This year, the season began with moderately warm days and, generally, has remained so. No real snow in this, the third winter, and none expected anytime soon! As usual, most of the distance guys get out and run, focusing on base and strength training for the Spring, while the more experienced are changing-up a bit with a greater emphisis on threshold and speed for faster Winter racing. The throwers, jumpers and sprinters find warmer places to work on skills and conditioning, and all look forward to indoor meets to check on how things are progressing. GO CHIEFS!
On January 3rd, 2024, a number of Cherokee's athletes broke into the New Year as they returned to the Bennett Center for the South Jersey Track Coaches Association Winter Meet # 7.
Probably the most signficant performance came in the Jumps from High Jump specialist, Sam Green, who officially cleared a PR 6' 2" and took 3rd/28 overall against some stiff competition! Also in the Jumps, Pole Vaulters, beginners Tobin Horwath cleared 8' to take 33rd/44 overall, and Shane Horwath cleared 7' to take 44th/44th overall. Our photographer expressed his apologies because he promised to shoot both the HJ and the PV this time but he was unavailable for the meet.
In the Throws, Shot Putters, Shane Sloan missed his PR by an inch, putting 39" 04.50" and taking 19th/81 overall; and Fransisco Sandoval missed his PR by just a little over an inch, putting 36' 05" and taking 31st/81 overall.
No Distance runners competed at this meet and only one Sprint team, the 4 X 200m Relay, raced. (Names?) . . . clocked 1:45.15 and finished 24th/32 overall.
Meet details at: NJ.MileSplit. MileSplit did not send a photographer or videographer to this meet! Hurumph!
It's easy for distance runners to remember their need for hydration in the summer months when they're sweating golf balls, but often they're less concerned about water loss in the winter. It's important, though, because you, and the Sprinters/Jumpers/Throwers, still lose a lot of water and minerals exercising in the winter and you need it to keep your system operating "comfortably!" Drink water regularly during the day, even when you're not thirsty, and occasionally mix some sports drink to replace the minerals you may be, inadvertently, flushing from your system. When possible, keep your water bottles near-by to access during both classes and practice!
In addition, the winter does a lot of bad stuff to your skin, the protective shield of your body! Get into the habit of moisturizing your skin after bathing, especially the parts that will be exposed like your face and hands. Don't scrub your skin with harsh soap that will irritate the skin and remove natural moisture. Take 10 minute, lukewarm or cold showers; and on very cold days, use a petroleum-based moisturizer/sunscreen that will block the cold wind and help prevent dehydration and sunburn!
Of course, those of you who can grow dense beards have natural protection for at least half your faces. Indeed, allowing snot icicles to spread across your faces and beards during freezing exercises will provide protection and a convenient source of moisture for you to sustain yourselves on long periods outdoors! GO CHEROKEE MEN! [Too much, Mom?]
Speaking of training on frosty days, Coach Shaklee is a strong proponent of training daily, even in inclement weather, and laughing while doing it! Here's a picture of one of Cherokee's star athletes, Shawn Wilson '13, training two days after a heavy snowstorm. GO CHEROKEE MEN!
On January 10, 2024, three members of the Distance Squad -- Nick Kuenkel, Bobby Poplau and Liam Tindall -- traveled to the Armory Track & field Center in NYC to test their early-season speed against some fast competition from around the country! Coach Shaklee passed along his thoughts from the evening . . ..
"It was a successful trip up to the Armory in New York City for the Millrose Games Trials!
"Although Liam Tindall was running just his second indoor race of the season, and Nick Kuenkel and Bobby Poplau were racing for the first time, they all set new 1600m PR's (converted from their mile times).
"Bobby and Liam were racing in the second of three heats and were up at the front throughout the race. With a lap to go, Bobby took off and won by a large margin with a final 200m of 29.1 . . . giving him a mile time of 4:22.90, which converts to 4:21.38 for the 1600m! Based on the way he finished, it is clear he has a lot more in him. [Editor note: Oh Lord, the fun time is over, Bobby!] Liam was right there with a lap to go but struggled a bit coming home. His 4:28.52 equates to a small PR of 4:26.96 for the 1600m!
