Cherokee Track & Field Pictures, 2016, Page III





The Spring Season Begins!


The Early Spring is a time of continuing preparation for the season and especially the championship meets at the end of the season. It begins with an unofficial roadrace for the distance squad, the Adrenaline 5K, on March 19th in Haddonfield, and a scrimmage for all against Timber Creek and Haddon Heights on March 23rd at Cherokee. After that, the season officially opens with The Don Danser Memorial Relays on April 2nd at Maple Shade H.S. While there are many opportunities for almost everyone on the team to participate in these events, newer team members also have a novice meet, the Crusader Frosh/Novice Meet on April 15th at Bushop Eustace Prep, where they may hone their skills against other Freshmen/Novices and perhaps qualify for Varsity competition. Finally, the Throwers travel to the Eagle Relay Invitational at Central High School on April 16th. GO CHEROKEE!






The Adrenaline 5K

Coming soon . . . but first . . .

Just for the record, guys, the rule in Cross Country and Roadracing is . . . OK, Coach Shaklee would say something like, "the rule is to win or live forever in shame and infamy" but here's a more realistic rule for The Adrenaline Run . . . look ahead for the photographer and gravitate towards his position! Get the picture -- but never clown around in competition -- and then worry about winning and glory! . . . and don't tell Coach Shaklee you learned this rule here! GO CHIEFS!

Race Day!

On race day, March 19, 2016, our regular photographer and Jon Falk, Nick's grandfather, showed up on time but it was like an Easter Egg Hunt trying to find our runners in an event with over 1,000 entrants! Yes, and some weird things happened! Two of our runners were never seen on the course, though one was recorded crossing the finish line, and a third crossed the finish line when he wasn't registered - he's called a bandit - and messed-up the official results! However, the two who weren't seen on the course made it to Mr. Falk's post-race group picture but two others didn't! Anyone follow that?! You figure who's missing where!



Adrenaline Runners



The analysis of results is on-going and one has generated a heated debate! Cherokee's first finisher, Nick Falk, moved up one spot on the Adrenaline 5K All-Time List by slipping by Coach Shaklee's PR on the course by a second! This has caused some to point out that the coach was 43 at the time -- an old and worn-out man -- so Nick's success is tainted, but others note that the coach had at least 29 or 30 years of experience and training under him at the time and, therefore, young Nick's success was truly extraordinary! The issue will be turned over to NJSIAA and USATF for adjudication!

Others' successes are clear cut: Justin Kelly is now 11th on the Adrenaline 5K All-Time List and expected to move well into the top ten next year. Not counting post-grads, he is 7th already! Mike Zurzolo, Breandon Marks and Brendan Falzone improved 41, 53 and 51 seconds respectively from last year! Kevin Bookwalter, the bandit, set a 5k PR; Pat Mahoney, dipped under 20 minutes; and Chris Zurzolo ran a very nice race for his first 5K! Just for grins, if Cherokee was scored against the rest of the field in the 15-19 age group, the team ended up losing by a close score of 26-29!

Official results at: L and M Sports.

Cherokee's results at: PDF.

Cherokee's Adrenaline 5K All-Time List from 1999 - 2016: PDF.

Cherokee's Adrenaline 5K All-Time "Best race" List from 1999 - 2016: PDF.

Here are some race pics from our regular photographer. It was hard to find everyone in the crowded race, especially when they didn't wear orange . . . Falk . . . Falzone! Still looking for the two Chris' . . . they were probably wearing stealth black!



Adren 5K

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Find one of the missing runners: 600m from start . . . he forgot the adage, "Get the picture!"

Adren 5K






Scrimmage: Haddon Heights and Timber Creek

Mama! . . . hide the children! Something escaped . . .!



Escape Dave



On March 23, 2016, Cherokee welcomed Haddon Heights and Timber Creek High Schools to their only Scrimmage of the season! A quick review of the results suggests that it was an especially big day for the Throwers! Newcomer Eli Mitchell was Cherokee's top guy in the Javelin, Disc, and runner-up in the Shot! In addition, Javelin throwers Matt Gross, Steve Huber, Jared Selkow and newcomer, Tatum Cinelli all had good days throwing PR's to start the season; and Kieran Kelly and George Coulter both had PR's in the Shot and the Disc! Scrimmage scores don't count for much but, if anyone is checking, Cherokee Throwers outscored Timber Creek 16-11 and Haddon Heights 26-1!

Among the Sprinters, Hurdlers and Jumpers, Matt Dawkins had the most impressive day with two PR's, the 100m Dash and the 200m Dash! Terrance Graves also had his own PR in the 200m Dash; Dave Osterhout started his season off well with his own PR in the 110m High Hurdles; and Mark Kirby matched his outdoor PR in the Pole Vault!

The Distance squad used the scrimmage as a training, rather than a racing, opportunity. The coach assigned multiple "races" to each runner and specified the splits each was to meet. In addition, all runners actually raced the last event, the 4 X 400m Relay, and almost all set individual PR's in the event, including Mike Zurzolo and Joey Thompson who clocked the fastest times!

