The early part of the season is over. A few Batch Meets and a couple of Invitationals are over but there is still much ahead!
On April 17th, 2026, Jack Tindall and Ben Realley traveled to Charlotte, North Carolina for the Carolina Distance Carnival. The event brought together some of the top runners in the country and the fields for each event were loaded!
Both Jack and Ben were entered in the 3200 Meter Run. Jack was coming off some good consistent training and seemed ready to take down his PR of 9:11.73 set last year at the Loucks Games in New York. Ben had been on track to take a shot at his 9:07.79, also from last year's Loucks Games, until illness cost him a week of training. Still, he was back to full strength and seemed ready to run a fast time, if not a PR!
They ran in heat seven of eight and it was a crowded field with 29 runners in their race. Moreover, because they were all good runners, the field stayed bunched through six of the eight laps. As a result, there was a lot of contact, with both boys coming away with some impressive spike wounds.
Despite the challenges the crowded field presented, both boys had good races! Jack came away with a new PR of 9:09.91 to place 11th in his race and 32nd overall. Ben was right with him through six laps but the missed training made it difficult to sustain his pace over the last two laps. Still, his 9:18.91 was a good step in the right direction in his return to full fitness!
Both Ben and Jack will get some good training in this week and won't race again until April 29th-30th when they will run two events each at the Olympic Conference Championships.
Details at: NC MileSplit.
Our photographer was not invited (hurumph!) but the NC MileSplit guy did an "adequate" job: NC.MileSplit.
On April 17th, 2026, Cherokee hosted the Fast Times at Cherokee High, an all-comers meet that lasted well into the evening!
The coaches limited the number of Cherokee athletes in the meet. Still, they allowed Cherokee's Davis Walker, the fastest Sophomore in NJ, to impress in both the 100m and 200m Dashes where he took 2nd in both events!
Two distance runners ran well in the 1600m Run! Leo Vyvyan and Colton Harbold took 9th and 10th and set new PR's!
In the Field with the Throwers, Matt Greski took 10th/38 overall in the Discus; Sam Zucco took 11th/38 in the Javelin; and Jacob Cranmer took 13th/37 in the Shot Put.
Our photographer was unavailable.
Details at: NJ.MileSplit.com.
On April 22nd, 2026, Cherokee hosted the final Batch Meet of the season, Batch Meet #4 and, this time, the weather cooperated!
Again, all but a small group of distance runners and sprinters competed, so the track and field were filled with competitors!
Among the distance runners, in the 1600m, Trayce Slumsky took 3rd/40 overall and Jack Finley followed right behind in 4th! Soon after, Brayden Pederson, Rocco Bellano, Jonathan Merkel and JJ Duncan finished in 10th through 13th!
In the Sprints, the 100m and 200m Dashes were tested, and in the first, Shreehan Balasundar took 3rd/109 overall, with Isaiah Williams-Lewis in 10th and Sebastian Sabia in 11th; and in the second, Shreehan Balasundar returned finishing 5th/90 overall, and Isaiah Williams-Lewis returned and finished 7th, with Joseph McElhenny taking 10th! Finally, the 4 X 400m Relay took 2nd/5 overall!
In the Hurdles, three Cherokee Hurdlers competed in the 110HH and all three did well! Connor Staff finished 1st/10 overall and David Nnawuihe took 2nd, with Jake Sgro taking 7th! In the 400m IH, Colin Feehan took 1st/10 overall with a PR and David Nnawuihe returned to take 7th!
In the Jumps, Connor Staff and Sam Zucco took 1st and 3rd in the High Jump; Anthony Alleva took 7th and Silas Francino and Sebastian Sabia took 11th and 12th in the Long Jump; and John Spicer took 1st in the Pole Vault!
Finally, in the Throws, Sam Zucco, Hunter Cardone and Joey Buono swept the Javelin, taking 1st, 2nd and 3rd; and Sam had an impressive PR; Jacob Cranmer and Ace Leigh took 1st and 2nd in the Shot Put, while Jaxon Jacobus took 5th to complete the scoring!
