Winter Track continues as a time of preparation for the Spring season, with the coaches focusing on base and strength training for the distance athletes, and skills and conditioning for the sprinters, jumpers and throwers. In addition, the team participates in a number of meets -- some of which are not reported here -- for both experience and a change of pace.
New Jersey State Relay Championships
On January 17, 2009, several members of the team again traveled to the Bennett Center in Toms River for the NJ State Relay Championships. While the 4 X 400m team of Will Rapp, Tim Brill, Mike Palmieri and Josh Ungerleider ran well, the best Cherokee races of the evening were distance events. In the 4 X 800m Relay of Matt McCarroll, Steve Burkholder, Ryan McNair and Chris Applegate, all members of the team ran their best 800s of the season! The team clocked an impressive 8:16, finishing 4th in a field of 49 teams! And in the Distance Medley, Kyle Miller, Josh Ungerleider, Mike Palmieri and Marc Saccomanno improved their time by 12 seconds and finished 2nd in their heat.
Just Thinking . . . having seen Alum Marc Pelerin and others from local schools in speed suits, most distance guys should not wear them. Addendum: no one should wear compression shorts/underwear as an outer garment.
Complete results at: Mile Split, NJ.
Here are the pictures, such as they are . . ..
Lavino Relays and Olympic Conference Championships
On January 24, 2009, the team split up and participated in two meets: The Lavino Relays at the Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, NJ, and The Olympic Conference Championships at the Bennett Center in Toms River. At the Lavino Relays, the team of Mike Brocco, Mike Palmieri, Darren McCluskey and Tim Brill placed 5th in the Shuttle Hurdles Relay, with Mike Brocco running a quick 7.58 split! Another group, the 4 X 200m team of Will Rapp, Jon Scott, Tim Brill and Josh Ungerleider, finished in 9th overall, with a fast 22.9 split by Will Rapp! And, finally, the 4 X 400m team of Will Rapp, Mike Palmieri, Tim Brill and Josh Ungerleider finished in 8th overall, clocking a season-best 3:36.68, and again, Will Rapp had the fastest time!
At the Olympic Conference Championships, Steve Burkholder, Chris Applegate and Ryan McNair finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the 1600; Matt McCarroll won the 800m with his best time of the season; and Adam Henriksen and Ryan Merrigan both turned in their best times of the season in the 800! Marc Saccomanno took 4th in the 3200m in a very well-run race! In the 400m, Tyler Shane won his heat with a PR performance! And, in perhaps the most impressive performance of the day, Ed Kramer finished 2nd in the High Jump with a PR performance of 6' 2" and a very close miss at 6' 4"!
Results from Lavino are available at Mile Split, NJ or Lawrenceville pdf; and from the Olympic Conference at Bennett Center.
Just Thinking . . . good advice for Freshmen: run hard, turn left . . . don't worry about the rest.
Millrose Games
On January 30, 2009, the crowd at the 102nd Millrose Games went wild in protest when they learned that Marc "the Marlton Muscle" Saccomanno would not be competing in the evening's premier event, the Men's Shot Put! Although Saccomanno was on-site and ready to compete, officials at Millrose disallowed his entry because Saccomanno had not properly qualified for the meet! Saccomanno's agent, Mike "the Mouth" Czuba, argued that Saccomanno's ability was well-known and no further proof was necessary, but officials still refused to allow him to throw! This decision was a great setback for the Saccomanno management team as they planned for his future; and an even greater setback to the Millrose Games director where attendance dropped to half the expected numbers on the news that Saccomanno would not be competing! Complete story at: New York Times.
Toms River Indoor Novice-Frosh Championships
On February 4, 2009, many of Cherokee's sub-varsity performers traveled to the Bennett Center for the Toms River Indoor Novice-Frosh Championships and, what was expected to be a fairly short meet from 4 PM to 8 PM, turned into a late-nighter! Indeed, forty-eight schools, with boys and girls teams, joined Cherokee in this once-in-a-season opportunity and the meet stretched three hours beyond the advertised four-hour limit! Yikes!
