Yikes! You've been working your butts off and this is the payoff: States! the State South GP 4 Sectionals; the State GP 4 Championships; and the State Meet of Champions! Mixed in, a few end-of-the-season meets to allow top quality individuals to sharpen even more, and for lesser individuals to have one more opportunity to lower or raise a PR! GO CHIEFS!
Coach Shaklee sent this report on the meet!
"The Cherokee boys Track & Field team finished in ninth place at the South Jersey Group 4 Sectionals held at Lenape High School on May 15th & 16th with 38 points.
"On the first day, the meet did not start great for the team as the 4 X 100 Relay had an off day and failed to score.
"Next up was the 800 Meter Run. Senior, Logan Bromley, had his best race of the season, running a patient race and finishing strong to take 4th in 1:58.11 and give the team 4 points in that event! Sophomore, Evan Amato, also ran very well. Although he did not score, he did set a new personal record of 2:04.57!
"Next on the track was the 100 Meter Dash. Sophomore, Davis Walker, running into a strong headwind, managed to win his heat but, unfortunately, the time did not advance him to the final. Had he been in a different heat, the story most likely would have been different.
"In the next running event, senior, Colin Feehan, set a new PR in the 400 Hurdles but was unable to place in the top six, leaving the team with just four points heading into the final track event of the day, the 3200 Meter Run.
"Juniors, Max Harada, Sean Sooy and Gavin Danielewicz were in the line-up for Cherokee. Sean decided to take the lead from the start and push the pace, a difficult task in a championship race. Sean led for the first six laps, and even opened up a lead on the field. However, the strain of running from the front caught up with him and the pack caught him with 800 to go. Max was with the pack and he took the lead with a little over a lap remaining. Although he closed well, two other athletes also closed very well and Max had to settle for third with a new PR of 9:22.98! Sean finished in fifth which gave us a total of eight points in the event and twelve total on the day. Gavin tried his best but the early fast pace of the race left him hurting over the final mile. He still finished eighth and his time of 9:43.18, while not his best, was still 30 seconds faster than his best time from last year, showing how much he has improved! It will be nice to have all three of these guys returning next year!
"While the track events were being run, a couple of good performances were happening in the field. Senior, Noah Calderon, set a new PR in the long jump at 20' 8" to take tenth and junior, Justin Cecchetto, took tenth in the pole vault with a new PR of 10'!
"Day Two also did not start well for the team as we didn't field a runner in the first event, the 400, and our athletes in the second event, the 110 hurdles, did not have the best day. The field events on Day Two also resulted in no team points. The third, fourth and fifth events on the track, however, were a different story!
"The 4 X 800 Meter Relay team of Sean Sooy, Evan Amato, Logan Bromley and Dom Pileri, ran to a fourth place finish! Sean's lead off, 2:01.82, put us in the mix in a close 4th. Although Evan did not have his best race on the second leg, he still kept us close enough as he handed off in 7th. Logan ran an even better race on the third leg than his open 800 from the day before, moving us from seventh to fourth and splitting 1:57.95 on a very windy day! Dom ran a very aggressive, determined anchor, recording his best time of the season to maintain our position and give the team four more points to put us at 16!
"The 200 Meter Dash was next and Davis Walker showed that the 100 from yesterday was simply a result of being in the heat most affected by the wind. On this day, all the heats were running into an equally bad head wind! Despite that obstacle, Davis ran a powerful race and finished 3rd in 22.44 to give the team an additional 6 points for a total of 22!
"Sophomore, Jack Tindall, junior, Max Harada and Freshman, Hamza Salahuddin were up next in the 1600m Run and the wind was still a big factor! As a result, none of the three went to the lead during the first two laps, preferring to tuck in and be patient. They passed the 800 in 2:15 with a big pack all together. With 700 meters to go, Jack moved to the lead and began his push to the finish. His move worked perfectly as he ran away from the field with a 2:04.46 last 800 and a 60.76 last 400, for a winning time of 4:19.40! Max also managed a negative split with a 2:11.29 last 800 and a 63.91 last 400 to repeat his third place finish from the 3200, and another PR at 4:26.47! Hamza struggled a little in what was a very physical first 800 and came up just short of qualifying in seventh place. Between Jack's first place finish and Max's third, a total of 16 additional points were added to the team total for a final score of 38! With most of the point scorers returning next year, things look promising for Cherokee Track & Field 2027!
"Next up, those not racing the state meet will have the Cherokee Final Countdown Meet on May 21st and the Cherokee Night Racer 2 Meet on May 26th, with the State Championship Meet falling on Friday and Saturday, May 29th-30th at Franklin High School."
Details at: NJ.MileSplit.
Our photographer provided the following pictures from Sectionals.
Coach Shaklee sent the following report on the meet:
"On Thursday, May 21st, fourteen Cherokee distance runners competed in The Final Countdown Track Meet, held at our home track. Eight of them ran the 1600, three ran the 800, and, for some speed work, three ran the 400.
"The 1600 was a little bit of a mixed bag, with personal records recorded by only three of the eight Cherokee runners. Junior, Jack Finley placed 2nd in heat 2 and 11th overall with a new PR of 4:47.24! In that same heat, sophomore, Rocco Bellano knocked a few seconds off of his previous best, stopping the clock at 5:09.09! Junior, Jonathan Merkel, won the first heat and set a new PR of 5:09.24! Junior, Bruce Novoa, Sophomore, Evan Amato and Junior Leo Vyvyan, while not quite setting new PRs, ran well to take 6th, 8th and 10th respectively!
"Seniors, Logan Bromley and Dom Pileri, and freshman, Hamza Salahuddin, were running the 400 to work on their speed for the 4 X 800 Relay next week at the Group 4 State Meet. All three of them ran very well, clocking 51.36, 52.51 and 55.08, establishing new PR's and placing 4th, 7th and 22nd respectively! They are definitely ready for a good relay at States!
"All three Cherokee runners in the 800 also set new PRs! Sophomore, Dylan Weiner, led the way with his aggressive racing in heat 2. He made a move for the lead on the backstretch of the second lap and, although he came up a little short of the win, he did manage to take two seconds off of his previous best with a time of 2:06.94! Also setting new PRs were freshman, Colton Harbough, 2:10.50, and sophomore, Fletcher D'Alessandro, 2:25.65!
"Next up is the second Cherokee Night Racer Meet. This will be the final competition for those not moving on to States."
Details at: NJ.MileSplit.
Our photographer was unavailable.