Details available at: NJ.MileSplit.
Our photographer posted these pictures from the meet at our: Google page.
Coach Shaklee had a distance practice immediately after the meet. Our photographer posted some pictures at our: Google page.
This four-day meet is the most incredible opportunity for Cherokee athletes to challenge the best runners from around the United States and the Carribbean! Even when we are not at our peak -- our goals are States and beyond! -- it's a GREAT experience!
It's crowded unlike any track meet you've experienced before . . . the noise and jostling in the stadium is unnerving and exciting . . .! You wait in all of this for your race.
Then, it's time! With a crowd of nervous sthletes you move towards the staging area, nervous with anticipation, discarding equipment and checking spikes. You're shoulder-to-shoulder jostling in the "paddock" area as officials scream orders . . ..
If you're not reminded of some old Gladiator movie and want to roar I AM MAXIMUS!, you're missing the fun!
Then it's your race and you move to the starting line! . . .
On April 24th, 2026, four of Cherokee's athletes stepped to the line for the 4 X 100m Relay: Lance Cheng, Davis Walker, Mateo Rosario, and Noah Calderon, 43.60. 35th/109 in that "Event" alone. Skimming back over previous years, a nice time! GO CHEROKEE!
On April 25,2026, a much colder day than yesterday, stepping to the starting line for the 4 X 400m Relay were: Davis Walker 52.02; Dom Pileri 52.47; Mateo Rosario 52.51; and Logan Bromley 52.93. 3:29.93. Another nice time, fastest in years! Next month, they'll each be called "50!" GO CHEROKEE
Ten years from now, some knowledgeable friend will ask , "You run Penns?" And you'll reply, (with a enigmatic smile) "Yes , , , yes I did." It will be quiet for a moment and then someone will admit, "I got killed but it was so cool!"
Our photographer was unavailable and MileSplit's two photographers missed Cherokee's spectacular 4 X 400m! Hurumph!
Details at: USA.MileSplit.
On April 27th, 2023, almost all of the members of the distance squad took the long ride to Holmdel, NJ for the Holmdel Twilight Series: Night of 3200s and, for almost all, it was well worth it! We'll leave the details to Coach Shaklee:
"Eighteen Cherokee distance runners traveled to Holmdel High School on Monday, April 27th for the annual Twilight Series - Night of 3200s. The first race went off at 5:15 and the last race was about 4 hours later. As a result, we did not get back to school until 11:15. Fortunately, the boys ran well and made the trip worth the late night!
"Of the eighteen athletes, sixteen set new personal records!
"Nick Carpineto got things started. Running in heat 3, he knocked 10 seconds off of his previous best!
"Two heats later, Noah Pirotta ran 30 seconds faster than he had at our Cherokee Night of 3200s!
"Heat 9 featured Jonathan Merkel and Fletcher D'Alessandro. Fletcher, like Nick, knocked 10 seconds of of his previous best, while Jonathan ran a very aggressive race and held on to improve his PR by 22 seconds!
"Brayden Pedersen, JJ Duncan and Rocco Bellano were all in heat 10. Both Brayden and Rocco set new PR's by nine and ten seconds respectilvely! While JJ did not PR, he deserves credit for running aggressively! He was well ahead of his PR pace at the 1600 but couldn't quite hold it over the last half of the race.
"In heat 12, both Matt Muschek and Dylan Weiner took a little time off their previous best which they ran at our 'Night of 3200's' a few weeks earlier!
"In heat 13, Jack Finley ran a very aggressive race, seizing the lead half way through the first lap and holding on for second in his race with a new PR!
"Bruce Novoa, Leo Vyvyan, Trayce Slumsky and freshman Colton Harbold all ran within nine seconds of each other and all set new PRs in heat 14!
"Evan Amato was the lone Cherokee runner in heat 15 and he had an excellent race, knocking 16 seconds off of his previous PR and coming very close to Sub-10:00 with his finish time of 10:02.72!
