“It eluded us then, but
that's no matter. Tomorrow we will
run faster . . . Stretch out our arms farther – And one fine morning . . .
“ - F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great
Gatsby
Who was it that coined the phrase, you can't win them all? I'm pretty sure this insight did not come to him after an impressive victory . . . rather, a painful defeat. Well, he was right. You can't win them all. If winning is your only reason for doing something, you will find it difficult to continue in almost any endeavor. If you run cross country only to win – unless you are Joe Rosa – you will quickly lose your will to compete. The truth is that winning is elusive, even for the best. So, if it is not simply to win, then why is it that we do this? Competitive distance running is difficult. It requires dedication, determination, sacrifice and, perhaps above all, courage. Standing on the starting line, knowing what lies ahead, each athlete is forced to confront his own fears. Will I be strong today or give in? Will I let my teammates down? Can I live up to the expectations of my coach? Do I have what it takes? Can I do this? Negative thoughts enter our head, without permission, and we are forced to confront them. In doing so, we find things out about ourselves.
In reflection, perhaps this is why we do it . . . to challenge ourselves, to confront our fears, to find out what we are made of. In our dreams, of course, we are always up to the challenge . . . always winners. But that is not reality. In reality, sometimes we do not win. Ironically, it is in those moments – when we fail to reach our potential – that we learn the most about ourselves and what it takes to succeed. If we are open to it, our losses will help to make us stronger, better prepared and more courageous.
“You gain strength, courage and
confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the
face. You must do that which you
think you cannot do.” -
Eleanor
Roosevelt
You, the members of the 2009 Cherokee Cross
Country Team, upheld the fine tradition of the program over the course of the
season. Through your determination,
sacrifice and courage, we were able to accomplish a lot – American Division,
Burlington County, and Olympic Conference Championships. Moreover, our close 4th place
finish in a very competitive South Jersey Group 4 Sectional race insured our
16th consecutive appearance in the Group 4 State Meet. These accomplishments would not have
been predicted by impartial observers of the sport when the season began. You are to be commended for continuing
the tradition of excellence that is Cherokee Cross Country. Indeed, so much went right that, by any
measure, this season was successful.
And yet there is a tendency to dwell on what did not. What went wrong boils down to one off race at an inopportune time. Our 13th place finish at the
State Group 4 Meet in the most competitive field ever assembled for a group
state meet, kept us (with the exception of Burk) from competing in the State
Meet of Champions. That brings us
back to the “you can’t win them all”
statement. It’s important to
understand that winning (aka. having
success) is never guaranteed. It is
rare and it is something to be treasured and appreciated. Conversely, losing (aka. failure to achieve your
goals) is not something of which to be ashamed. It happens. Be momentarily disappointed, then learn
from it and move on. As a team, you
worked as hard as any in Cherokee history.
Be proud of what you accomplished . . . you earned it.
As always, the season really began a couple
of weeks after the end of spring track.
We knew that we would be facing tough competition come September so, at
the end of June, preparation began in earnest. Led by Steve Burkholder, Matt McCarroll, Frankie
Devine, Mike Czuba and Kyle
Smith, seniors who had been with the team since their freshman year, we
began putting in the miles.
On Monday, August 17th,
the aforementioned seniors along with several teammates, made the trek into the
hills of Canadensis, PA for the annual RunningWorks Cross Country Camp experience. Matt McCarroll was nursing sore shins
but otherwise, the summer training had gone well. When camp ended on the 23rd,
we returned to Marlton ready to begin daily practice. Matt’s shins continued to hamper his
training despite his best efforts to deal with the problem. Eventually, several trips to the local
Active Release Doctor got Matt back
up to speed. It would take a while,
however, before he returned to top form.
As we began daily practice sessions, another
injury issue impacted the strength of the team. Kyle Smith injured his soaz muscle
(lower abdominal). How? We do not know. The only consolation was that it wasn’t
quite as freakish an injury as the mysterious flip flop – broken toe injury he
suffered last year! Nonetheless, it
was serious enough to limit Kyle’s training for much of the season. He too began regular visits to his
chiropractor for the magical active
release therapy.
On Saturday, September
12th, the team took to our home course for the 14th annual Cherokee Challenge. What began thirteen years earlier as a
small, low key, class race to ease into the season had, over the years,
developed into a ferociously competitive meet, the 2nd largest meet
in New Jersey with over 2,000 competitors.
