On February 10th, 2025, the SJTCA hosted Winter Meet # 18 at the Ocean Breeze Track and Field Center and it was largely successful for Cherokee's athletes!
Volunteer Coach Shaklee (did you thank him for his incredible efforts this winter?) sent a pretty detailed summary after his guys raced well throughout the meet.
"The Distance Squad sent several athletes to the SJTCA Winter Meet 18 at Ocean Breeze on Monday, February 10th. Some were using it as a tune-up for Sectionals, while others were just getting another opportunity to work on racing and, hopefully, setting new personal records.
"The 3200 was first and Liam Deimler ran in heat 1 where he did an excellent job of staying focused and racing smart and tough! He ended up placing third in his heat, which held up for 14th overall. His time of 10:54.43 was a new indoor PR by 14 seconds! Leo Vyvyan ran in the seeded heat and, like Liam, ran a smart, focused race! He finished 8th in a new personal record of 10:34.29, beating his previous best from last spring by five seconds!
"The 800 featured three Cherokee athletes using this meet as a tune-up for Sectionals this Friday - Ben Realley, Enzo Corona and Jack Tindall. While Ben and Enzo had already run two or three 800's this winter, Jack was stepping into the event for the first time as a Cherokee athlete. All three runners raced well! Ben finished in first with a new open PR of 1:59.36, not far off his FAT relay split from last spring of 1:58.71! Enzo worked his way out of some traffic and closed well over the last 200 (28.33) to finish a close second with a new PR of 1:59.41! Jack ran a strong race, despite his recent return from injury time-off and his lack of speed work. He still managed a new PR of 2:00.46 to finish 4th! This was an excellent sectional tune-up for all three runners who should all be in the mix in their races on Friday (Ben in the 800, Enzo and Jack in the 1600)!
"The 1600 was next. Jack Finley ran in heat 3 of 5. It was his first ever 1600 and he raced very well, beating his seed time and kicking nicely down the homestretch to establish a PR of 5:08.20! Logan Bromley and Dom Pileri were both in heat 5, the seeded heat. Dom was running his first 1600 since the spring of his freshman year and, while he still needs several more attempts at the event to really hit his stride he, nevertheless, beat his previous best time by 16 seconds to finish 11th in 4:43.65! Logan ran a smart, focused race, keeping himself tucked in with the lead pack through the first 1K before moving to the lead and dropping a very fast last 600 (1:33.61) to simply run away from the field! He finished in first by over six seconds and established a new PR of 4:22.87, beating his best from last spring by more than a second! This was a great sectional tune-up for Logan who, along with Jack and Enzo, gives us a very strong 1-2-3 in the 1600 event for Friday!
"Overall, it was a very good night for the distance squad and a nice boost heading into the championship season!"
Others on the team were involved as well!
In the 55m Dash, the coach gave some less-experienced guys an opportunity to compete. The best of them was 9th grader Shreehan Balasundar who clocked 7.13 and finished 63rd/129 overall, He was followed by three Sophomores, Colin Feehan who clocked 7.15 and finished 68th/129 overall; Noah Sime who clocked 7.35 and finished 100th/129 overall; and Jaxson Sharkey who clocked 8.01 and finished 122nd/129 overall. Colin Feehan, Shreehan Balasundar and Noah Sime returned in the 200m Dash, with Colin crossing the line in 24.31 for 50th/93 overall, Shreehan over in 25.29 for 76th/93 overall, and Noah crossing in 25.33 for 77th/93.
Finally among the Sprinters, in the 400m Dash Junior Luke Ehly completed the two indoor laps in 57.11 and finished 59th/89 overall; Sophomore Matthew Muschek clocked 58.70 and finished 72nd/89 overall; and Junior Nikolai Gotowchikov clocked just over a minute in 60.03 and finished 74th/89 overall.
One-fiddy-nine; one-fiddy-nine, two minutes . . . very cool 800m! Four-toody-two . . . very nice 1600m!
Over in the Field, Sam Green cleared 6' 0" for 3rd place in the High Jump after waiting hours watching 32 jumpers go through their motions; and Senior Tobin Horwath didn't wait that long as he had only 26 other vaulters to deal with but he stepped up once again and cleared a 13' PR in the Pole Vault and took 3rd place! Yikes!
Finally, among the Throwers, Senior Fransisco Sandoval put the shot 36' 11.5" and finished 30th/65 overall; and Sophomore Ace Leigh cleared 36' 01" to finish 33/65 overall and set a new PR!
