Cherokee Track & Field Pictures, 2017, Page I





Winter Preparation!


As in the past, during "Winter" or "Indoor" Track, Cherokee focuses largely on preparation for the Spring season. Coaches concentrate on base and strength training for the distance athletes, and skills and conditioning for the sprinters, jumpers and throwers. Even so, the team participates in a number of meets -- some of which are not reported here -- for both experience and a change of pace.

Last winter, the season began with cold temperatures and gusting winds but it still was not so bad that athletes couldn't get outside and train. This winter, the same pattern seems to be developing, with nasty, cold days, but Cherokee's athletes are unfazed and the training continues. GO CHEROKEE!






Olympic Conference Meet # 1

On December 16th, 2016, South Jersey's "lid-lifter" of the season, the Olympic Conference Meet #1, was held at "the Bubble," the Bennett Center in Toms River, New Jersey. This meet was designed for the "experienced but rusty" or the "brand new" and most teams will bring only a few athletes to compete/practice. Cherokee was one of those teams!

Head Coach John McMichael and Coach Ed Kramer led Cherokee's squad and here is Coach Kramer's take on the meet:


The Distance team was on their own from the end of the cross season until yesterday (12/19 was their first team practice), and the Throwers stayed back to work with Coach Lynn because they could get a gym. So it was just the sprint-jump-hurdle group at the meet and it was a great start to the season for those guys!

In the Shuttle Hurdles, all four guys (Becker Elbanna, Mike McShane, Tra Cabbagestalk, Ryan Belz) ran faster splits than they did all of last season as they continued to make strides towards learning the event: they took 3rd. The 4 X 2 -- Kevin Milligan, Terrance Graves, Andrew Parker, Matt Powell -- ran a good race to start the season, just missing out on a medal while getting 4th. The Sprint Medley Relay team, made-up of mostly the hurdle relay team (Ryan Belz, Becker Elbanna, Tra Cabbagestalk, Naledge Brown) started off the year well. The 4 x 4 was the highlight of the meet on the track: even though the overall time was nothing crazy it was ahead of where past teams have been in the first meet of the year! But the reason it was such a highlight was the way each member of the relay raced, catching guys at the end of their leg or not letting guys get too far ahead of them after they were passed, so they could pass them in the second lap, and then coming home to win the meet over all Olympic and Non-Olympic teams by 3 seconds!

In the field, Kenny Sprankle in the Vault, and Mike McShane in the HJ, both coming off great outdoor seasons, started this year well, but the highlight of the field and the meet was Andrew Parker breaking his Indoor PR by 4" and tying his outdoor PR in the first meet of the season! But more importantly, he was "clean" the whole way through and allowed him hold the second place medal for himself!

Overall, great start to the season but we still have a lot of work to do.


Well, that's it from the front lines! Here are further details from the meet: NJ.MileSplit. As usual, the pictures are weak because of the photographically dark conditions at the Bennett Center, but here are a few:



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South Jersey Track Coaches Association Season Opener # 1

On December 20th, 2016, the team returned to the Bennett Center for the South Jersey Track Coaches Association's Season Opener # 1 and, this time, Head Coach McMichael sent his report on the action!


Again, since the season is just getting started (and this was the first meet of the season for most of the guys in the meet), we were just trying to assess the guys' fitness and competitiveness, and we were not disappointed! Tyler Jackson and Aatish Gupta looked good as they went 1 - 2 in their heat of the 400m Dash, and then Anton Specht won the very next heat to open the meet!

For the second meet in a row (separated by just four days), Andrew Parker was the star of the meet! He cleared 5' 10" again in the High Jump and his final attempt at 6' 0" was very, very close!

Another member of our strong sophomore class had an impressive night! Will Delendik broke his PR in the 55m Dash (7.24) by running 7.11. He came back later in the night and broke his PR (25.30) in the 200m Dash when he ran 24.76 despite getting clipped and bumped coming around the first curve! CJ Lee (7.48) and Jamie Voynow (7.60) also did well in their season debuts in the 55m Dash, as did Freshman Mohamed Fofanah in his high school debut in the 55m Dash (7.34)!