The torrential rains of the previous few days left the course in bad
shape and actually forced a slight revision to avoid the lowest lying area. It was not the course but the heavy
training volume of the past weeks, however, that took a toll on the team,
resulting in times that were not quite up to par. No matter, our sights were set on more
important events later in the season and this short 3200 meter race provided a
good starting point for the competitive season. There were some good performances,
however, including freshman, Freddy
Rasmussen and sophomores, Albert
Ptaszenski and Zach
Roether. Albert lowered his
time from the time trial, less than two weeks earlier, by 3:39! Not to be outdone, Freddy topped that by
knocking 4:19 from his time trial result and Zach earned Athlete of the Meet
honors by shaving a whopping 6 minutes from his time trial
result!
On Tuesday, September
15th, as we headed to BCC, on a warm, sunny day, for our first
dual meet of the year against Cherry Hill East and Washington Township, we felt
the pressure of continuing an unbeaten streak against American Division
opponents that was going on 13 years.
Both East and Township returned a good group of runners and we knew we
needed to run well. Fortunately, we
did. Steve Burkholder led the way with the
individual victory. Thirty seven
seconds later, when our 7th man, Josh Perez, crossed the line in
10th place, we had the double victory well in hand and a good start
on another division championship season.
Ryan Bobb gave us our first
glimpse of how good and consistent a runner he had become, earning Athlete of
the Meet honors, with his 4th place finish. Throughout the season, Ryan would
continue to be one of the most dependable members of the varsity
team.
With only a single dual meet versus
Pennsauken on the schedule for the next 10 days, we upped the training intensity
to take advantage of the break. Knowing that Pennsauken did not have the
runners to challenge us in dual meet, we headed into the September
23rd meeting with the varsity scheduled to run through the course
at a tempo effort in training shoes.
Our recently acquired Italian exchange student-athlete, Alberto Redaelli, took full advantage
of the opportunity to run at the front of the pack. Alberto pulled away from the field over
the later stages of the competition to win his first race on American soil. He was followed across the line by 17
teammates before the first Pennsauken runner finished. Among the pack of Cherokee runners,
notable performances were turned in by junior first year runner, Ryan Merrigan, and freshman, Matt Decker, both of whom recorded
their first sub-20 minute 5k times.
It was Freddy Rasmussen,
however, who earned Athlete of the Meet honors by improving his time from the
first dual meet by an incredible 8 minutes!
On Friday, September 25th,
both the boys and girls teams boarded a chartered bus for the ride down to
Richmond, Virginia, for the Maymont
Invitational the following day.
After two years of heading north on this weekend to race in Rhode Island,
we decided it was time for a change.
The trip to Virginia turned out to be a good one. The meet was well run and the trip to
Kings Dominion, which followed, was a lot of fun. The team finished 4th in the
Championship Division while the JV squad place 5th in their
race. Hurdler, Darren McCluskey, out for the team to
get ready for track, took his first try at the 5k distance and acquitted himself
nicely with a 20:39 performance.
Darren was so satisfied with the result that he decided once was
enough! Greg Malloy was named Athlete of the
Meet following his strong race against a very competitive field on a difficult
course. He certainly earned
it. Greg ran the first cross
country race of his life exactly one year earlier at the Ocean States Meet in
Rhode Island, finishing 174th in the JV competition with a time of
22:44. One year later, on the much
more difficult Maymont course, Greg placed 34th in the varsity
competition, running over five and a half minutes faster! His success is a great example of what
can be accomplished through hard work and
determination.
After the weekend in Richmond and a day off
on Monday, it was difficult to get right back into race-mode as we traveled to
Camp Ockanickon in Medford for the first District JV Championship on Tuesday,
September 29th.
But that’s just what the team did.
With Frankie Devine easily
leading the way with a 24 second margin of victory, we dominated the race. Alberto Redaelli, Billy Hornung, Mike
Palmieri, Matt Venanzi and Eric
Birkhead finished 2nd through 6th behind Frankie’s
win.
Some time in late September or early
October, we added another track-trainee to the squad. Sprinter, Jon Scott, transferred from football to
begin his preparation for an assault on the school 100 Meter record this
spring. The average 100 meter dash
time on the team immediately dropped by 5
seconds.
