Cherokee is in the heat of the Championship season, having competed in the South Jersey Elite and Open Meets; the Olympic Conference and the Burlington County Meets. Now the team moves on towards the SJ Sectional (Regional) Championships; and, from there, possible individual or relay team advancement to the NJ State Group Championships; and, from there, the apex here in New Jersey, the Meet of Champions! After the Meet of Champions, the team will celebrate their accomplishments throughout the season with their coaches, families and friends at the annual Awards Banquet!
At this point, the process is as "simple" as 1 and 2!
1) Focus all of your abilities on your event, finish among the Top-6 at Sectionals and advance to Groups! Ya-a-a-a!
2) Focus all of your abilities on your event, finish among the Top-6 at Groups and advance to The Meet of Champions! Ya-a-a-a!
Easy-peasy!
GO CHIEFS!
On June 3rd, 2023, the best of the team took the short bus ride over to the newly-reconstructed sports facility at Pennsauken High School, a pretty fancy football and track area equipped with an 8-lane track and an extensive High Jump area, for the two-day NJSIAA South Jersey Sectional Championships! In the beginnning, the day seemed alright for June with strong sunlight, warm temperatures and only a small chance of rain in the late afternoon, but no one mentioned the mighty bolts of lightening about 8/10ths of the way into the meet that would send us all packing until the following day!
All in all, the meet did not go as well as the team expected and Coach Shaklee captured that sentiment in his first remarks on his Distance squad:
"Although the meet didn't go as we had hoped, the Cherokee distance squad did manage to advance TWO individuals in the 800, TWO in the 1600 and the 4 X 800 Relay team!
"Friday's conditions were a bit rough on Distance with high heat on a mostly sunny day. First up for the distance squad was the 800 which featured Conor Jacob, Patrick Ditmars and Nick Kuenkel. Conor had been sick recently and was, once again, experiencing sinus issues that would end up making things difficult for him. The race went out conservatively with no one in the field really wanting to lead from the start. Coming through the 400 in a slow 59 seconds, we knew that the pace would pick up substantially in the second lap. The two Toms River North runners went to the lead and began to add some pace but still nothing excessive. With 200 to go, practically everyone was still in contention. Things really started moving around the last turn and when the runners hit the final straight, one TRN athlete had the lead and was sprinting toward the finish! A group of eleven runners reacted and all began kicking wildly down the homestretch! With 50 meters to go, Patrick was still 8 meters behind the leader but he held his form and sprinted by for an exciting win in the last 10 meters! Nick hung tough to take the 6th and last qualifying spot, a mere second out of the runner-up spot in what was a very close race! Conor struggled over the last 200 but still managed to finish in 9th.
"The only other distance event scheduled for Friday was the 3200 at the end of the meet. Unfortunately, after Liam Tindall, Ben Weiner and Andrew Free had completed their warm-up and were awaiting the start, lightening flashed and the event was postponed to the next morning. The one benefit of that was that Saturday's weather was much cooler. Both Ben and Andrew had off days and their races did not go well. Liam was the only distance athlete to set a new PR at the meet when he went out with the lead pack through the mile and held on to finish 10th with a one-second improvement over his time from the county meet!
"The 4 X 800 was our next event and, in the end, was disappointing. We held out Patrick and Nick to allow them to run the 1600, which fell after the 4 X 8. Still, with Conor, Bobby Poplau, Tommy Bromley and Matteo Evola, we felt we would be in the hunt. Adding up season-best times for each of the four put us at 7:57.47, a very competitive time! However, Conor was struggling even more with his sinus infection and had an uncharacteristically off-race. Bobby ran right around his season best, with Tommy a second off his, and Matteo four seconds off. The result was a 4th place finish in a time that will, unless there are enough scratches to allow a single heat, put us in the unseeded heat at the Group 4 State Meet next Saturday.