"Nick was in the 'seeded' third heat which had a loaded field! He was focused and steady throughout, as he always is, and he came away with a 6th place finish (he was the 10th seed coming in) and a mile time of 4:18.52, which converts to a 1600m time of 4:17.44 . . . faster than his 4:17.98 outdoors at the end of the spring season last year!
"A good way to start the winter racing season for all three athletes!"
Since 1993, the Armory has been "the Mecca" for Indoor Track in this country. Irregularly funded before then, it was sometimes in "substandard" condition, but the track was always fast with its new Mondo surface! Today, it's well cared for and, even with newer facilities around, most experts still regard it as one of the fastest tracks on the East coast. Given a chance, always race the Armory Track and brag to your friends about the PR you set!
New York, MileSplit recorded the results at NY.MileSplit but had no photographer there. Our photographer made the never-again trip in a District stagecoach and some of his pictures are here; and they and the rest are on our Google site.
On January 15, 2024, a large part of the team traveled with Volunteer Coach Shaklee to the extraordinary Ocean Breeze Athletic Center on Staten Island, NY for the SJTCA Winter Meet # 9! The facility is relatively new, opening in November, 2015, and comfortable for competitors and audiences alike. The 4.5' banked 200m track is a gem and, for almost all of us (where's our photographer?), worth the 1-1/2 hr stagecoach ride to get there!
At Ocean Breeze, the meet provided opportunities for almost all events to be contested . . . sorry Javelin throwers! Among the Sprinters, Hurdlers, Throwers and Jumpers, in the 55m Dash, Bankole Arole clocked 7.36 and finished 65th/105, and Vincent Ha clocked 7.46 and finished 74th/105. In the 200m Dash, Arole returned, clocked a PR 25.26 and finished 47th/84; Lance Cheng clocked 25.31 in his first official effort and finished 50th/84, and Vincent Ha came back and clocked a PR 25.74 and finished 63rd/84. In the 400m Dash, Tate Midora crossed the line in a PR 54.27, finishing 19th/70; while Matteo Evola crossed in a PR 54.41, finishing in 20th/70!
In the 55m HH, Dan Raider raced a PR 10:30 and finished 43rd/55. In the Jumps, High Jumper Sam Green cleared his PR 6' 2" again and finished 2nd/24! In the Long Jump, Noah Calderon finished 45th/53 and set a PR at 15' 07.25"; and Tobin and Shamus Horwath tied at 23rd/28 and cleared 7'0. Over in the Throws area, Shot Putters Micah Diaz finished 28th/58 with his first official effort of 34' 9.25"; Anthony Maszlanka finished 36th/58 with a throw of 31' 10.75"; and Brady Ludman finished 39th/58 with a throw of 31' 03.75".
There were a number of very good Distance performances at OB that Distance Coach Shaklee remarked on in his summary:
"The Distance squad had a very successful day at the SJTCA Meet # 9 at Ocean Breeze on Monday, January 15th.
"The meet started with the boys 3200 which was highlighted by Nick Kuenkel and Liam Tindall taking the first two spots. Currently, their times of 9:21.27 and 9:30.56 are first and third in the state! Nick led from the gun with Liam keeping pace with him through the first 2200 meters before starting to lose contact. Nick continued along at a steady pace looking completely in control right through to the finish. Meanwhile, Ocean City's top runner closed on Liam and passed him with about 600 to go. Liam surged right back by and pulled away to secure second place! His time was a PR by 27 seconds over what he ran at Sectionals last spring! Although Nick's time was not a PR, it was a very fast effort this early in the year in what essentially amounted to a time trial (he never trailed and he won by 9 seconds)!