Here are some pics of the guys down in the track area!



Start 1600


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Don Danser Memorial Relays

On April 2, 2016, the team traveled to Maple Shade High School for their first "big" meet of the season, the Don Danser Memorial Relays. Formerly known as "The Burlington County Hall of Fame Relays," it was notorious for having some of the worst weather of the season and, as rain fell through most of the meet this year, nothing has changed except the name!

Despite the weather, there were some interesting performances! In the Field, Varsity Javelin throwers Eli Mitchell and Matt Gross took 2nd in their relay; and JV Javelin thrower, Steve Huber brought home the only gold medal of the meet by winning the JV Javelin with a 29' PR! Jake McAvaddy also PR'd in Javelin! In the Discus, Kieran Kelly had an 18' PR, and Tom Deutch had a 13' PR! And, finally, in the High Jump Relay, Michael McShane, who tied his PR, and Sam Kramer combined to take 2nd in the competition. (The Vault was canceled because of the weather.)

Among the Sprinters, Bill Delendik (9) looked good in the Varsity 4 X 200m Relay; and Tyler Ortiz (9) ran a nice anchor on both the JV 4 X 200m Relay and the JV 4 X 400m Relay! Colton Schneeweis (10) also had a good day as he had nice splits in both the JV Sprint Medley Relay and the Varsity 4 X 400!

Special props go to Dave Osterhout and Al Panaccio who ran 800 legs on two Sprint Medley Relays, without having done any training for that distance, just so two other guys had the opportunity to run the 400m and 200m legs! Probably at some point during their legs they wished they had trained harder this past Cross Country season . . .! (Their event, the Shuttle Hurdles, was canceled because of the weather.)

Finally, Terrance Graves had a decent day with a nice split in the Varsity 4 X 100m Relay, and a solid anchor split in the 4 X 400m Relay!

Among the Distance runners, Cam Wilburn and Kevin Bookwalter set new PR's in the 4 X 1600m Relay. Both made tactical errors in their races but this points to even faster times in the near future! The JV 4 X 800 went well with seven of the eight runners (Mike Moraschi, Nik Kadirisani and Matt Zeitz on the A squad, and Chris Zurzolo, George Villaneuva, Jake Hyzy and Ben Rosenberg on the B team) setting PR's! Yes, a few were first-time 800m runners but two especially notable performances came from Nik Kadirisani, who knocked 6 seconds off of his PR, and Ben Rosenberg, who took 4 seconds off of his and outkicked a competitor at the end of the race! (See picture!)

Details at: NJ.MileSplit.

Not the best day for pictures so there are some hit-or-miss events, especially the 4 X 200m Relay!



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Bridgeton Relays

Remember when "Track Men were Men" and a little rain didn't cause meet directors to shudder and postpone their meets? Why . . . back in the day . . . oh, wait, that was just last week!

Last week in the rain, we ran and threw and even jumped some but not this week . . ..

Now, more modern and enlightened men postpone their meets because of a little rain!

Ah, did anyone tell Shak?



Bridgeton Rainout






Crusader Frosh-Novice Invitational

On April 15, 2016, Cherokee sent a strong contingent of younger team members to Bishop Eustace Prep for the Crusader Frosh-Novice Invitational.

The Freshmen Sprinters had a particularly nice day! Their 4 X 100m Relay of Tray Cabbagestalk, Andrew Parker, Tyler Ortiz and Will Delendik ran 46.78 for 2nd place; their 4 X 200m Relay of Will Delendik, Tyler Ortiz, Darren Franks and Tray Cabbagestalk clocked 1:39.72 for 3rd place; and their 4 X 400m Relay of Amir Epps, Zach Rubeo, Aatish Gupta and Tyler Ortiz ran 3:58.60 for 2nd place! Tyler Ortiz' name appears in all three relays so it would seem that he gets top bragging rights!

Among the Distance squad, other than the guys racing for the first time who obviously PR'd, Cherokee had six PR's in the 1600m Run! Mike Moraschi raced aggressively and knocked over 10 seconds off his best in the Freshman section. Matt Smith edged ever closer to the "magic 5-min barrier" with a pretty evenly paced run. Jon Conn, who has missed some workouts with sore shins surprised by setting a PR despite the missed time. Nick Kadirisani and Matt Zeitz knocked several seconds off of their previous bests, and Ben Rosenberg finally got the monkey off of his back as he smashed the six-minute barrier! For some reason, the Coach is keeping secret the results of the 4 X 800m Relay . . . anyone know why?

Official results at: NJ.MileSplit



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Eagle Relay Invitational

On April 16, 2016, the team separated and traveled to two different locations, sending their runners to the Woodbury Relays and their throwers to the Eagle Relay Invitational at Central Regional High School in Bayville, NJ. Highlights from the meet include a win in the Javelin Relay by Matt Gross, Tatum Cinelli and Eli Mitchell! Both Matt and Tatum had PR's in the event! In the Shot Put, Adonis Giovetis and Dom Wilson-Gontowski both hit PR's; and Tom Deutsch hit his own PR in the Discus!

Details at: NJ.MileSplit.












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