"Enzo Corona, Patrick and Nick were our entrants in the 1600. Enzo was in the second-to-last heat and his enthusiasm got the best of him as he took the race out very quickly. To his credit, he kept trying to the finish but came away with a place and time a bit off of what he expected and was capable of. In the final heat, Patrick was the second seed and Nick was the fifth. Both came in ready to race and that they did! No one wanted to lead on what was a fairly windy day so the first lap was very slow. The top-seeded athlete, from Southern, took over and began to gradually increase the pace. On the backstretch of the third lap, he picked it up even more and the pack started to string out. Patrick was in second and Nick in fourth. As the final lap began, the pace, once again, got faster. Patrick did his best to stay on the lead runner but a small gap formed. Nick moved past the third runner! Coming off the last turn, Patrick found himself, for the second time in two races, about 8 meters down with the finish line rapidly approaching. He again found a way to reel-in the leader and he passed him just before the line for a narrow victory with a 58.8-second final 400. Nick pulled away from the rest of the field with a 60-second lap of his own to finish in 3rd, over 3 seconds in front of the 4th place finisher. Both Patrick and Nick qualified in two events and raced very well in doing so!
"The final event of the meet, the 4 x 400 Meter Relay, was a tough one! Jack Couture led off for the team and ran a nice leg to put us in a good spot! Although fatigued from the 800 and 1600, Nick ran the second leg and finished well down the homestretch to record a time right around his PR! Bobby Poplau also ran a PR split on the third leg and handed off to Patrick in 4th with three teams right behind him! Unfortunately, Patrick was completely gassed from his hard finish in the 1600 and did not have his usual great anchor leg: we finished in 7th place and failed to advance! Despite that disappointment, the guys should be pleased with their efforts, and Patrick, especially, should be proud of his two sectional titles as we all look forward to next week's Group Championship meet!"
In addition to the Distance guys, several Field guys and our top Sprinter advanced to the Group Championships next week! In the Javelin, Zach Ott took 3rd and Austin Lenart took 6th in the competition and advanced; and in the Sprints, Wesley Davenport competed in three events, the 100, 200 and the 4 X 100m Relay, and, while clocking a PR, he took 5th in the 100m and advanced!
Further details from the Field and Sprints, Hurdles and Jumps soon!
Official details at: NJ. MileSplit.
Our photographer continued to baby an injury and was unable to get to the spread-out Field events. He did, however, cover the finish line. Here are some of his pictures and they and others are on the District's Google site!
On June 6th, 2023, Cherokee sponsored the second of two night racing events, Cherokee Night Racer # 2, and, despite a half-hour lightening delay, the rest of the evening went off without a problem. Well, that is if you don't consider dense smoke from Canadian forest fires a problem! Cough Cough!
Sixteen members of the team raced -- three in the 800m and thirteen in the 1600m -- and eight scored PR's in what is expected to be their last race of the season! Dan Hassell, Ben Weiner, ANthony DiBatista, Brett Yagiello, Rory Carroll and Josh Lowery clocked PR's but two others appear to have scored "Trip PR's" in these special evening events: Enzo Corona and Logan Bromley! Both athletes set PR's in three different night meets and in three different events -- Haddonfield Distance Night, 800m; Cherokee Night Racer # 1, 3200m; and Cherokee Night Racer # 2, 1600m! You go, guys!
Mr. Callinan's "Tomahawk Timing" results, including FAT splits, are available at NJ.MileSplit. In passing, you have to feel sorry for Eric Scully of the Hun School who dominated the 1600m with a relaxed and evenly-paced 4:18. No doubt he came to the meet expecting to be challenged by some of the best milers in SJ but discovered that most of them were sitting out because of the upcoming Group Championships!
Our photographer was available and shot into the evening and through the smoke! Here are a few of his pictures and they and the others are available on the District's Google site.
On June 10th, 2023, those who qualified/advanced last week at the SJ Sectional Championships traveled to Franklin High School in Somerset, NJ for the NJSIAA New Jersey State Group 4 Championships but it wasn't as simple as it might be! Like Sectionals, Groups were originally scheduled over two days but an atmospheric emergency created by Canadian wildfires caused the NJSIAA to combine the events of the two days into a very long 12-hour Saturday, when the air would be clearer.
Throwers Austin Lenart and Zach Ott were seasoned competitors at Groups, and they and Coach Hoffman expected the best from them and even their advancement to New Jersey's incredible Meet of Champions! In addition, Cherokee's top Sprinter, Wesley Davenport, who qualified 5th in the 100m at Sectionals and advanced to Groups for the first time, was expected to do everything he could to improve his PR and, perhaps, even advance to the Meet of Champions! But none of that happened!