"Next up, we had two middle distance guys, Tate Midora and Matteo Evola, running in the 400. They both ran strong races (especially given the small amount of speed work in practice to date), taking 3rd and 4th in their heat and setting new PR's in their first indoor race of the year!
"Ben Weiner, Anthony DiBatista and Silas Matteson represented the team in the 1600 Meter event, taking 15th, 17th and 23rd, respectively, in a field of 74. Ben was close to his PR from last spring while both Anthony and Silas recorded new PR's!
"The 800 was the last event, and like the 3200 that started the meet, it was a great success for Cherokee! Bobby Poplau won by 3 seconds with a strong last 400! He had a big negative split - 60.72 for the first 400 and 56.82 for the second, for an indoor PR of 1:57.55, which is the second fastest time in the state so far this winter! Freshman, Ben Realley, went with Bobby for the first 400 and did his best to stay with him when he accelerated. Although he couldn't match Bobby in the last 400, he nevertheless closed in 59.87 to set, not only a new PR, but a new Burlington County Freshman Indoor record of 2:00.89, finishing in 3rd place! Andrew Free also ran a strong race to record a new PR of 2:06.87 for 15th place!
"All-in-all, a very good day for the distance team!
"In non-distance action, Sam Green had another good day at the High Jump, clearing 6-2 and just missing at 6-4 to finish 2nd on a jump-off!"
Reuben Frank, Former Burlington County Times Sports Reporter, now TV Sports Personality on NBC, etc., writes a blog on NJ Track and Field for the South Jersey Track Coaches Association. He wrote an article on the distance performances of Nick, Bobby and Ben HERE.
OB details at: NJ.MileSplit.
At the same time most of the team was competiting at Ocean Breeze, Head Coach Hoffman took several Shot Putters to the Bennett Indoor Athletic Complex in Toms River, NJ to compete in the NJSIAA Relay Championships, Group 4. Both OB and The Bubble are about the same distance from Cherokee (1-1/4 - 1-1/2 hrs) but the facilities are "hours away" in quality! OB was paid for by NYC in and their Parks budget in 2015; the Bennett Complex was built in 2007 after years of squabbling and cutting over the budget, paid for itself within a few years and, we're told, continues to pour money into the district's budget! It was a giant step forward for Indoor Track in the region but it needs improvements, especially indoor bathrooms and not Port-A-Pots! (Get Coach Shaklee to tell you what Winter Track was like "when he was a boy" or even as recent as 25 years ago!
Coach Hoffman's Putters, Shane Sloan finished 24th/68 overall with a PR put of 41' 08.50"! His partner in the relay threw (put) the Shot 33' 08.75" and finished 50th/68 overall. They did not advance to Groups.
Bennet Center details at: NJ.MileSplit.
On January 17, 2024, a frosty night with temperatures below 20 degrees, members of the team returned to the Bennett Indoor Athletic Complex in Toms River, NJ for the SJTCA Winter Meet # 10 and, while our Editor and Photographer are working on their reports, our General Manager thought you might be amused by the following cartoon passed along by our Engineer. If you are not, you might reconsider your membership on the team!
Coach Shaklee had this to say about his distance athletes:
"Five Cherokee distance athletes raced on Wednesday, January 17th at the SJCTA Meet at the Toms River Bubble, and it was a pretty successful evening!
"First up was the 1600 with junior, Sam Wright, and freshman, Bruce Novoa. Sam didn't have his best night but, to his credit, the effort was there. Just a little more work on speed and efficiency is needed for the effort to pay off. Bruce had a very nice run! He kept his focus throughout and came away with an impressive first 1600 of his high school career! His hard work over the past weeks is really showing!
"Two freshmen, Sean Sooy and Leo Vyvyan, were up next in the 800 and both came away with strong races and new PR's! Like Sam and Bruce, these two have been doing a great job of staying on top of their training and the results show it!