"Gavin Danielewicz and freshman, Hamza Salahuddin were both in heat 16, the second fastest heat of the night. They both ran outstanding races knocking 13 seconds and 12 seconds respectively off of their previous best times! Gavin finished 3rd in the heat and 19th overall in 9:33.77 moving him to 27th on the all-time Cherokee list! Hamza finished 11th in the heat and 26th overall in 9:37.63, making him Cherokee's 31st fastest ever and the 3rd fastest freshman in Cherokee history!
"In the final heat of the night, junior, Sean Sooy, ended the evening on a high note with an outstanding race! Sean came in with a PR of 9:33.38 run at our 'Night of 3200s'. He was the last seed in the heat of 19 runners but he went with the top group which came through the 1600 in 4:34. Sean kept his focus and, although he slowed a bit toward the end, he hung on for a huge PR of 9:18.17, making him the 10th fastest 3200 Meter runner in Cherokee history!
"Overall, it was a great night for the Cherokee distance squad!" GO CHIEFS!
Our photographer was unavailable and no MileSplit photographers were there!
Details at: NJ.MileSplit.
Coach Shaklee sent the following report on his distance runners:
"At the Olympic Conference Meet, a two day event with the first day only two days after the Holmdel Meet, the results could not duplicate the success that the team enjoyed at the Holmdel Meet. However, there were still some notable accomplishments.
"On day 1, Jack Tindall placed 6th in the 800m at 2:00.51, while Gavin Danielewicz, Bruce Novoa and Leo Vyvyan took places 2, 7 & 8 in the 3200m. Bruce even managed to knock an additional second off of his PR set two nights earlier at the Holmdel Meet!
"On day 2, Jack Tindall, Sean Sooy and Hamza Salahuddin took places 2,3 & 4 in the 1600m with Jack dipping under 4:20 at 4:19.93, and Sean and Hamza running 4:27.53 and 4:27.59 respectively! That was a PR for Hamza and it makes him the 3rd fastest freshman in school history at the 1600! Seniors, Logan Bromley and Dom Pileri moved down to run the 4 X 400 and helped the team finish 2nd with Logan setting a PR by over a second!
"Next up, the distance team will run in the Haddonfield Distance Night Meet this Monday, May 4th!
Further details at: NJ.MileSplit.
Our photographer was there on Day 2 and shot the meet! His pictures are available at our: Google page.
Years ago, this "distance night" was a reltatively intimate event with relatively few teams. More than anything, it was a final opportunity for distance athletes who would not make it to Sectionals to have one last chance "to show their stuff"! It continues to be that last opportunity for distance guys (and gals) not going to Sectionals but it is a lot bigger: dozens of races, hundreds of athletes, and now it includes many athletes who are going to Sectionals!
Coach Shaklee sent the following report on his distance runners:
"Twenty-two athletes on the Cherokee Boys Track Team completed at the Haddonfield Distance Night on Monday, May 4th. It was a successful night as 16 personal records were set!
"Up first was the Freshman 800. Colton Harbold was moving down in distance for this one and his teammate, Tyreek Maulsby, was moving up. Both runners set new personal bests with Tyreek dipping under 2:10 for 6th place and Colton knocking four seconds off of his previous best to take 8th!
"The Open 800 was next and it was a loaded field. Four of the seven Cherokee runners in the field managed to PR, led by sophomore, Jack Tindall, who lowered his best time by two seconds, running 1:57.91 for 8th! Other PRs were set by junior, Sean Sooy - 2:01.22 for 23rd, freshman, Hamza Salahuddin - 2:02.10 for 27th, and sophomore, Dylan Weiner, who dipped under 2:10 for the first time, running 2:08.78 for 60th!
"JJ Duncan was up next in the Freshman 1600 and although he did not set a PR, JJ did run a competitive race and passed several runners in the last straight to place 20th!