Lenart beat his best from Sectionals but not as much as he had hoped. Last week, he threw 144' 08" and advanced to Groups in 6th place; this week he threw a tad farther, 145' 08" (his PR is 153' 01") and finished 10th/22 overall. Ott threw significantly shorter than at Sectionals (157' 0' for 3rd) and failed to advance (his PR is 162' 07"). Similarly, Davenport failed to advance but made a strong effort. Last week, he made the Finals while clocking 11:25, and he advanced to Groups by clocking a 11:11 (PR of 11:04 at Cherokee last week) and finishing 5th in the Finals. This week he was off only .14 of a second from his PR but finished in 14th and failed to advance. But don't lose sight of what they accomplished: thousands of Throwers and Sprinters never earned a chance of competing at Groups and Cherokee sincerely appreciates their efforts!
There is a rumor being advanced that Wesley Davenport purposely left his uniform at home because he planned to run without clothes and lessen the slowing friction caused by the uniform. Coach Thompson, a stickler for decorum, rejected this plan and collected a uniform for him from an athlete not racing at the time. Not sure if this is true or, as has been suggested, if the Coach congratulated Davenport for his scientific, out-of-the-box thinking. We'll ask.
Coach Shaklee sent the following report:
"The distance squad had a good day (a very long day, but good) at the Group 4 State Championships at Franklin High School!
"Patrick Ditmars was up first in the 800! The start did not go well and Patrick found himself in and out of traffic throughout the race. Despite the fact that he was never able to get into a rhythm and relax, Patrick still managed to finish well over the last 100 and move himself up to 4th place with another 1:55 clocking . . . and advance to the Meet of Champions!
"Several hours later, the team of Tommy Bromley, Nick Kuenkel, Conor Jacob and Bobby Poplau took to the track in the first heat of two in the 4 X 800 Relay. As the top seed in the "slow" heat, they knew they would have their work cut out for them if they wanted to place, and the expectation was that after the first leg, they would be well in front and racing against the clock! That turned out not to be the case as Ridgewood High School was also running a better team than what they ran at Sectionals. Tommy did a great job on the lead-off! He went to the lead and held it until the last straightaway. Even when passed, he kept fighting and kept us in it! He passed the baton to Nick in second place behind Ridgewood, with Egg Harbor Twp right with us. Nick went out aggressively and began making up distance on the Ridgewood runner. He caught him going into the final turn, sat on him through the turn, then pulled ahead on the final straight to give the baton to Conor in first place! Conor went out at a pretty relaxed clip and the Ridgewood runner caught him 300 meters in. Conor maintained the lead and then pulled away over the last 150 to give the baton to Bobby with about a 2-second lead. Although Bobby went out well, the Ridgewood anchor went out even faster and caught and passed Bobby on the backstretch of the final lap! Bobby refused to give up and he hooked on through the final turn before moving to the lead on the homestretch and pulling away for a one-second victory with his fastest 800 ever! We were happy with our effort and then had to wait and watch the final heat. When it ended, we found ourselves in 3rd place, two seconds behind the winner, Toms River North, and .14 behind second place Westfield. We are highly motivated for Wednesday's Meet of Champions and a chance to go head-to-head with those teams!
"Less than two hours later, Patrick and Nick lined up for the 1600 Meter Run, not certain how they would feel on their second races of the meet. Both of them raced well and finished in 5th and 6th place, both just a little over a second behind the winner! Although Patrick was disappointed with his performance, the coaches were proud of his effort and the way he never gives up! The coaches were also very proud of how well Nick raced. He not only placed 6th but he also set a new PR by over 3 seconds!
"All-in-all, a good day for Cherokee distance!"
Detailed results, videos and pictures at: NJ.MileSplit.
Our photographer was unavailable for this meet. However, he copied and posted the nice work of NJ.MileSplit's photographers Doublee and Mae Kellert with thanks! See District's Google site. Apologies to our Throwers: both photographers shot the Javelin but not when Group 4 was there!
