On February 15th, 2026, the team traveled to the newly refurbished "Bubble" in Toms River, NJ to compete in the NJSIAA State South Jersey Sectional Championships!
As in the past, Coach Shaklee, volunteering through the Winter Season as no one can replace the expertise that he brings to coaching the distance group, sent a report on how his guys performed!
"The Cherokee boys track team went into the SJ Group 4 Sectional Championships knowing that we weren't at full strength. While we expected to gain points in the 1600, 800 and 3200, with both Jack Tindall and Logan Bromley out, we knew we would not score what we might have. Still, the boys were focused and determined to do what they could!
"The second event of the meet, the 1600, was our first chance to put up some points. Ben Realley was the top seed going in but knew he would face a stiff challenge from Dominic Burgio of Williamstown. With instructions not to lead early, Ben bided his time through a pedestrian first 400 of 72 seconds. On the third lap, Ben took the lead and gradually wound it up. He led the rest of the way with each lap faster than the previous, closing in 29.7 with a big negative split of 2:20.5 - 2:06.9! It was Ben's first sectional championship! It was also the fourth year in a row that a Cherokee athlete won the sectional 1600 (Logan Bromley last year, Bobby Poplau in 2024 and Patrick Ditmars in 2023)! Behind Ben, both Hamza Salahuddin and Leo Vyvyan were having tough days. Hamza finished 11th while Leo was 15th. While both finish the winter season with new PR's in the 1600 and 3200 (set earlier this winter), they are ready for a short break and a good build-up for spring track!
"About an hour later, Ben Realley returned to the line in the 800 and ran another strong race to finish 3rd, one place better than his 4th place finish last year when he ran the event fresh. The other two Cherokee runners, Evan Amato and Dom Pileri, were the victims of a crowded field and a lot of contact. Neither were able to race cleanly and both were disappointed with the outcome. But just like Hamza and Leo in the 1600, Evan and Dom are in good shape coming out of the winter and are ready for a great spring season!
"Finally, the 3200 took to the track. Sean Sooy, Max Harada and Gavin Danielewicz were representing Cherokee and went in as the 1st, 2nd and 7th seeds respectively. Those seeds were somewhat deceiving as Cherry Hill East had their top three athletes who had all run very fast in cross country but had not raced much this winter. Six of the top seven seeded athletes in the race were from Cherokee and CH East. The East trio took the lead from the start with the pack staying pretty tight through the first 1600, reached in around 4:54. The East runners continued to push the pace until Sean Sooy went to the lead with 800 to go. He led until the final 300 when the top East runner went by him, picking up the pace considerably and opening a gap. With 200 to go, he had a 10 meter lead. Max went by Sean at that point and started his own kick, gradually closing on the East athlete. He caught him coming off the last turn and won the sprint to the line to take the victory! His 9:37.01 was a nine second PR for Max as he earned his first ever championship win! Well done! Behind him, Sean was running well but just got nipped at the line to finish in 4th in 9:41.69. Gavin was in a fight with two other runners for the 6th and last state qualifying spot. He finished well to take that spot, with a new PR of 9:49.60, earning his first trip to the indoor Group 4 State Meet!
"The team finished in 5th with 31 points, all of which came from the 1600, 800 and 3200 Meter events. Now the four state qualifiers - Ben Realley, Max Harada, Sean Sooy and Gavin Danielewicz will prepare for next Sunday's Group 4 State Meet back at the Toms River Bubble."
Congratulations to Ben Realley and Max Harada on their championship runs, Ben in the 1600 and Max in the 3200! It seems not-so-great as we immediately push on to the Group Championships but it is A BIG DEAL and will stay in the record books for the two of you to show your children or your friends decades from now! GO BEN! GO MAX!
In addition to the Distance group, Cherokee sent several Sprinters, a Vaulter and one thrower to Sectionals. Among the Sprinters, in the 55m Dash, 10th grader Shreehan Balasundar raced 6.93 to finish 22nd in the 49-man field, while Senior Noah Calderon raced 7.05 and finished 30th/49; and Senior Mateo Rosario raced 7.05 and finished close behind Noah in 32nd/49. In the 55m Hurdles, Junior David Nnawuihe clocked 8.94 and took 25th in the 35-man field, while Junior Connor Staff clocked 9.06 and took 27th/35, and Junior Christian Danquah clocked 9.39 and took 30th/35 overall.
The Vaulter was Junior Justin Cecchetto who cleared the opening height of 9' but finished last in the 11-man field; and the Thrower was 10th grade Shotputter Jacob Cranmer who put the Shot 37' 07" and finished 20th in a field of 40.
Further details at: NJ.MileSplit.
Our photographer was there but was unable to shoot the Sprinters, Hurdlers and Shotputter. His photographs are available on our Google site. The season photographs, including dditional photographs taken by Mr Harkins, the MileSplit photographer, and emhamced by our photographer, are available at: Winter pictures.