Pease threw the farthest outside the sector and almost killed two spectators but this throw did not count towards the final tally.
Here are some pictures from the meet. The Jav guys -- Kevin Pingon and Matt Wright -- are missing because the setting sun ruined any chance of taking their pictures.