On June 13th, 2023, the team, coaches and families met to enjoy a meal together while reviewing the accomplishments of the team this season and bidding farewell to our graduating seniors. The real highlight of the evening -- if you don't count the food generously donated by Parents Nichole and Kevin Stone, the owners of The Jug Handle Inn on Rt 73 in Pennsauken -- was the Coaches' announcement of the "Most Valuable Player" in the Sprints/Hurdles, Distance and Throws!
Coach Hoffman began the affair by introducing the Freshmen, the Junior Varsity and the Varsity team members. He went on to identify and thank the Seniors, especially the four-year Seniors, for their efforts and contributions over the years!
We wish you the best of everything and look forward to seeing what you do and what you become!
Bromley, Thomas
Davenport, Wesley
Ditmars, Patrick
Edelson, Aidan
Hassall, Daniel
Hargreaves, Jayce
Hough, Joseph
Hughes, Allie
Jacob, Conor
Kent, Thomas
Linden, Jeremy
Malloy, Marcellus
Mitchell, Brian
Weisenberg, Ethan
Yagiello, Brett
This year, the selections for All-County and All-Olympic Conference were made early enough but the All-South Jersey and All-State selections were late (held up by the late-scheduled MOC), so the coaches held-off the announcements. At this point, however, the following awards have been made:
Traditionally, the Coaches' MVP Awards are by far the most important awards of the season because they are given by people who really know the athletes and know the most-deserving of them all! They are selected not simply because they are the fastest runners, the highest or longest jumpers, or the farthest throwers on the team. These factors are important but the coaches also consider their dedication to the team and its values, their leadership, character, self-discipline and self-motivation, sportsmanship, competitiveness, and persistence. Congratulations to the following athletes who were selected to receive the Coaches' MVP Awards:
Field/Throws: Zach Ott
Sprints/Hurdles: Wesley Davenport
Distance: Patrick Ditmars
Unsung Hero: Jeremy Linden
The coaches were followed by several leaders of Cherokee's Alumni Association, Jeff Storch and Lisa Burkholder who made congratulatory remarks, presented awards to the Team Captains -- Wesley Davenport, Jeremy Linden and Conor Jacob -- and invited all of the graduating Seniors to join the Association! Several seniors ended the evening by offering lighthearted comments on their seasons with particular coaches and telling their peers to take pride in all they achieved throughout the year!
Thanks to Coaches Hoffman, Shaklee, Viscidy and Thompson for their expertise and dedication this season! And special thanks to our photographer who donated many thankless hours to the athletes on the team but was unavailable for the banquet! Special thanks to the parents who gave us such great guys to work with, sponsored the Awards Banquet (especially the Stones!) and for all the help they gave the team and coaches throughout the season! Sincere thanks to our graduating seniors for their work, leadership and performances: we hope to see them soon, competing at the next level, with their names and achievements reported on our website's Alums page! Finally, we look forward to seeing our undergraduates return even stronger next year to continue the exceptional history of Cherokee Track and Field!
GO CHIEFS! . . . GO CHEROKEE!
To infinity and beyond!
OK, that's a bit "over the top" but our top Distance runners are due at the Meet of Champions tomorrow!
GO CHIEFS! . . . GO CHEROKEE!
On June 15th, 2023, a day after the original meet was postponed because of storms, those who qualified/advanced last week at the NJSIAA New Jersey State Group 4 Championships returned to Franklin High School for the NJSIAA New Jersey State Meet of Champions, the ultimate challenge and the official end of New Jersey's Track season! As usual, the guys left standing were four Distance runners who qualified in three distance races!
Even as they arrived, Coach Shaklee and his athletes were still unsure of what races they would run! Well, all agreed that they would race the 4 X 800m Relay, with Conor Jacob, Nick Kuenkel, Bobby Poplau and Patrick Ditmars, AND WIN but, because of their qualifying last week in the Open 800m and Open 1600m, Nick and Patrick had some decisions to make! Nick qualified in the Open 1600m but would he run it this week? Patrick qualified in the Open 800m and the Open 1600m but would he run both, one and not the other, or neither?
Coach Shaklee provided the following comments on his guys running the Meet of Champions:
"The Cherokee boys went into the State Meet of Champions with one main goal . . . win the 4x800 Meter Relay for the second year in a row!