Saturday, October 3rd,
gave us our first indication of just how tough this year would be in New Jersey
as we faced many of the teams we would have to contend with at States in the Shore Coaches Invitational A Race. Although we ran well, we finished a
distant 8th. There was
hope, however. A small amount of
improvement by the State Meet could have us right in the hunt. Moreover, despite the 8th
place finish, there were certainly some highlights. Steve Burkholder moved to number 13 on
the all-time Cherokee Holmdel List with his 16:43 clocking, while Matt McCarroll took over the number 2
spot on the team and earned Athlete of the Meet honors for his big course PR of
17:12. Greg Malloy, Ryan Bobb, Aiden Lynch
and Frankie Devine all set
course PRs as well.
Since the narrow 3 point win over cross-town
rival, Lenape, in last year’s dual meet, we had been concerned. They graduated only their number one
runner and we lost four from our top seven. Knowing this, we were all business as we
lined up for the double dual with Eastern and Lenape at BCC on Tuesday,
October 6th, and it showed. Not only did we easily win the meet,
clinching our 13th consecutive American Division Championship, but we
received top efforts right down the line, with few exceptions. Steve Burkholder led the way, as
always, with his individual victory and a 5k PR. Matt McCarroll and Aiden Lynch secured the 4th
and 5th spots with PR performances . . . Aiden’s being his first
foray under 17:00. Ryan Bobb, Greg Malloy and Josh Perez also went under 17:00 for
the first time, sweeping places 7-8-9 to seal the victory. It didn’t stop there. Alberto Redaelli and Matt Venanzi both broke 18:00 for the
first time while, close behind, Mike
Palmieri and Mike Czuba set non-Pennypacker PRs. Oh, yes . . . the list continues. Eric Birkhead dipped under 19:00 for
the first time while Jeremy Morgan got his first sub-20 minute
performance by a truckload at 19:08.
Lou DiGeambeardino and Justin Domingo both joined Jeremy in
the sub-20 club while new PRs were also set by Matt Decker, Matt Adams, Zach Roether
and Freddy Rasmussen. In addition, seasonal bests were
recorded by Andrew Yang and Dave Wallace. Matt Adam’s PR earned him Athlete of
the Meet honors due to the focused, determined way in which he
raced.
The ten days between the Lenape/Eastern meet
and the Burlington County Open on
Friday, October 16th, gave us a much needed chance to train
and rest. On race day we were ready
for a battle between the district schools for the Championship. At 17:27 into the race, as our
7th man, Kyle Smith,
crossed the line in 23rd place, we had taken a close one with a 9
point victory over Lenape and 12 over Shawnee. The win, our 12th in the last
15 years, was sparked by senior, Josh
Perez, who had his best race of the season to finish 9th and earn
Athlete of the Meet honors. Josh’s
time was 1:37 faster than what he ran last year. In the open race following the varsity
event, Cherokee dominated the front of the pack led by individual champion, Frankie Devine. Several individuals showed good
improvement from last year’s meet on a cold, windy, rainy day not ideal for fast
times. Matt Venanzi and Andrew Yang each dropped more than 30
seconds while Matt Adams took off
almost a minute and Zach Roether
dropped almost two minutes. Jeremy Morgan, however, took the award
for the biggest drop as he improved by 2:38 from his time last
year!
As the championship season continued, we
headed back to GCC on Friday, October 23rd, for the Olympic Conference Championships. The competition, we knew, would most
likely come from the same teams we faced the previous week – Lenape and
Shawnee. With Kyle Smith sick and unable to run, we
knew it meant we had very little margin for error. We needed some good races . . . and we
got them. The best effort of the
day came from sophomore, Aiden
Lynch, who finished in 12th position as our 3rd man,
showing the potential that could very likely make him one of the area’s top
runners by next year. Aiden’s
performance earned him Athlete of the Meet honors and went a long way toward
securing a very close five point victory over Shawnee, who continued their
steady improvement. In the JV race,
we took five of the first thirteen places – Alberto Redaelli – 5th, Billy Hornung – 7th, Matt Venanzi – 8th, Mike Palmieri – 10th and Eric Birkhead – 13th.
With the season winding down, the team took two different
directions – one for those who would compete in the sectionals and states, and
one for those who would finish their season with runs at Pennypacker and
Thompson Parks. On Thursday,
October 29th, the later group arrived at Pennypacker for the
annual Haddonfield Invitational. As always, the team was divided into
two, each team led by one of the coaches.