Further details at: NJ.MileSplit.
Our photographer, broken as an old Studebaker, was there and took quite of few pictures of the competition. Some of those are posted here while they and the rest are on our Google site.
On February 14th, 2025, the team returned to The Bubble at Toms River for the first of the state end-of-the-season competitions, the NJSIAA South Jersey Group IV Sectional Championships and Cherokee kept it exciting throughout . . . well, maybe the 4 x 400m Relay could run a tad faster?! : < ) As usual, Volunteer Coach Shaklee sat down ASAP, and this time late Valentine's Day evening with his beautiful wife, nicknamed Cricket, and wrote his view of Sectionals!
"The Cherokee boys Indoor Track and Field team placed second at the South Jersey Group 4 Sectional Championship Meet on February 14th at the Toms River Bubble.
"The team scored 40 points to finish behind a dominant Toms River North squad and three points ahead of third place, Cherry Hill East. Thirty of the team's forty points were scored in the three distance events, the 1600, 800 and 3200! Tobin Howarth's third place finish in the Pole Vault and Sam Green's fourth place finish in the High Jump accounted for the remaining ten points!
"The 1600 Meter Run was Cherokee's best event with junior, Logan Bromley, freshman, Jack Tindall, and senior, Enzo Corona taking first, second and fifth for a total of twenty points! The race went out fairly slow and the lead pack was crowded as the field hit the half way point around 2:15. There was a slight increase in pace on the 5th lap before Logan moved to the lead with three laps to go and began a long grind to the finish. His last three laps were run in 31.7, 31.4 and 29.9, for a final time of 4:21.37, a new PR! His time makes Logan the ninth fastest Cherokee runner indoors and the seventeenth fastest overall! He needed to run that fast to hold off his freshman teammate, Jack Tindall, who continues to round into form following his return from injury. Jack's time of 4:22.81 was an indoor PR by three seconds and a new Cherokee indoor freshman record (in fact, it is three seconds faster than the current Cherokee outdoor freshman record)! Enzo set a new PR of 4:25.74 to finish fifth, despite not being 100% healthy and dealing with a lot of head congestion!
"In the 800m, sophomore, Ben Realley, was in the seeded (3rd) heat while junior, Dom Pileri, was in the second heat. Dom ran a very strong race with a big negative split to come from behind to win his heat with a three and a half second PR. His time of 2:03.49 held up for seventh overall, just missing advancing to the state group meet by one place! In the final heat, Ben set a new indoor PR of 1:58.91 to finish fourth in a very strong field!
"Seniors, Liam Tindall and Ben Weiner, and sophomore, Sean Sooy were all in the 3200 Meter event. The race went out slow and there was a lot of contact throughout. After the mile, reached around 4:57, the pace began to pick up. Liam held on to finish third in 9:44.17, while Sean set a new PR of 9:50.05 for seventh and Ben ran a new indoor PR of 9:55.56 for eighth!
"Next up, Logan, Jack, Enzo, Ben R and Liam will compete in the State Group 4 Championships back at The Bubble next Sunday."
Taking a look at the Jumpers, Sprinters and Throwers, Cherokee did pretty well. In the 55m Dash, Senior Evan Bryfogle finished 10th/49th overall and clocked a PR 6.72 but still did not advance to the finals (top 8). Junior Mateo Rosario finished 19th/49 overall when he clocked 6.87; and Junior Noah Calderon finished 27th/49 overall when he crossed the line in 6.95. [Weren't these guys neck and neck? See pictures!] In the 400m Dash, Junior Carlo Brown clocked 54.59 to finish in 15th/32 overall; Sophomore Colin Feehan clocked 55.98 to finish in 23rd/32; and Sophomore Matthew Muschek clocked 56.68 to finish 25th/32 overall. Unfortunately, no points were scored in either race.
By the end of the meet, the only race left was the 4 X 400m Relay made up of Carlos Brown, Enzo Corola, Ben Realley, and Matt Muschek, who clocked a 3:43.17 and finished 10th/12 overall.
Coach Shaklee already gave us the low-down on the 800m, 1500m and 3200m.
In the Field, Senior Tobin Horwath vaulted 12' 6", just below his recent PR of 13' 00", and finished in 3rd/13th overall; and Senior Sam Green jumped 6' 2", as did two others, and finished 4th/13 overall as a result of misses! Combined, the guys scored 10 points for the team!