"Mission accomplished!
"With the meet postponed one day, some of the teams were absent, instead choosing to focus on the New Balance National Meet in Philadelphia. Penn Relays champion, Chatham High School, was the most notable no-show. Still, with Group 4 Champion and New Jersey number 2, Toms River North (TRN), in the field, we knew we had our work cut out for us. It would take four good legs to secure the win.
"Conor Jacob, who had been sick but was back to health, ran the lead-off leg and got things started with a PR split of 1:55.74 to give us a very slight lead over TRN, whose lead-off clocked in at 1:55.80! Conor handed off to Nick Kuenkel who went out aggressively and opened a lead with a 54.72 first lap. Although he was out very fast, Nick was able to handle it and when he handed off to teammate, Bobby Poplau, the clock read 3:51.44, a 1:55.70 PR split, and we had a 3.57 sec lead! Bobby followed Nick's lead and also went out very aggressively - 54.83 through the first lap. With TRN's two best runners running 3rd and 4th, we knew we were in for a close race and the gap began to close despite Bobby's aggressive racing. When Bobby handed off to Patrick Ditmars, the clock read 5:47.35 (a PR 1:55.92 leg) with TRN now only 1.88 seconds back. Patrick went out in 55.60 while TRN's anchor came through in 53.98, making it a one lap race for the championship. Patrick held the lead through the first turn, down the backstretch and through the second turn with the TRN runner right behind him. Coming off the turn, TRN's anchor moved out to attempt a pass. Patrick responded with a huge surge and pulled away over the last 80 meters to bring us in exactly 2 seconds in front! Patrick's split of 1:53.82 (a new PR) stopped the clock at 7:41.17, a new school record, the second fastest time ever at the Meet of Champions and the 4th fastest time by a South Jersey team (a mere .74 seconds behind the South Jersey record of 7:40.43 (Egg Harbor Twp - 2017)! After a year filled with difficulties - injury, illness, etc - it was an incredible way to finish up! All four athletes ran their fastest times. They were so determined, it seemed that there was just no way they would have allowed themselves to lose! When the 4x800 at Nationals finished the next evening, it was official that our winning time, at the State Meet of Champions, was the fastest New Jersey performance of the year!
"Both Nick and Patrick had individual events after the relay. Nick did a great job of doubling back a hour later to finish third in the 1600 Meter Run! Patrick found himself in a very fast 800 Meter field with a lot of fresh runners and he struggled to come back from his great anchor leg. He still acquitted himself well and, like always, he kept pushing right to the line to end his high school career proudly!
"The coaches could not be more proud of this group - Conor Jacob, Nick Kuenkel, Bobby Poplau, Patrick Ditmars and Tommy Bromley (who ran a strong leg last week at the Group 4 Meet to help us secure a spot in the Meet of Champions)! We wish the best to our Seniors, Conor, Patrick and Tommy, as they move on to college! We are excited to have Juniors Nick and Bobby returning and we look forward to what they will accomplish next year!
Details and tons of stuff including results, race videos, post-race interviews, etc., available at: NJ.MileSplit. See the Conor, Nick, Bobby and Patrick 4 X 800 Relay interview with Jim Lambert at Post-race!
Among other roles, Reuben Frank of Comcast and NBC, writes a blog for the SJTCA. He reported on the guys' outstanding 4 X 800m Relay in his blog, SJ Track Blog: From the Backstretch and his article, "Cherokee's Conor Jacob, Robert Poplau, Nick Kuenkel, Patrick Ditmars Win Meet of Champions 4 X 8 with #3 Time in South Jersey!!!!!!!!," is copied on our server at Frank's Blog.
Corey Annan, of NJ Advance Medium for NJ.com, interviewed and wrote the article, "Cherokee boys repeat as 4x800 gold medalists at 2023 Meet of Champions," copied on our server at Corey Annan.
Our photographer was there and he provided a few of his pictures below, and he and a NJ.MileSplit photographer, Tom Smith, provided the pictures that are on the District's Google site!
I know! I know! We thought he was just another "distance" pretty face . . .
. . . and he takes the top prize . . . !