Junior Joe Sands is new to the track program and debuted in the 200m Dash in 27-flat. Darren Franks joined Joe and Will Delendik in the event by running 28.65.

In the Field, Lucciano Pizzaro had a monster PR of 37' 1-1/2" in the Shot Put! Michael McShane cleared 5' 4" in the High Jump and Kenny Sprankle cleared 8' 0" in the Pole Vault for the second time in four days as they both competed tonight and last Friday.

Finally, the 4 x 400m Relay of Anton Specht, Aatish Gupta, Kenny Sprankle and Tyler Jackson passed the baton around in 3:58 to close out the night.

Unfortunately, the team did not bring home any medals, but that just strengthens our resolve to get to practice tomorrow to start putting in the work that will lead to achieving our goals for the season!


That's it from the Boss himself! Unfortunately, our photographer was unavailable for this meet but complete details are available at: NJ.MileSplit.






South Jersey Track Coaches Association, Meet # 2

On December 27th, 2016, the team returned to their winter second home, the Bennett Center, for the South Jersey Track Coaches Association, Meet # 2. This time, several Distance guys showed up -- sort of -- and opened the meet in the Distance Medley Relay. Cam Wilburn, apparently looking for more TV time, ran a leisurly 1200m and passed to Tyler Ortiz in the 400m. Freshman Chase Miller then took the baton and ran his first indoor 800m, and then Jon Conn finished the DM by running a solid 1400m leg! Wait, 1400m? Another "apparently" coming . . . apparently, Jon thought the required 1600m was just too long and he stopped one lap short in his race! Again, "apparently" he pulled it off because the officials missed this and gave him credit for the full 1600m! GO JON!

In another distance event, Naledge Brown and Freshman Bobby Hackney raced the Open 800m and both probably remember fondly those easy days on the cross country course!

The Sprint team competed in several events! In the 4 X 200m Relay, Becker Elbanna, Darren Franks, Joe Sands and CJ Lee ran well, with the anchor, Lee, clocking the fastest time on the team! In the Open 400m Dash, Ryan Belz and Matt Powell also ran well, with Belz taking 24th and Powell coming in 11th! In the 55m Dash, CJ Lee and Tray Cabbagestalk ran times close to their PR's and, this early in the season, that bodes well for later!

The 55m High Hurdles featured two of the team's three PR's of the day! Ryan Belz dropped almost a full second off his lifetime PR, and Tray Cabbagestalk cut almost a half-second off his PR! Perhaps the most interesting hurdler was Becker Elbanna who stumbled out of the blocks and was forced to use his opposite leg to clear the hurdles! Even so, he clocked 9.75 and finished 19th . . . a testament to his athleticism and grit!

Only one team member competed in the Field, Kieran Kelly, but he made a good showing, putting the Shot a full 7 feet beyond his PR! His performance was the highlight of the meet! GO KIERAN!

Again, our photographer was unavailable but complete details are at: NJ. MileSplit.






South Jersey Track Coaches Association, Meet # 3

On December 30th, 2016, the team traveled to the Bennett Center for the South Jersey Track Coaches Association, Meet # 3 and Coach McMichael sent the following:


The day began with a quick Sprint Medley Relay! Kevin Milligan shot off the line and passed the baton after covering his 400m leg in 52.8! Terrance Graves and Andrew Elsey ran the 200m legs in 24.4 and 25.3, respectively; and Matt Powell handled 800m anchor duties in 2:13.8! Their time of 3:56.01 placed them 6th out of 13 teams!

The meet shifted gears pretty quickly as the next event was the 1600m run. Freshman Chris Spisak started off his indoor track career with a bang by running 4:45.39. This placed him 3rd out of a field of 42 runners. He ran a gutsy race and earned Cherokee's only medal of the day! Upperclassmen Cam Wilburn and Jon Conn were also in the race, and the same heat! Cam "crushed" 5:00 by running 4:59.77 and Jon stopped the clock in 5:14.90. They were 10th and 19th in the race.

Seniors Terrance Graves and Jamie Voynow joined newcomers Junior Nick Greco and Freshman Mohamed Fofanah in the 55m Dash. Terrance led the way for the Chiefs in 7.09; Mohamed was next in 7.39; Jamie ran 7.58; and Nick ran 8.56. Jamie's time is a PR as he just dipped below his previous best of 7.59!