It started well, however, for those running the distance events as Freshman Aiden Lynch, competing in the Frosh 3200m, crossed the line in 1st place! Later, in the 1600m, season PR's were recorded by Greg Malloy, Adam Henriksen, Ryan Bobb, Mike Czuba, Billy Hornung and Jeremy Morgan! And in the 800m, Freshmen Mike Lowinger placed 3rd while running a 2:16.6, with both he and Barry Fitzgerald scoring PR's in the event. Among the sprinters/hurdlers, Darren McCluskey took 4th in the Novice Division, and Andrew Webb ran a team-best 57.1 as the anchor of the Frosh 4 X 400m Relay team!
Complete results available at: Mile Split, NJ, or at Bennett Center.
Just Thinking: team members should pal-around with Steve Burkholder, Mike Palmieri and/or Matt Maze because they are routinely surrounded by, or cheered-on by, large numbers of women!
The team's photographer, whose curfew at the Nursing Home is 9 PM, left before the meet was over. Here are some pictures taken between 4 PM and 8 PM.
NJSIAA State Indoor Sectional Championships
On February 8, 2009, Cherokee's Varsity competed at the NJSIAA State Indoor Sectional Championships at the Bennett Center in Toms River. Highlights included Hurdler Major Mobley, timed at 8.00, taking 3rd place in the finals of the Highs, closely followed by Mike Brocco who placed 6th in 8.20 in the same race! Both advanced to the State Group IV Championships! In other noteable sprint action, Jon Scott placed 9th in the 55m Dash (6.85), while Will Rapp placed 12th in 6.87.
Among the top distance performers, Steve Burkholder raced to a new PR in the 1600m and took 2nd in 4:27.10! Kyle Miller also ran a PR, this time in the 3200m, taking 6th in 10:18.25. Both advanced to the State Group IV Championships! Also noteworthy was Matt McCarroll's PR in the 800m, taking 10th in 2:03.63.
And, among the jumpers, High Jumper Ed Kramer provided the highlight of the day when he tied for 2nd place in the event! Ed, too, will represent Cherokee at the State Group IV Championships!
Results at: MileSplit, NJ, or at Bennett Center.
Just thinking about a conversation from the other day: Distance guys . . . when your mother says you look good, you know you're too fat; when she says you're too fat, you flat-out KNOW you need to get off the Twinkies!
Cherokee Outdoor Winter Track Festival
In the really old days, really long ago, when Coaches Callinan and Shaklee were boys -- and, we're told, "boys" were "men" back then! -- winter track teams routinely scheduled day-long outdoor meets regardless of the weather. And most of the time, they were appropriately named "Polar Bear" meets. Not to be outdone, the "men" of Cherokee's winter track team relived "the really old days" with their coaches when, on February 11, 2009, they participated in the winter's first Cherokee Outdoor Winter Track Festival! It was a special day, too, because they were able to use the newly-resurfaced track at the high school and, OK, let's be honest, take advantage of the spectacular 70 degree temperatures!
Not all of the distance athletes participated in the meet but those who did ran some interesting PR's! In the 1600m, Greg Malloy and Aiden Lynch dipped under 5:00 for the first time; and Billy Hornung, Ryan Bobb, Matt Venanzi and Justin Domingo ran PR's as well! In the 800m, Jack Conway had a huge PR of 2:14.6, a very impressive performance for the muscular vaulter!
In the High Jump, Ed Kramer easily cleared 6' to win the event!
More details from Coach Cal, eventually!
Just Thinking: anyone listen to Mike Czuba lately? Check out this work from Jim Davis . . . has Czuba been "straining his imagination" lately? And doesn't the character in Panel 5 look a lot like Mike?
NJSIAA State Indoor Group Championships
On February 15, 2009, Cherokee's qualifiers from the State Sectional Meet -- Major Mobley and Mike Brocco in the High Hurdles, Steve Burkholder and Kyle Miller in distance events, and Ed Kramer in the High Jump -- returned to the Bennett Center for the NJSIAA State Indoor Group Championships, where they all did well with three of the five moving on to the NJ State Meet of Champions!
Hurdlers Major Mobley and Mike Brocco both ran PR's against very strong competition, with Mobley taking 6th overall and moving on in the state competition, and Brocco taking 11th overall in the event! Distance ace, Steve Burkholder led the top-seeded heat of the 1600m through most of the race, finished 2nd overall, and moved on in the competition! Fellow distance runner, Kyle Miller, set his own PR in the 3200m but failed to qualify for the up-coming Meet of Champions.