Valedictorian of the Class of 2023: Scholar and Runner Danny Hassall
GO DANNY!
On June 23rd - 24th, 2023, Junior Bobby Poplau wanted two more shots at setting FAT Personal Records in the Open 800m and 1600m races, so he registered for the East Coast Track and Field Championships in New Brunswick on hot, potentially stormy evenings! Coach Shaklee and our photographer volunteered to attend at least one race but both withdrew because of family issues and the promise of lightening at the meet site. Bobby didn't, however!
On Friday, the 23rd, Bobby raced the 800m Run, High School Championship and finished 3rd/9 in his heat and 6th/17 overall with an Open PR of 1:56.31! On Saturday, the 24th, Bobby raced the 1600m Run, High School Championship and finished 1st in his heat and 5th overall in another Open PR of 4:21.50! After the MOC, others had some misgivings about racing yet again -- it was a long season for Bobby after recovering from a winter skiing injury -- but Bobby held firm and ended his season with two strong races! GO BOBBY!
For what it's worth, here is the link to the official results which, in Bobby's case has some confusing entries. For example, all results were posted days late -- where's Tomahawk Timing when you need them?! -- and, when they finally posted Bobby's 1600 race results, he was listed as DNS! After several text messages asking for a correction, he was posted in another place : 1st in his heat but only two athletes were listed in his heat, and 5th/19 overall in the event! Actually, they combined two heats but didn't report that! It goes on but enough said! Dig through them if you must: Finish Right (irony here!)
Back in the day, when there were perhaps two "Nationals" in the entire country, "Sub-National" East Coast was a big deal! But, this year, only a year or two after the pandemic, and apparently stuck with a poor administration and timing company, that reputation has faded. Good luck to them next year!
On July 7th, 2023, NJ.MileSplit introduced the first of a yearly series of awards for athletes with the top-performing seasons during the past school year, the 2022-2023 Ed Grant Award.
Ed was a life-long New Jersey sports reporter who was one of few "greats" who focused on high school Cross Country and Track and Field! In the age before MileSplit, Ed, with his encyclopedic memory, his almost daily newspaper articles on CC and T & F, and his annual pamphets summarizing the year's highest achievements in the sport . . . Ed was the man to contact for help understanding where you and your team stood in New Jersey! Today, besides Robert Kellert, the editor of MileSplit, there are really only two newspaper experts who come close to Ed's level of expertise: newspapermen Jim Lambert and Reuben Frank! Make sure you thank those guys if you run across them in your travels!
An excellent, extensive history of Ed Grant and his career by Jim Lambert is available at: NJ.MileSplit.
This inaugural year, a committee of writers and coaches, including Ed Grant Jr, selected the award-winners. In addition to the Top Performers, the committee announced a number of Cross Country Finalists that included two of Cherokee's finest!
Patrick Ditmars, SR, Cherokee
Ditmars finished second at the XC Meet of Champions in 15:39, third at the State Group 4 Championships, second at the South Jersey, Group 4 meet, and placed 10th at the Northeast Regional Championships.
Nick Kuenkel, JR, Cherokee
Kuenkel had five major wins on the season, including the South Jersey, Group 4 title when he ran 15:22. He also placed fourth at the Meet of Champions in 15:41, fifth at the Group 4 meet in 16:08, and he was 24th at the Northeast Regional Championships.
CONGRATULATIONS, CHIEFS!
The article on the Ed Grant Awards at: NJ.MileSplit.
On July 27th, 2023, the South Jersey Track Coaches Association announced the All-South Jersey Award winners for the 2023 Track and Field Season and the four members of the State Championship 4 X 800m Relay Team were recognized!
Senior Graduates Conor Jacobs and Patrick Ditmars, and now-Seniors Nick Kuenkel and Bobby Poplau were acknowledged at a ceremony at Haddonfield High School, though only Patrick was available to accept the $1,000 checks awarded by the Association. We're sure he passed them along to the other award-winners and they appreciate the recognition! GO CHEROKEE!
The list of award winners is available at: SJTCA All-SJ
Our photographer was unavailable for the evening but Coach Shaklee made an effort to capture the event with his trusty iPhone!
