“There are no guarantees that you are going to win but I think I
can say with confidence that every one of our kids that pursues excellence to
its fullest comes away – whether they win or lose – feeling that they gave
everything thy had and they’re proud of that.”
-
Bill
Aris,
Coach at Fayetteville Manlius High School where his girls’ team just won the
National Championship for the 10th time in the last 11
years.
-
Coach
Aris got that right. There are no
guarantees.
We
came out of last cross country season filled with confidence and excited at the
prospects of what this team might accomplish this year. We dreamed of winning it all. We set lofty goals – the State Group IV
Championship; the Meet of Champions; qualifying for Nationals. In doing so, perhaps we became too
focused on the goal and not enough on the process.
There
are no guarantees.
We
did not achieve all of our goals.
By reaching for them, however, we accomplished a lot.
When you reach for the stars you may not quite get one, but you
won't come up with a handful of mud either.
-
Leo
Burnett
While
we may have come a bit short of our ultimate goals this season, we definitely
did not come up with a handful of mud.
The varsity squad ended the year as the Number 1 team in South Jersey, for the
first time since 2005 (6th time overall), and the 7th ranked team in the
state. We were American Division Champions for the
first time since 2011 (20th time overall), Burlington County Champions
(3rd in a row and 18th overall), Olympic Conference Champions
(2nd in a row and 13th overall), South Jersey Group IV Champions (first
time since 2011 and 8th overall) and we placed 2nd in the Group IV State
Meet, our highest finish since 2008.
No mud there!
Not
to be outdone, the “JV” and freshmen teams were equally strong! Our complete domination of the class
race at the Burlington County Championships (first 10 finishers and 12 of the
top 14) sent a clear signal to the rest of the county that Cherokee is planning
on staying on top for years to come.
The news isn’t much better for the teams in the Olympic Conference where
our “JV” team took 8 of the top 12 places, including the top 4. Add to that, a freshman squad that won
every race they entered, and you have the makings of a dynasty. The future is bright!
Of
course, none of this would have been possible without the leadership of this
year’s seniors. The seeds of success were sewn in the
fall of 2013 when our two senior captains, Jack Shea and Nick Falk, began their freshman
season. They were talented enough
to move straight into the varsity seven.
More impressive, however, was the great attitude they brought to the
program. Over the years, that
attitude has permeated the team and it is the single biggest reason for the
successful position we find ourselves in today. Thank you, Nick and Jack, for turning
the program around! Pat Mahoney is the only other 4 year
athlete in this senior class and he has been a strong, steady, quiet influence
since joining the squad in 2013.
Thank you, Pat, for your dedication to the program! In the fall of 2014, we added 4 new team
members to the class: Brendan Falzone, Cam Wilburn, Chris
Monteleone and Mike
Algarra. Brendan transferred
from soccer and immediately moved into the varsity where he has been a
contributor ever since! Cam missed
most of his first season due to injury but overcame that to have an excellent
junior and senior year! Chris has
also battled injury but has stayed focused, worked hard and done all the small
things necessary to keep healthy and running! After running track as a freshman, Mike
added cross country as a sophomore and has shown steady improvement each
year! In 2015, we added our final
member of this year’s class, Ben
Rosenberg. Although he joined
the program late, Ben has proven himself to be a dedicated, hardworking
teammate! This outstanding group of
young men has added much to the Cherokee Cross Country Program and they will be
missed. Gentlemen, please accept
our best wishes as you move on to college and beyond. Know that whatever we accomplish in the
coming years, you are, and will always be, a part of it . . .
For
those of you returning
. . . Start thinking now about what you want to accomplish next year and what it
will require from you.
“If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace
else.”
-
Yogi
Berra, Baseball
Hall-of-Famer
-
Yogi
was right. You gotta have
goals. They give you
direction. Just don’t get so
focused on the end result that you lose sight of the
process.
At
Fayetteville Manlius, Coach Aris says the process is the goal. His athletes take special pride in
trying to perfect what they do each day.
Not in a paranoid, over-meticulous way . . . but with calm, common sense
objectivity. In doing so, they
relieve the stress of competition (“Oh my
God, I gotta win this race or else!”).
Instead, they simply focus on the process. After all, that is the beauty of this
sport. The process is the same for
all of us, from state champion to middle of the pack freshman. The process is what makes this
special! Years from now, when you
look back at your high school cross country days, it won’t be the race results
you remember, it will be the days of practice, of shared “suffering,” you spent
with your mates that you will recall . . .
the workouts, the long runs, the drills, the striders, the strength
training, the pasta dinners, the corny jokes, the laughter, the pain . . . the
process. That – gentlemen - should
be the focus going forward.
Concentrate each day on doing things as perfectly as possible. As we move into the track season and
begin to look ahead to Cross Country 2017, it’s okay to dream of success and
establish goals (which are really just dreams with a plan and a deadline). Your goals will give you the will to do
what is required. On a day-to-day
basis, however, focus on the process.
Perfect what you do! Get the
most you can out of each and every practice!
We
can’t assure you of victory . . .
There
are no guarantees.
But,
we can assure you that – win or lose – you will come away with a sense of
self-satisfaction that few people are ever privileged to
experience.
Thank
you . . .
Thank
you managers: Mike McShane, Matt Powell, Dan Schwartz,
Billy Gehret and Nik
Kadirisani. Workouts would have
been next to impossible to coordinate without your help. We appreciate your efforts and your
dedication to the program!
Thank
you Mr. Bookwalter and all the
members of the Booster
Club!
Thank
you, parents, for raising such
outstanding young men and allowing us to work with them. Thank you also for your support for all
that we do!
Thank
you Mrs. Charlesworth and Mr. Agnew! We truly appreciate our administration’s
support!
Thank
you Mr.Smyth and Mr. Falk for all of the great
photos! Additional thanks, Mr.
Smyth, for keeping our website updated!
Thank
you, Mr. Shea, for your work with
the Marlton Rec Program. Thanks to
you we are getting talented, motivated, freshmen coming into the program. It has made a big difference and we
really appreciate it!
Most
of all, thank you athletes! You
make our job easy. You earned the number ranking in
South Jersey through your hard work and commitment to excellence. Thanks for bringing us along for the
ride! We are incredibly proud of
you!
-
Coach
Shak & Coach Thompson