Michael McShane was Cherokee's only entrant in the 55m High Hurdles and the High Jump. He ran 10.53 in the hurdles, which was a PR, and he cleared 5' 4" in the High Jump to tie his PR!

The 4x200 relay of Anton Specht, Mohamed Fofanah, Tyler Jackson, and Jamie Voynow ran 1:45.03 for 9th place out of 13 teams.

Cherokee tested their Distance Freshmen in the All-Freshman 4 X 800m Relay of Bobby Hackney, Michael Gavio, Ethan Wechsler, and Chase Miller! The only All-Freshman team, they ran 9:27.22 for 7th place out of 14 teams!

The meet director allowed only two entries in the Open 400m, and Freshman Tyler Jackson and Senior Anton Specht got the nod. The rookie just nipped the veteran as Tyler clocked 58.49 (19th) and Anton ran 58.91 (22nd)!

The last event of the day was the 200m Dash and, like the 400m, Cherokee was allowed only two entrees. Matt Powell and Kevin Milligan enjoyed a nice long recovery after running in the first event of the day and they were ready to drop some fast times in this race! Interestingly, Matt, who has never run a 200m race indoors, debuted with an impressive 15th place 24.74! Kevin had arguably the second most impressive race of the day -- after Chris Spisak's medal-winning run in the 1600m -- by dropping a big Indoor and Outdoor PR of 24.24!


Details at: NJ.MileSplit.

For at least a dozen reasons, taking good pictures at Bennett is "difficult" and, as a result, there will be fewer over the season. Enjoy the following, such as they are:


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South Jersey Track Coaches Association, Meet # 4

Coach McMichael sent the following report:


On January 5, 2016, Cherokee returned to the famous "bubble" in Toms River for the South Jersey Track Coaches Association, Meet # 4. This meet was only open to large schools (aka NJSIAA Group III and IV), so it was a nice opportunity to see how the team would fare head-to-head against teams from other schools like ours!

Senior Nick Falk made his season debut by leading off the Distance Medley Relay with a solid split of 3:17.4. He passed the baton to Kevin Milligan who covered his 400m leg in a quick 52.1! Next up was Brendan Falzone who ran the 800m leg in 2:13.8. Freshman Chris Spisak backed up his recent 1600m time of 4:45 by splitting 4:43.4 for the same distance on the anchor leg! The guys earned our only medals of the night by finishing in 2nd place!

Next up was the Shuttle Hurdle Relay of Becker Elbanna, Tray Cabbagestalk, Ryan Belz, and Michael McShane. Their time of 36.33 was just off their best time from earlier this season (35.99), and they finished in 10th place.

The 4 X 200m Relay took to the track next! Senior Anton Specht led off in 25.5. Fellow senior Matt Powell covered the next 200m in 25.1. The final two legs were covered by sophomore classmates Tray Cabbagestalk (24.8) and Will Delendik (24.8). Their time of 1:40.24 was good for 9th place. (BTW, did anyone else notice Vineland's lead-off guy illegally cut from the 6th to the 3rd lane on the turn? Apparently, the official on the turn didn't, and neither did the five officials at the finish line! Ever alert!)

The distance guys then returned to the track for the 4 X 800m Relay. Seniors Brendan Falzone, Nick Falk, Cam Wilburn put newcomer Chris Spisak in decent position to bring the baton home. Brendan led things off in 2:15.21, Nick ran his leg in 2:09.71, Cam covered his 800m assignment in 2:13.28, and Chris finished things off in 2:12.82. Their time of 8:51.29 led to a 6th place finish.

Next, the Sprint Medley Relay team of Anton Specht (59.4), Will Delendik (25.1), Becker Elbanna (26.2), and Naledge Brown (2:23.6) ran 4:14.07 for 16th place.

The night's track competition ended with the 4 X 400m Relay team of Kevin Milligan (52.6), Ryan Belz (58.6), Tyler Ortiz (55.5), and Matt Powell (54.1) capped off the events on the track in fine fashion. They were second in their heat and had to wait until the final heat was done to determine their place. Their time of 3:40.35 is the best 4 X 400m Relay time of the season thus far! They were 4th overall and missed earning medals by a fraction of a second!