Shak was looking for his 9th victory in 10 meetings (his
10th against Cal as his lone loss came at the lucky hands of first year volunteer
assistant coach, Jeff Thompson in 2007).
Cal was just looking to stop the nightmare of consecutive defeats which
was already at nine. As the runners
approached the finish line, it was clear that Billy Hornung was having an outstanding
race. Kicking into the finish,
Billy stopped the clock at 16:53 for a big PR and a 3rd place
finish. Alberto Redaelli also closed well to
secure 8th place with a PR of his own. While eight other Cherokee runners set
PRs, including Mike Palmieri, Mike
Czuba, Eric Birkhead, Justin Domingo, Ryan Merrigan, Matt Adams and Freddy Rasmussen, it was Jeremy Morgan’s PR performance (a 2:13
improvement from last year) that earned him Co-Athlete of the Meet honors along
with Billy. Jeremy’s steady
improvement from last year to this is a testament to his dedication and hard
work. When the dust settled and the
team score was computed, it was Shak’s team on top with a 50 to 55 victory over
Cal’s. Ten in a row . . . we’ll try
not to rub it in! J
For all but the top seven, the final meet of
the season arrived on Wednesday, November 4th, at Thompson
Park. The unofficial JV/State Meet, only in its
3rd year, had grown into a huge event. This year the JV field was so big that
the organizers divided it into two races – a Championship race and an Open race,
each of which had over 200 runners.
Prior to the JV races, the freshman event was held and was quite
successful for our two freshmen. Matt Decker hit his goal of breaking 19:00
with a time of 18:51, good for 32nd place in the field of almost
200. For his effort, Matt was
selected as Athlete of the Meet. Freddy Rasmussen also achieved his goal,
finishing in 22:22 for a big PR and a nice way to end the season. While the JV team did not fare as well,
they still managed an 8th place finish in the Championship race. Kyle Smith, returning from illness, was the team’s first finisher and
earned a spot as the 7th man for the upcoming sectional
race.
On Saturday, November 7th,
we arrived at Delsea High School for the South Jersey Group 4 Sectionals. We came in expecting a very close
competition as five teams ranked among the top 20 in the entire state would be
contending for the championship.
While we were one of them, we knew that we were not the favorite and that
we would need seven good races to have a shot at reclaiming the title we last
won in 2007. Complicating our task
was the fact that Aiden Lynch had been sick for several days and Ryan Bobb was
fighting a head cold. Throughout
the race it was very difficult to determine which team was leading. Toms River North, the favorite had two
of the race leaders but their 4th and 5th runners were
back. Shawnee had three in the top
10 and their 4th man looked to be running better, but their
5th was back. Southern
was showing some pretty good upfront strength and a decent pack. We clearly had the advantage when it
came to the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th
runners but we were lacking the upfront strength. As the teams crossed the line, no one
knew for sure who had won, only that it was close. We had run well but was it enough? Unfortunately, it was not as we finished
4th with 89 points in the closest four way finish in South Jersey
Sectional history. Shawnee was the
surprise winner with 84 points, followed by Southern – 85 and Toms River North –
86. Although disappointed at not
winning, we could not fault the effort.
Everyone gave it their best.
Steve Burkholder set a new 5k
PR to finish in 7th place.
Matt McCarroll, Ryan Bobb, Greg
Malloy and Josh Perez all
finished within 16 seconds of each other.
Ryan’s performance was especially impressive and earned him Athlete of
the Meet honors. Although fighting
a cold, Ryan stayed totally focused and raced with a lot of heart. His transformation from a
middle-of-the-pack freshman into a strong and dependable varsity competitor, in
a short two year span, is another great example of what can be accomplished
through hard work and determination.
Aiden Lynch and Kyle Smith our 6th and
7th runners, were not far behind Josh, giving us, by far, the best
pack. Our 7th man beat
every team’s 5th man with the exception of Southern (one place in
front of Kyle). If they scored 6 or
7 runners in cross country, the victory would have been ours. We left Delsea determined to step up
next week at the Group 4 State Meet.
