The Championship Season is upon us and it is "what it's all about!" Months, maybe years of training, and it's all on the line! One misstep, one dropped baton, one unbalanced throw, one poorly-timed jump and it's all over! It begins with the Burlington County Chmpionships at Northern Burlington Regional H.S. on May 11th and, from there, the Olympic Conference Championships at Rancocas Valley H.S. on May 21st. In addition, there are several smaller, local meets on the schedule available for athletes who want to compete; several for athletes who want to sharpen for the big meets and for others who want to end their seasons on a positive, perhaps PR, note!
GO CHEROKEE!
As we all know, Coach Shaklee prepares for everything diligently and, while he knew his guys would not need help getting a date for the Prom, he lined up a group just in case! Back in the day, the Coach was a little shy himself so he planned to help his men if they had some qualms: (1) here he is meeting his date in 1973; (2) the girls he lined up this year as potential dates for his men; and (3) several distance gentlemen ready to party! Is Shak Coach of the Year or what?!
Just be home early and asleep in your own bed! Remember the BC Champs!
On May 11th, 2024, the team competed in the Burlington County Championships at the Northern Burlington County Regional High School and there were a number of impressive results!
Probably for the first time in several years, the weather was ideal at the meet: sun shining, cool temperatures, little wind! What could go wrong? The tent? What about the tent?
Overnight, Coach Shaklee reported on what happened among the distance guys:
"The distance team entered the county meet set to score some big points in the 800, 1600, 3200, 4x800 and 4x400, despite the seniors having had the prom the night before. [Come on, Coach, those light-footed dancing fools should suffer no after-effects!] Although it did not go quite as we had hoped, still, a massive amount of points were accrued by the athletes in those events, resulting in a second place finish behind Rancocas Valley in the overall team standings.
"The 3200 was first and we had the top three seeds in the event with Enzo Corona, Sean Sooy and Ben Weiner. Still. we knew there were two other athletes in the field (one from Shawnee and one from Rancocas Valley) who could be competitive. After the second lap when the pace dropped off, Ben Weiner went to the lead but was unable to string out the pack of five. He held the lead until the final lap when the 'kicking' began. Off of the slow pace, the final 400 was fast, with Enzo closing the fastest to take the victory! He was followed by the shawnee runner with Sean and Ben in third and fourth, giving the team twenty points.
"The 4 X 800 relay with Matteo Evola, Andrew Free, Enzo Corona -on a double and Tate Midora went next and we knew, once again, that Rancocas Valley and Shawnee would be competitive. We just wanted to keep Tate, our anchor runner, close so he could make a run at the victory. Unfortunately, after the first three legs, we were well behind and had to settle for a third place finish and six additional points.
"The Open 800 went as expected. Bobby Poplau, Ben Realley and Tate Midora (on a double) were the top three seeds. With no one really close to Bobby, he decided to just go out and see how fast he could "time trial" an 800. The answer was - FAST! His 1:53.15 was an outdoor PR and a new County Meet Record! Ben and Tate fought off a challenge from an RV runner to take 2nd and 3rd with Tate setting a small PR in the process despite it being his second race of the meet! That gave us another twenty-four points to put us at fifty!
"We only entered two athletes in the 1600 - Nick Kuenkel and Logan Bromley - but they made the most of it with a one-two finish! Nick went from the gun and ran an aggressive race. He was never challenged as he led from start to finish with a five second victory in 4:19.59. Logan raced the rest of the field and successfully fought of the challenge of two other sophomores over the final 200 to take second with a new PR of 4:24.41! Given the uneven way in which the race progressed, it is clear that Logan can run faster given the right race conditions! That gave us eighteen more points moving us to sixty eight!
"In the final event, we were hoping to make a run at a victory in the 4 X 400 Meter Relay However, the first three runners, Ben Realley, Nick Kuenkel and Matteo Evola, were showing the fatigue of their previous races [and the Prom? . . . No way!] and all were well off of their best times, leaving Bobby Poplau well behind. Bobby closed very well with a new relay PR of 49.8 but it was only good for third in the seeded heat and 5th over all (.01 seconds behind Shawnee's time from heat 1)! That gave us an additional two points bringing the distance total to seventy (of the eighty points scored by the team)!
