Cherokee Night Racer 2 & State Groups
Meet of Champions, Wednesday 6/4 at 2 pm, Pennsauken HS
Tuesday, May 27th, was Cherokee's Night Racer 2 Meet, an event that featured multiple sections of 800s and 1600s. It the last meet of the season for much of the distance squad . . . and it was a very successful way to finish up! The meet was run at Lenape High School as the fire in the storage shed at Cherokee destroyed the wiring to the stadium lights. The conditions for the meet (unlike so many of the meets this year) were near perfect!
Things started with a couple of heats of super sprint medleys, and then the 14 heats of the 800 began. Cherokee had four athletes running the 800, Matt Muschek, Liam Deimler, Shane Jacob, and Josh Lowery. Liam, Shane, and Josh all set new PRs to end their season, while Matt, who had just set a big PR last week, came within a couple of ticks of that mark! It was especially good to see Liam, in his last race for Cherokee before heading to Haverford College next year, not only PR by three seconds but challenge for the win in his heat and drop under 2:10 for the first time!
Next up were 19 heats of the 1600. Of the 19 Cherokee athletes who competed in the event, 17 of them came away with new personal records! Freshman, Nick Carpineto got things started off in a big way as he knocked almost 40 seconds off of his previous best in heat 1! In heat 3, freshman, Fletcher D’Alessandro, improved his PR by over 20 seconds and even made a great attempt to win the heat! Jonathan Merkel bumped his PR down a couple of seconds in heat 4. In heat 8, Sam Wright closed out his Cherokee running career on a positive note as he went under 5:30 for the first time, while earlier, in heat 6, frosh, Rocco Bellano, improved by almost 20 seconds down to 5:25!
Heat 13 featured four Cherokee runners, all of whom came in with PR’s between 4:57 and 5:04. When the race ended, all four had new PR’s. Freshman, Trayce Slumsky, knocked a couple of seconds off to finish at 4:55.65; Sophomore, Jack Finley, dropped down to 4:48.53, and freshmen, Dylan Weiner and Evan Amato, both challenged for the heat win, with Dylan taking the victory in 4:46.52 and Evan right behind him at 4:47.47! In heat 14, senior, Anthony DiBattista, did not PR but ran his fastest race of the season to end his career on a positive note! In heat 15, things started off at a good pace, but after the first lap, the leaders slowed and the field bunched up for the next two laps, making it hard to run something fast. Still, sophomores Bruce Novoa and Leo Vyvyan, both managed to improve on their previous best times! Heat 16 saw sophomore, Gavin Danielewicz, drop seven seconds off of his previous best with a well-run 4:41.95!
The final two heats, 18 & 19, featured six Cherokee runners, five of whom set new PR’s (senior, Enzo Corona, had been sick and did what he could but was not at his best). Heat 18 saw sophomore, Max Harada, and senior, Ben Weiner, both run excellent races to take third and fifth in their heat with times of 4:32.89 for Max, and 4:33.53 for Ben! Those times put them at 13th and 15th out of all the hundreds of runners on the night! Senior Tate Midora, sophomore Sean Sooy, and junior Dom Pileri, were all in the battle for first in the final heat. Tate, who has mostly focused on the 800, came in with the slowest 1600 PR of the three but ran an incredible last lap to knock 11 seconds off of his previous best to win the race in 4:22.37! Sean and Dom finished 4th and 7th with new PR’s of 4:26.26 and 4:26.71, respectively! All-in-all, a great way to end the season!
Group 4 State Meet
The Group 4 State Meet was not as positive an experience as the Night Racer Meet had been, but there were still a couple of bright spots. We had athletes in the 800, 1600, 3200 and the 4x800. The 3200 and the 4x800 did not go as hoped and no one advanced from those events to the Meet of Champions. However, two athletes: junior Logan Bromley and sophomore Ben Realley, both did get through!
Running in the first of two heats in the 800, Logan took the lead with 400 to go and ran away from the field to win his heat in a new PR of 1:55.06! That held up for 5th place in Group 4 and was fast enough to earn a wild card entry into the Meet of Champions! Ben, doubling back from a disappointing 3200 the day before, ran close to his PR in the 1600 to take 5th in 4:21.76 and also earn a wild card spot in the Meet of Champions! While overall, it wasn’t what we had hoped for, it was still good to advance two underclassmen to the State’s premier meet!
Watch MOC here.
Storylines for MOC here.
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 1998
Vice President: Michelle (Bilicki) Wolosky 2001
Treasurer: Caitlin (O’Malley) Bertheaud 2005
Secretary: Mike Gavio 2020
Marketing Director: Marc Pelerin 2002
Event Coordinator: Tim Haggerty 1996
Alumni Liaison Director: Chase Miller 2020
Fundraising Director: Caitlin (McDonnell) Heitman 2007