Finally, High Jumper Ed Kramer, matched his PR in the event, finished 4th overall, and moved on to the Meet of Champions!
Results available at: MileSplit, NJ, or at Bennett.
NJSIAA State Meet of Champions and Poreda Invitational
Saturday, February 21, 2009 was a busy day for the Cherokee team as they competed at two different sites! Three athletes -- Major Mobley, Steve Burkholder and Ed Kramer -- traveled east to the Bennett Center in Toms River for the NJSIAA State Meet of Champions, while many others traveled north to The Lawrenceville School for the Poreda Invitational.
At the Meet of Champions, Major Mobley competed in the 55m High Hurdles, where one off-balanced step can cost you a place in the finals. Clocked at 8.19, Major took 5th in his heat and 23rd overall. That sounds a lot worse than it was, especially when you consider that many of the places were determined not by 1/10th of a second but by 1/100ths of a second! Steve Burkholder clocked an excellent PR in the 1600m run and finished 14th overall in an exceptional field of runners! His time -- 4:26.85 -- puts him third on the all-time Cherokee indoor list, behind Marc Pelerin (4:13.56 converted from yards) and Jeff Storch (4:25.33). And Ed Kramer again matched his own PR but, after a massive tie-breaking routine that included six other jumpers, he finished seventh overall, just one place from the medal-winning top six! Complete results from the MOC at: Bennett Center, or at Mile Split, NJ. The Mile Split site has a link to various videos from the meet posted on the Shore Coaches website!
At the Poreda Invitational in Lawrenceville, highlights included 1st and 2nd place finishes in the 55m Dash by Will Rapp and Jon Scott respectively. In the 1500m, Kyle Miller and Marc Saccomanno ran two diferent races -- one out relatively fast, the other out relatively slow -- but in the end they ran step-by-step beside each other as they drove for the finish line! Marc won the final battle but both runners set new PR's in the event! In the 800m, Adam Henriksen set a new PR; and in the DMR, Billy Hornung led off with a fast 1200m leg! Results at: Lawrenceville Athletics.
Other details from Coach Cal, eventually!
Just Thinking . . . check out the pictures of the 55m Dash finals: there's more muscle in that one race than in our whole distance squad! And, yes, that includes Saccomanno and Czuba!
Eastern States Championships
On February 24, 2009 several of the team's top performers competed in the 72nd Eastern States Championships at the Armory in New York City! Will Rapp finished 5th in the finals of the 200m Dash by running 22.38 in the qualifiers, the 8th fastest indoor 200m Dash time in Burlington County history! He also advanced in the 55m Dash but failed to make the finals. And Major Mobley qualified in the 55HH with a PR of 7.89 but missed qualifying in the semi-finals (8.01).
Among the distance performers, Matt McCarroll, Steve Burkholder, Ryan McNair and Chris Applegate all ran well in the 4 X 800m Relay, with Burkholder running his first sub-two 800m split and a 2 second PR, and McNair dropping his 800m PR by a full second! The squad finished 10th overall in 8:06.58!
Jumper Jon Scott leaped 18' 10.50" for a PR in the Long Jump, but failed to qualify for the finals; and Ed Kramer easily cleared the starting height of 6' in the High Jump, but failed at the following height, finishing 11th in a field of 20.
Complete results at: Mile Split.
Eastern States Championships
On March 14, 2009, several of the team's top performers competing as members of the Cherokee Track Club, and unattached from Cherokee High School, participated in the Nike Indoor Nationals at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston, Massachusetts.
The Shuttle Hurdle team of Mike Brocco, Daren McCluskey, Mike Palmieri and Major Mobley placed 9th despite having to re-run their heat because the hurdles were initially set up at the wrong marks! Wow, a mistake like that at a national championship . . . and people bust South Jersey officials!
In addition, the 4x200 Relay of Tim Brill, Will Rapp, Jon Scott and Josh Ungerleider placed 23rd overall. Also, Will Rapp came back to finish 15th in a field of 61 runners in the 200.
Results at: Nike Indoor Champs