In the Field, Michael McShane cleared 5' 2" in the High Jump, Kenny Sprankle went over 8' 6" in the Pole Vault, and Luch Pizarro threw 32' 11-1/4 in the shot put. One of the highlights of the meet was Adonis Giovetis' performance in the Shot Put. Going into this season, Adonis' indoor best was 34' 5-1/4" and his outdoor best was 34' 6-3/4". He blew those out of the water on his first throw by going 36' 11"! He was a little too aggressive on his second throw which led to a foul, but he saved his best throw for last by uncorking a 38' 4" toss, beating his previous best performance in the Shot Put by almost four FEET! That is a massive improvement for the senior captain!

Special kudos to Chris Spisak, Brendan Falzone, Anton Specht, and Ryan Belz. They found out today that they had to run additional events in the meet tonight due to teammates sitting out with minor injuries. That is difficult mentally and physically, but these guys stepped up, did what they needed to do, and gave their best effort in each of their races! GO CHEROKEE!


Further details at: NJ. MileSplit.

Our photographer's bus left after the 4 X 800m Relay so he missed the later action! Here's some of what he caught earlier:



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South Jersey Track Coaches Association Meet # 6

Coach McMichael sent the following report:


On January 9, 2017, after experiencing the first significant snow storm of the winter of 2017, Cherokee traveled back to the John Bennett Indoor Athletic Complex in Toms River for the South Jersey Track Coaches Association Meet # 6. The meet started off on a positive note as senior Anton Specht and junior CJ Lee posted lifetime PR's in the 200m Dash! CJ ran 25.57 and Anton ran 25.72 for places 28th and 31st, respectively.

The next event took the meet to the opposite end of the spectrum as the distance runners took to the track for the 3200 meter run. Cherokee's entrant was junior Jonathan Conn. He ran 11:02.21 which is just off of his PR of 11:00.09 from the spring of 2016 season.

It is a rare meet when the 4 X 400m Relay is not the last event on the track. Tonight was one of those occasions. The team of sophomore Tyler Ortiz, senior Anton Specht, senior Ryan Belz, and junior Naledge Brown had the honor of running this event at the conclusion of the 3200s. Tyler got things off to a nice start by splitting 56.7. Anton was up next in 59.2. Ryan Belz covered his leg in 58.1, and Naledge brought the baton home in 58.7. These times add up to 3:53.74 which placed them 13th out of 19 teams.

Some of the younger guys on the team decided that they wanted to make a statement in 55m Dash. Cherokee's entrants were three sophomores and a freshman, and three out of four of them broke their PRs! Sophomore Will Delendik ran his second 55 of the season and he broke his PR for the second time! His new best of 7.09 eclipsed his old mark of 7.11. Fellow sophomore Tray Cabbagestalk was next for Cherokee in 7.21 (7.26). Freshman Mohamed Fofanah ran 7.31 (7.34), and sophomore Andrew Elsey ran 7.53.

The guys in the 55m High Hrdles must have taken notice as two of them ran their best times ever in the event. Becker Elbanna ran 9.37 which chopped a tenth of a second off of his previous best time of 9.47. Senior Ryan Belz's time of 10.10 dropped a few ticks off of his old PR of 10.18 which came earlier this season. He has improved by almost a full second over his best time last season of 11.05. Tray Cabbagestalk just missed his PR of 9.44 that he set earlier this season by running 9.47 tonight.

Cherokee had two guys in the 800m Run and they finished within a hair of each other. Sophomore Tyler Ortiz ran 2:19.46 and senior Mike Algarra ran 2:19.55. They were 31st and 32nd in a race of 45 competitors.

The final event on the track was the 4 X 200m Relay and the meet ended for Cherokee on a good note. Junior Kevin Milligan is our leadoff specialist and he did his customary solid job of getting off the line. He covered the first leg in 24.5. He handed off to fellow junior CJ Lee who ran 24.6 before handing off to sophomore Will Delendik who split 24.4. Senior Matt Powell brought the baton home in 24.4. Their time of 1:37.82 is not only the team's fastest time of the season, it is the fastest a Cherokee squad has run the event since 1:37.33 in the 2014 - 2015 season! The guys finished 8th out of 23 teams which was our highest placing of any event in the meet!