"Next up, the team will run a dual meet against CH East this week. We will be without our top distance runners who will skip this meaningless meet to train for the rest of the championship season - conference, sectionals, states, MOC! . . . [and the Worlds?]"
Skimming over some other official results, Ryan Bender made the finals in the 100m Dash, taking 7th, while Brian Magee and Jaiden Quisbert set new PR's! In the 200m Dash, Brian Magee, Bankole Arole and Carlo Brown all set new PR's, and Carlo Brown and Bankole Arole came back and set another PR in the 400m Dash! In the High Jump, Sam Green took 2nd with a jump of 6'; and Tobin Horwath took 6th in the Pole Vault at an official 11' PR! Over in the Field, Ryan Bender took 10th, without a PR, in the Long Jump, and Sam Green took 26th with a PR! In the Discus, Jordan Stone and Brody Ludman threw PR's; Francisco Sandoval threw a PR in the Javelin; and newcomer Ace Leigh threw a PR in his first big-time competition!
Additional meet details at: NJ.MileSplit
Our photographer was there but his condition pretty much required him to remain at the Start/Finish line where he shot the entire meet. Some pictures below, they and the rest on our Google site!
On May 11th, 2024, the team returned to a hallowed place, Cherry Hill H.S. East, where in the early '70's, Coach Shaklee soiled many of his uniforms and running shoes on their ancient dirt track, and where, in the coach's Junior year, our photographer first came out as a volunteer coach and then, after four years, became the Head Coach for many years after. Today, they returned: Shak, as a well-known and highly-repected New Jersey coach; our photographer as a walking corpse!
No information on this East meet from the coaches yet because it was meaningless in every way except personal dignity among athletes. The Olympic Conference Championship will be held Tuesday, May 21st, and, unlike the dual meets, it will decide the Conference Championship!
No details were sent to MileSplit.
To add a little quirky humor to the story of the meet, our photographer apparently brushed his camera dials during the meet and ruined more than half the pictures he took. Ho hum.
And to add to that, question related to picture below: "Ant-knee, is that our bus?" . . . "I don't think so, they wouldn't leave without us!"
Here are some of what he took (none for a museum) and they and the rest are available on our Google site!
On May 18th-19th, 2024, a slow weekend for Cherokee, our photographer looks at and wonders about The Young and the Old, the Future and the Past.
THE YOUNG . . . THE FUTURE: Middle-schooler Jack Tindall shown here at the Holmdel Night of 3200's where he clocked 9:35.61 to easily win the Middle School race, and before and since he ran a number of sub-4:30 miles with adult competition. On May 13th, perhaps seeking a greater challenge, he raced a 5K at Widener's FQ Meet in 14:55.76! Running for the Marlton Track Club, coached by his mother, Colleen Tindall, a formidable distance runner at Moorestown H.S., West Virginia University and post-college, and ably assisted by Cherokee Alum Jack Shea '17, young Jack Tindall is at this point looking forward to high school, running for Cherokee and Coach Shaklee!
THE OLD . . . THE PAST: Bruce Miller, graduate of Cherry Hill East back in the early 80's, and "SJ Runner of the Year" at that time, Bruce ran for Coach Dennis Smyth, our photographer, who was ably assisted by recent Drexel graduate, Assistant Coach Shaklee, from whom Bruce learned his love for running and how to run fast. He soon became our photographer's second semi-adopted son (later with grandchildren) and Coach Shaklee's semi-adopted brother!
Bruce went on as a scholarship student at West Virginia. Fast forward, he stayed in WV, married, had children and continued running, up to Mountain Marathons in WV, and recently switched to Mountain Bike racing! On April 13th, at age 60, he raced his first longer gravel bike race, a 47-miler in the mountains of WV (see picture above) where he finished 2nd overall! This weekend, on May 18th, he entered his second longer race, The Kates Mountain Challenge, a 50-miler in their Gravel Series. He clocked 4:11.04 (speed: 11.9) and finished 1st in his age group and 5th overall!
Let's hope Shak continues to have as powerful an effect on the running future as he had on the past!
On May 20, 2024, the team's distance squad traveled to nearby Haddonfield for the Haddonfield Distance Night and the Coach SHaklee sent these remarks:
"Twenty members of the Cherokee distance squad competed in the Haddonfield Distance Night Meet on Monday, May 20th. Although the results were mixed, there were some very good performances with eight personal records and two additional season bests!