Among the Throwers, Freshman Jacob Cranmer put the Shot 38' 8-1/5", a nice PR, to take 19th/40 overall; Senior Fransisco Sandoval put it 37' 8-1/4"to finish 23rd/40 overall; and Sophomore Ace Leigh put it 37' 08" to finish 24th/40 overall.
Further details at: NJ.MileSplit.
Our photographer worked the meet (and slept very well through Friday and all day Saturday, thank you!) and began working on his pictures Saturday night and Sunday morning, ignoring all the women who wanted his Valentine's Day attention; and Tom Smith, the pro who works off-and-on for NJ.MileSplit, finished his pictures early and posted them on that site. Tom, a good friend of Cherokee, always does his best for us and our photographer regularly applauds his work by stealing it and placing his pictures on our site! Enjoy these and others that Tom shot and see them, as well as our photographer's, on our Google site!
On February 20th, 2025, the team looked forward to seeing their qualifiers for Groups -- Logan Bromley, Jack Tindall, Enzo Corona, Ben Realley and Liam Tindall -- compete, and they showed up to practice with them for the NJSIAA Group States Championships in just a few days! To test their mettle, Coach Shaklee selected a day when the temperature at the track was 25 and winds were 5 - 10! Our photographer is 80 now, and half his brain cells are dead, so he showed up for a while to capture the fun!
On February 23rd, 2025, the qualifiers from the various State Sectional Championships returned to The Bubble for the NJSIAA State Group 4 Championships! Cherokee sent seven of their best from Distance, High Jump and Pole Vault and there were several highly rewarding results!
Once again, Coach Shaklee reported on his distance group!
"Five Cherokee distance runners qualified for the Group 4 State Meet held on Sunday, February 23rd at the Toms River Bubble.
"Three were running the 1600 - Sophomore Logan Bromley, Freshman Jack Tindall and Senior Enzo Corona, who had placed 1st, 2nd and 5th at the Sectional qualifier a week earlier. Unfortunately, Logan aggravated his achilles tendon in a mid-week workout and it flared up during the race. Although he finished, he limped coming in and was well off the pace. Enzo fared a little better but struggled to keep his focus when the move was made by the leaders after the 800. He still managed to finish 6th but missed advancing to the Meet of Champions by less than a second. The highlight was the performance of Jack! Only a freshman, he ran with the savvy of a senior, covering the moves and staying focused throughout. He finished second with a new indoor PR of 4:19.57, breaking his own school freshman record in the event! That time makes him the fastest freshman in the state by a full eight seconds and is the second fastest freshman in the nation this winter!
"Sophomore Ben Realley and Senior Liam Tindall both had off days in their respective races, Ben in the 800 and Liam in the 3200. They will have to wait until the spring season to show what they can do, but both of them are fit and ready for another good segment of training over the coming weeks.
"Jack will be racing in the Meet of Champions at the Ocean Breeze Sports Complex on March 2nd, looking to compete with the best and come away with an even faster performance!" GO JACK!
Two other athletes deserve mention here, Pole Vaulter, Senior Tobin Horwath and High Jumper, Senior Sam Green!
Vaulter, Tobin Horwath had a very unusual season as he, forced to find facilities and coaching elsewhere -- this was the coldest SJ winter in nine years; and Cherokee did not have a qualified Pole Vault coach this season -- used the facilities and coaching expertise of former Cherokee coach and now private coach, Mike Pascuzzo. Tobin worked through the winter and, at Sectionals, cleared 12' 6", just below his season PR of 13' 0", and advanced to Groups! There, he and three others cleared 13' 0" and Tobin took 1st place on misses! GROUP 4 STATE CHAMPION! What an example for others! GO TOBIN!
High Jumper, Sam Green had the same problems as Tobin, no training facilities and no expert coach, and he turned to Mike Pascuzzo too. In the past, Sam cleared 6' 4" but he was stalled throughout the winter around 6' 2". At Sectionals, he cleared 6' 2" and took 4th, but at Groups, he faced even tougher competition. The best were 6' 10", 6' 08", and 6" 04" but then the jumpers, 6 of them, began to tie at 6' 2" and misses were determined! As a result, Sam advanced in 5th and looked forward to the competition at Ocean Breeze! GO SAM!
Details at: NJ.MileSplit.
Our photographer and Tom Smith for NJ.MileSplit were at the meet and their pictures appear here (Tom's are the first six) and on our Google site.
