Boys Meet of Champions Recap
Boys Meet of Champions Recap
9th place in the State; 2nd place in South Jersey
When a team makes it to the New Jersey State Meet of Champions, the competition is so intense that even a slightly off day can spell disaster. The Cherokee boys had an off day and, while it wasn’t a total disaster, it was a far cry from the outcome we had hoped for.
Despite the ideal conditions, the entire race went out relatively slowly through the first mile. In a field that size it is hard to know for sure how a team is running until things start to spread out through the middle of the race. Still, even at the mile, we appeared to have bigger gaps between our scorers than what we had last week at the Group 4 Meet.
The lead runner from CBA made a big push on the stretch from the mile to the bowl and strung out the field. Nick Kuenkel attempted to cover the move but, instead, found himself leading the chase pack and having to work hard to do so. Despite that, Nick was able to stay near the front and he came across the line in sixth place, beating two of the group 4 runners who had finished in front of him last week! It was one bright spot for the team.
Behind Nick, Liam Tindall and Bobby Poplau were both out appropriately and were mixed in with the front group through the mile. From there to the finish, both runners struggled and lost ground. Liam held on the best, finishing in 30th (a huge improvement over his 2022 finish - 126th), while Bobby fell back to 59th place.
At that point, we were still winning the “race within the race” against Haddonfield for the South Jersey Team of the Year title. However, it would be 43 seconds and 63 places later before our fourth man, freshman, Ben Realley, would cross the line. Ben had run a fantastic race at the Group 4 Meet but, unfortunately, was not 100% healthy for the Meet of Champs (in fact he would miss several days of school the next week due to illness).
Six seconds later, Ben Weiner crossed the line to complete the scoring for the team, with Silas Matteson and Anthony DiBatista coming in as our sixth and seventh runners. Although we were well in front of Haddonfield through three runners, they put seven in before our fourth and finished in seventh place while we were fifteen points and two places behind them in the final results.
Although it was not the end to the season we had hoped for, it should not take away from the great job these guys did all year - County Champions! Conference Champions! SJ Group 4 Champions!
We are grateful to our seniors for all they have contributed to the program and we wish them the best in college and beyond! For those returning, we are excited to see what they can accomplish next year!
Thanks to all for another great season of Cherokee Cross Country!
Details for our alumni party:
Thursday, December 28th
6:30 pm
The Mile Pub (212 N Black Horse Pike, Runnemede, NJ 08078)
$60 per person, including food and hospitality. Cash bar.