"Another hard worker, Liam Deimler, was up next in the 3200. I (Coach Shak) was impressed when Liam elected to run the 3200 instead of the 1600 or 800. Clearly, he is invested in being a distance runner! He got off to a good start in his first go at this event. Although he lost a little focus for a time in the second mile, overall, it was a strong effort and a sign of good things to come!"
Several others competed as well! In the 55m Dash. Mateo Rosario competed for the first time and finished 43rd/89 overall in 7.35, and Matthew Muschek finished 56th/89 in 7.43. In the 55m HH, Daniel Raider finished 35th/50 in an Indoor PR of 9.78.
In the High Jump, Sam Green matched his PR of 6' 2" and took 1st/17 overall, and Noah Calderon finished 10th/17th and matched his PR of 5' 4". Finally, in the Pole Vault, Shamus Howath finished tied for 13th/13 overall in a PR at the higher opening height of 8' 0"!
Details at: NJ.MileSplit.
Our photographer was there and, while The Bubble is a dark and annoying place to shoot in, here are some pictures. These and others are available on the Google site.
On January 18, 2024, Cherokee hosted the first of three Shot Put Meets at school, the Cherokee Throw Down Meet # 1 and a half-dozen of Cherokee's athletes participated.
Among the Junior Varsity throwers, Micah Diaz finished 16th/65 overall with a throw of 33' 10"; Jordan Stone finished 51st/65 throwing a PR of 26' 1.75"; Rebel Johnson finished 60th/65 throwing his first recorded Shot 21' 10"; and Omar Rana finished 63rd/65 also throwing his first recorded Shot 20' 03".
>The Varsity competition followed with Shane Sloan first among the Cherokee athletes at 40' 0.75" (about an inch below his PR set a few days ago) but finishing 34th/48 overall; Fransisco Sandoval set a new PR throwing 38' 11.25" and finishing 35th/48; Brody Ludman set a new PR of about 4" farther than a previous meet this season, throwing 35' 2.50" and finishing 43rd/48; Anthony Maszlanka set a small PR of less than a foot, throwing 34' 01" and finishing 43rd/48; and, finally, Alex Goode who also set a small, less than a foot PR of 32' 5.50" and finsihing 46th/48.
Looking forward to comments from Coach Hoffman soon.
Official report on meet from NJ.MileSplit.
Our photographer, shown no respect -- hit by a one-bounce Shot at 40' from the circle and 6' out of the sector, thrown wildly by the winner of the event -- still took pictures. Some of which are posted here, and they and the rest are available on our Google site!
On January 23rd, 2024, Cherokee hosted the second of three Shot Put Meets at school, the Cherokee Throw Down Meet # 2 and a number of Cherokee's athletes participated.
Skimming over the results and highlighting our guys from the best performances, Shane Sloan threw 40' 4.25", slightly under his PR, taking 30th/139 overall. He was followed by Fransisco Sandoval, throwing 37' 03.50, also slightly under his PR, and taking 42nd/139; Alex Goode in 56th with a PR throw of 35' 8.0". They were followed by Brody Ludman and Micah Diaz, neck-and-neck at 60th and 61st, with close to PR throws of 34' 08.75" and 34' 07". Anthony Maszlanka came next in 69th with a close-to-PR throw of 33' 05.25", followed by Jordan Stone in 88th at an PR put of 31' 0.50", and brother Max Stone in 124th with his own PR of 25' 03.25"!
Our roster was completed by Omar Rana finishing in 129th with a big PR of 23' 05.0"; Jaideep Ashokkumar finishing in 130th with a throw of 23' 02.50"; and Rebel Johnson finishing in 134th with his own PR throw of 22' 02.50.
Coach Hoffman's comments soon!
Our photographer struggled with the camera-poor lighting again but saved some marginal shots (oh, to get somewhere in decent light again!) from the evening. Here are a few select pictures and, as usual, these and others are available on our Google site!
Official results at: NJ.MileSplit