"In the Open 1600, ten of the twelve Cherokee athletes in the field set new PRs! Max Harada got his first sub-4:30, winning heat 2 in 4:28.52 for 8th overall! Gavin Danielewicz finished 2nd in that same heat, dropping seven seconds off of his previous best with a 4:32.66 for 12th overall!
"Bruce Novoa made a huge jump, taking 12 seconds off of his previous best to win heat 3 in 4:37.79, 22nd overall! Evan Amato took second in the heat behind Bruce and went under 4:40 for the first time, running 4:38.52 for 25th overall! Leo Vyvyan also PRed in that heat at 4:43.43 for 37th!
"Other PR's on the night were set by Trayce Slumsky (4:44.62), Brayden Pedersen (5:06.20), Jonathan Merkel (5:15.07), Fletcher D'Alessandro (5:26.98) and Nick Carpineto (6:25.79)!
"All-in-all, a great night for the Cherokee Distance Squad!"
GO CHEROKEE DISTANCE!
Details at: NJ.MileSplit.
Our photographer was there and, despite a variety of environmental and personal issues, he shot over 2,000 pics, some of which stink and mistakenly got into the "Cherokee save" file for distribution. That file is available at our Google site.
Here are a few pics that our photographer liked: there's Max and an onlooker; Trayce surrounded by friends; Fletcher and his hair; Logan "Arms" Bromley; Matt "Legs" Muschek; and our favorite, JJ "Snotts" Duncan!
Two historical thoughts came to our photographer's mind! As a distance runner back in the day, today's Starter, Ed McGowan, threw more elbows than a 76er's basketball player when he started a race! Maybe that's why he let Logan go?! In addition, JJ's face reminded our photographer of his early days as a coach running with his athletes. In those days, he wore a beard and winters were COLD! His beard was often filled with frozen snot at the end of a run! Ah, the good old days!
Coach Shaklee sent a review of his distance guys at the meet.
"With the seniors missing due to prom [really, the Head Coach allowed it, not Shaklee], it was left to the underclassmen to show what they could do at the Burlington County Championships on Saturday, May 9th.
"The young distance group proved their worth as the team finished 3rd behind Rancocas Valley and Willingboro, with 59 points, 50 of which came from the distance crew! Sophomore sprint star, Davis Walker, scored the remaining nine points taking 2nd in the 100 and 6th in the 200!
"The first event of the morning was the 3200 Meter Run. Max Harada, Gavin Danielewiz and Bruce Novoa took 1st, 2nd and 4th to give the team 22 points in that one event!
"The next race for the distance team was the 4 X 800 Meter Relay and it was an exciting win for Cherokee! Evan Amato ran a PR on the lead-off leg of 2:04.99 but that left us in 4th place, over 5 seconds behind the leader, Rancocas Valley. Sean Sooy ran a strong second lead to move us up to 3rd with a split of 2:01.48 but we were 6 seconds behind Rancocas Valley at the halfway point. Freshman, Hamza Salahuddin, closed the gap considerably with his 2:02.20 third leg which put us in 2nd, 1.5 seconds behind RV. Our anchor, Jack Tindall, gradually closed on the RV anchor and caught him with 200 to go. Jack made a strong move off the last turn and held the lead to the line to give us the win by .42 seconds! Another 10 points from the distance squad!
"Finally, in the 1600, Jack, Sean and Hamza all doubled back and ran against a very good Cinnaminson athlete who was fresh. The Cinnaminson runner took the lead but slowed the pace down. With 500 to go, Jack made a big move which was covered by the Cinnaminson runner who moved back to the lead and slowed the pace down again. Finally off the last turn, Jack made another big move and he ran neck and neck with the Cinnaminson athlete right to the line, just barely getting leaned out by a tenth of a second! Sean finished in 3rd and Hamza in 4th to give us a total of 18 points in the event!
"Next up for the team is Sectionals."
Details at: NJ.MileSplit.
Our photographer was unavailable as he was still working on the Haddonfield pictures (and not at the Prom)!