"First up was the 800 Meter Run where Charlie Wasserott, running in an early heat, dropped almost 6 seconds off of his previous best time! In the final heat, Nick Kuenkel dropped down from his usual 1600/3200 events to set an open PR of 1:55.31 (just off his FAT relay split of 1:55.24) to take third! Tate Midora didn't get the sub-2:00 he was shooting for but still managed a very good 2:00.45 for 8th!
"The Freshman 1600 event was next and was highlighted by the PR performances of Sean Sooy and Bruce Novoa! Sean dropped four seconds and finished fourth in 4:43.42 while Bruce improved his best by seven seconds to 4:55.61 for twelfth in the field of 79 runners!
"In the Varsity/JV 1600 event, Josh Lowery, recently back from injury, got things started with a strong effort and a season best time in heat 1! In heat 3, John Anastasia, swimmer turned runner for the season, acquitted himself quite well in his first ever 1600 race! In later heats, Enzo Corona, Silas Matteson and Myron Paes all ran well to establish new personal records!
"The highlight of the final event, the 3200 Meter Run, was the excellent racing of new freshman, Max Harada! Max stayed focused and raced tough the whole way through to knock 24 seconds off of his previous best time!"
Details at: NJ.MileSplit.
Here are a few pictures from the meet and they and others are posted on our Google site.
On May 21, 2024, the Olympic Conference Open Championships, hosted by Rancocas Valley H.S., is something of a weird duck. There are invividual and relay championships but no meet or Conference championship. That devalues the meet a bit and encourages coaches to enter or not enter any event they care to, and that's what Cherokee did.
Coach Shaklee sent the following: "A small group of distance runners competed at the Olympic Conference Meet. Bobby Poplau had a good day with an open 400 PR of 50.50 to take second, and a FAT split on the second place 4 X 400 Relay of 49.12 to edge the Camden Eastside anchor at the line by .02 seconds! Tate Midora, Nick Kuenkel and Matteo Evola joined Bobby on that relay which established a new season best with a 3:25.85 clocking! The only other distance runner in the meet was freshman, Sean Sooy, who was doubling back from his PR in the 1600 the night before. Sean gave it his best and, although a little fatigued from the two day double, managed to take sixth place!
"Next up, the distance team will skip the Cherokee Final Countdown meet to train through for either Sectionals on May 31st/June 1st, or the last Cherokee Night Racer Meet on June 4th!"
Skimming the other results, in the 100m, Jaiden Quisbert clocked a new PR! Noah Calderon cleared an official 5' 6" in the High Jump; Tobin Horwath matched his previous PR of 12'; and Austin Lenart threw a excellent PR 171' 01" in the Javelin!
Details at: NJ.MileSplit.
Our photographer was there and faced some difficult conditions on the track as the sun come down in his face! . . . really! Here are some he saved and they and others are on the Google site!
On May 23, 2024, Cherokee H.S. hosted the Cherokee Final Countdown - Last Chance, 2024, a very successful meet largely designed for athletes who will not qualify for the upcoming Sectional Championships but many qualifiers used it as a sharpening opportunity for Sectionals!
Again, this was one of three meets this week so the coaches are pressed and unable to deliver comments on the success of their athletes but the official results are available at NJ.MileSplit.
Skimming through the Sprint and Throws sections of the Results, there are several standout of at least PR performances. In the 100m, Murad Campfield and Sebastian Sabin both had PR's; in the 400m. Bankole Arola, Luke Ehly and Vincent Hu all set PR's! In the 800m, Carlo Brown clocked a new PR, as did Ryan Bender in the High Jump! Tobin Horwath matched a previous PR of 12' in the Pole Vault, and Brody Ludman had his own PR in the Javelin! Perhaps the most impressive was Brody Walfert's taking 1st place in the Discus with a huge PR of some 35' or so!
In passing, it's difficult to make solid judgments on the 4 x 400m Relay (2nd place in 3:25.85) and the 4 X 100m Relay (3rd place in 43.16) without knowing the runners, whose names are not listed.
Our photographer was there! He posted the pictures below and they and others are available on our Google site!
