Cherokee's Night of 3200 Recap
Cherokee competed at home and came away with lots of PRs
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Night of 3200s
The distance team had a good night last Thursday at the first Night Racer Meet - The Cherokee Night of 3200s. Of the 23 Cherokee athletes who competed, 19 of them came away with new PR’s!
Jonathan Merkel got it started in heat 3 where, despite getting tripped up and injuring his wrist, he still managed to set a small PR.
Heat 8 included three Cherokee runners, senior, Sam Wright, and sophomores, Matt Muschek and Brayden Pederson. All three ran well with Sam placing fourth in the heat and knocking over twenty seconds off his previous best. Matt and Brayden were both running their first-ever 3200 race, and they did a great job, placing 6th and 13th, respectively!
Four Cherokee runners were in heat 15 and all four PRed. Sophomore, Jack Finley, ran an exceptionally strong race to finish second with a time over twenty seconds faster than his seed! The other three athletes, Trayce Slumsky, Evan Amato, and Dylan Weiner are all freshmen but they ran like experienced upperclassmen, and all three set new personal bests, with Trayce the fastest of the three!
Sophomore, Bruce Novoa and senior, Liam Daimler, were in heat 18. Both raced very smart and tough, and both set new PR’s by a wide margin!
Three sophomores, Max Harada, Gavin Danielewicz and Leo Vyvyan, were in heat 19 along with senior, Anthony DiBattista. All three sophomores set new PRs but the best of the three was Max. He ran 12:59 in this meet last year and came in with a PR of 11:47.76. Although we knew he would easily best that time, we were still surprised by his performance. Max closed his last lap in under 64 seconds to win the heat and break 10:00, running 9:58.71! Wow!
Middle distance runner, Tate Midora, was in heat 20 and he ran 10:03.04 to PR by ten seconds!
Heat 22, the second-to-last section, featured sophomore Sean Sooy, junior Dom Pileri, and senior Ben Weiner. Sean came in with a 9:50 PR and dropped that down to 9:39.61! That makes Sean the twelfth fastest Cherokee sophomore ever! Dom, who spent much of last year out with injury, was running his first 3200 since his freshman year, and managed a sub-10 effort, stopping the clock at 9:58.29! Although Ben did not have his best race, he still managed another sub-10, finishing just a step behind Dom in 9:58.80!
The final heat included five Cherokee runners. Sophomore Ben Realley, had the best outing of the group, taking the lead on lap 5 and running tough to the finish from there to take 3rd and set a new Cherokee Sophomore record of 9:15.93, breaking Nick Kuenkel’s mark from 2022, of 9:18.87! That puts Ben at number six on the all-time Cherokee list behind Marc Pelerin ’02, Shawn Wilson ’13, Kuenkel ’24, Ethan Wechsler ’19, and Nick Falk ’17! Ben also did this with a big negative split (4:45 / 4:30), which indicates he may have more in the tank.
Senior Liam Tindall, was next for the Chiefs, placing 11th in 9:29.87. While it was not quite a PR, it was Liam’s best race this school year and a good sign that he is ready for some faster racing later this spring! He also negative split (4:47 / 4:42). Liam’s freshman brother, Jack Tindall, was next and, while his time and place were not what he is capable of, he managed a respectable 9:32.09 for 13th, despite throwing up mid-race and, as a result, struggling over the last few laps. That time is the third fastest ever by a Cherokee freshman (behind Ben Realley and Nick Kuenkel)! It will be interesting to see just how fast he can run when he isn’t experiencing stomach distress!
Junior Logan Bromley, was the fourth Cherokee runner. While he did not PR, Logan did run an aggressive race, leading the first couple of laps before losing some ground over the later stages of the race. He still managed a very decent time of 9:36.89, good for 16th! The final Cherokee runner in heat 23 was senior Enzo Corona, who, despite not feeling his best, still set a new PR of 9:38.23 for 18th!
With nine athletes under 10:00 and 19 new PR’s, we were happy with the results and look forward to bigger and better things come championship season!
Fundraising Goals
It is the mission of the Cherokee XCTF Alumni Association to support the current crop of track and field and cross country athletes.
We are focusing on 5 major areas that we feel, with the support of the coaches, are important for this generation of student-athletes:
Offset or completely cover the cost of post-season events not sponsored by the school. This includes National Meets (cross country, indoor and outdoor track) and invitationals (Oregon, etc).
Award scholarships for deserving seniors.
Provide State Champions and School Record holders with gifts.
Support families with athletes who would like to attend a cross country camp but cannot afford it.
Provide funding for athletes needing physiotherapy who cannot afford it.
We currently have the availability to collect funds via Venmo, cash and checks, and credit card. You also can become a paid subscriber.
During the months of April, May & June we will be collecting funds that will directly contribute to funding for spring track post-season meets. Please consider donating to help fund our scholarship money.
Venmo: @ Cherokee4xalumni
Cherokee XCTF Alumni Association Venmo
About Cherokee XCTF Alumni Association
We are a non-profit organization with volunteer board members that seek to help provide funds that go directly to the current team. Our mission is:
to provide funding for travel and lodging to championship meets not covered by the school.
to provide scholarships to graduating seniors.
to provide recognition and awards to State Champion winners and new School Record holders.
to provide funding for current athletes who need assistance attending cross country camp.
to provide funding for current athletes who need assistance seeking treatment from injuries related to track/cross country.
Our Board
President: Jeff Storch ‘99
Vice President: Michelle (Bilicki) Wolosky ‘01
Secretary and Treasurer: Caitlin (O’Malley) Bertheaud ‘05
Social Media & Communication: Lisa Burkholder ‘06
Marketing & Fundraising: Marc Pelerin ‘02
Event Coordinator: Tim Haggerty ‘96
Team Liaison: Dave Sitzer ‘00
Voting Members: Joe Halin ‘00 & Sunny Patel ‘96