After seeing the results of the other four
sectional races, it became clear that our task at the Group 4 State Meet, on
November 14th, would be a difficult one. Each of the other sections had featured
races almost as tight as our four-way battle at Delsea. Moreover, according to the newly
released state rankings, 13 of the top 18 teams in the entire state would be in
our race. Our goal was to race our
way into the State Meet of Champions for the 13th consecutive
year. To do that, we would need to
finish no worse than 5th to, at least, gain a wild card. It would not be easy but it could be
done. All we needed was a good
race. Everyone seemed ready during
our run at Holmdel on Friday afternoon and the mood was good and relaxed during
our traditional Olive Garden dinner (followed by the traditional birthday surprise for Shak . . . who would be
around 90 by now if each of his celebrated birthdays were legit!). When we headed to the course on Saturday
morning, we seemed ready. By the
mile mark, however, it was clear that this would not be our day. A poor start by most of the team had us
far back in the pack. Against such
a strong field, making up enough ground over the remainder of the course would
be next to impossible. When Steve Burkholder crossed the line in
22nd place with a ½ second course PR (earning Athlete of the Meet
honors), we began the wait for our second man. It was not until 50 seconds and 53
places later that Aiden Lynch
crossed the line with five teammates following all within 19 seconds. Without waiting for the results, we knew
that the team would not be making the trip to the Meet of Champions this
year. The final results confirmed
this as we found ourselves all the way back in 13th place. All that was left to discover was
whether or not Steve had qualified individually as a wild card. When all the other races were run, we
found that he had, indeed, made it.
The mood was quite somber as we were confronted with the harsh reality
that we had not run as we were capable of and, in failing to do so, had ended
our season a week early. That, of
course, brings us back, once again, to the you can’t win them all statement. It was now our time to be momentarily
disappointed, to learn from this, and to move
on.
On Saturday, November
21st, the Meet of Champions took on a bit of a surreal feel for
us. The entire team was in
attendance but only Steve Burkholder
was there to compete. It was a
little breezy but the conditions were pretty good and the course was dryer than
it had been for the Group State Meet.
Steve’s teammates warmed up with him and kept him company at the starting
line until just before the gun.
When it sounded, however, Steve was on his own as he began his last cross
country race for Cherokee High School after a four year varsity career. Over those years, Steve had helped the
team win four divisional championships, three county championships, three
conference championships, one sectional championship and one group state
championship. His fine senior
season, which was coming to an end, would earn him his first All-South Jersey
award as one of the 12 best runners in the South Jersey area. When he crossed the line, 16 minutes and
45 seconds later, he had confirmed his status on All-South Jersey as the
8th area finisher . . . a fitting end to a very good high school
cross country career. On a side
note, Steve can also now claim the distinction of running in the race in which
Joe Rosa, of West Windsor Plainsboro North High School, shattered the course
record and became the first runner in Holmdel’s 30 year history to break the
magical 15 minute barrier!
The 2009 Cherokee Cross Country Season was
over.
_________________________
SENIORS:
Thank you for your dedication to the
program. Without your hard work, we
could not have accomplished so much over the past four years. The leadership you provided this year
was a key ingredient to our success.
No doubt, your athletic contributions were significant. However, it was your example to the rest
of the team that will have a lasting effect on our program. The team was important to you . . . more
so than your own accomplishments.
For that, we thank you. Please know that whatever we accomplish
in the coming years, you are, and will always be, a part of it. Thank
you.
UNDERCLASSMEN:
”A dream is just a
dream. A goal is a dream with a
plan and a deadline.” – Harvey
Mackay
We know that, on paper, we are not the best
returning team out there. But we’ve
been in this position before over the past 13 years and, yet; we have 13
consecutive conference trophies in the display case. Just as other Cherokee teams have done,
it is time for you to rise to the occasion. Accept the responsibility that goes with
being a varsity athlete in the Cherokee Cross Country Program. Don’t put limits on yourself! Dream big . . . and then
take those dreams and begin transforming them into goals. We know you can do
it.
________________________
THANK YOU:
Thank you for all your support, Mr. Schramm. It’s great to have an Athletic Director
who truly appreciates cross country!
Thank you Mr. Smyth, for the pictures, the website and
the pretzels!
Thank you parents for all of your
support!
Most of all, thank you, members of the 2009 Cherokee
Cross Country Team, for another great
season!
Coach
Shak, Coach Cal, Coach Cuneo