In the field, senior Michael McShane cleared 5' 0" and sophomore Andrew Elsey cleared 5' 6" in the high jump; while Senior Adonis Giovetis had a toss of 35' 6" and junior Kieran Kelly threw 33' 0-1/4" in the Shot Put.


Our photographer was unavailable but meet details are available at: NJ.MileSplit.




Cherokee Throw Down # 1

Coach McMichael sent the following report:


Most indoor meets have limits on the number of athletes that can enter and this is especially restrictive for throwers. As a result, eight years ago, Cherokee introduced the Cherokee Throw Down Series to give throwers an added chance to compete, and this year's series got off to a record-breaking start before the competition even started! Coaches from across the region entered over 200 athletes, a record number for the meet!

Senior Adonis Giovetis broke his overall PR on his first attempt! Junior Kieran Kelly had his third best throw of the season, which was better than his outdoor PR from last season! Sophomore Colin Mahoney got his indoor season started in fine fashion by beating his old outdoor PR by four feet! Fellow sophomore Luch Pizarro had his second best throw of the season, which was also better than his outdoor PR from last season!

Fellow sophomore Max Voiro, who is new to throwing, broke the PR that he set earlier this winter; and Freshmen newcomers Darien Massimino and Philip Quipot were excited to compete for the first time, and set their own PR's, in a Cherokee uniform!

By the way, Junior Giovanni Riggi threw in the Cherokee Throw Down Series last year, but this year he was wearing a Kingsway uniform as he transferred there prior to the start of the school year. His best throw tonight broke his previous best set last year.


Further details at: NJ.MileSplit.


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SJTCA Meet #7, Novices (with an added attraction!)

Coach Kramer sent the following report:


On January 12, 2017, many of the less-experienced or less-conditioned athletes on the team traveled to the Bennett Center for the SJTCA Meet #7, Novices! In addition, the Association arranged a special "elite" or "Invitational" heat of the 3200m Run for varsity athletes wanting to establish seed times for the upcoming state championships.

Two of Cherokee top distance runners competed in the Invitational 3200m Run, Nick Falk and Justin Kelly! The race was marked by one of the most evenly-timed races ever run by a Cherokee athlete. Nick clocked almost even splits throughout the race and, not only caught two less- judicious runners who went out too fast, but beat the entire field to the finish line! Justin, struggling with a knee issue for a while, felt good at the beginning of the race but both the knee and a foot problem interferred with his desire to clock a top time.

After the 3200m Run, the Novices took to the track in a number of events. Among the distance runners, freshman Chris Spisak raced an excellent 800m, taking 2nd in a battle with another athlete that went right down to the finish line! In the same race, freshman Bobby Hackney finished 10th, several seconds below his PR, and junior Jake Hyzy dropped a couple of seconds off his PR as well! Later, in the second Novice Distance event of the evening, freshman Chase Miller made his own impressive mark as he won the 1600m Run while clocking a sub-5 minute race; and David Jackson did well despite stumbling at the start, falling on the last turn, and wearing cinder blocks on his feet! ;<)

Among the Sprinters, two sophomores running their first high school races, Josh Penn and Justin Perper, looked good; and senior Jamie Voynow clocked a PR in the event! The 4 X 400m Relay team of Tyler Jackson, Darren Franks, Joe Sands and Naledge Brown all ran well and took 3rd in the event! There was, however, a bold Muhammad Ali-like prediction made by the team's anchor that was not achieved! Hmm-m-m-m-mmm . . .. Finally, the 4 X 200m Relay team of Josh Penn, Darren Franks, Justin Perper and Jamie Voynow also had a nice race and won their heat!

In the Field, junior Vaulter Kenyon Sprankle matched his season PR; and Shot Putters, junior Kieran Kelly and sophomore Luch Pizzaro both came close to their PR's in the event!


Details at: NJ.MileSplit.


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