Season Outlook...
The main focus coming into this year was to get the numbers up. Last year’s team was the smallest team we have had in quite some time. This year we were back over twenty people with twenty one girls. Nine of them were first-time cross country runners. I knew we had the pieces to put together a good team, but there were still a lot of uncertainties. One thing that was new or semi-new was welcoming back a former runner who was now going to volunteer coach with us.
Carly LaRosa (class of 2016) was welcomed back into the XC family.
September 9th
Cherokee Challenge
The Challenge this year had some great results for us. We had four girls run in the freshman race. Gabby Urban led the way running 14:03 to place 21st. The sophomore race had our lone entrant Maya Kumar. Maya ran 13:58 to place 24th. Her time was almost a minute and a half faster than she ran last year. The junior race saw seven girls line up to race. Megan Niglio led the way for our junior class running 12:38 to place 10th. This was her first time under thirteen minutes on our home course.
First-year runner Grace Wojciechowski clocked 13:28 to place 30th. The senior race left the best for last. Kerry O’Day with the late surge managed a second-place finish clocking 11:44. That time ties Nikki Clifford for the 2nd fastest time ever run on the Challenge course. First-year runner Regan O’Shaughnessy ran 13:26 to finish 31st. The girls team finished out of the 38 teams that competed.
In the co-ed division, Cherokee finished 2nd.
September 15th
Battle at Ocean County Park
The first step in the waters for a 5k for a lot of the people on the team. Friday Sept. 15th, we headed to Lakewood NJ to run in the Battle at OC Park. This is another class race with the freshman running 2 miles and the rest of the classes racing a 5k.
Things started off with the freshman race where we saw Gabby Urban once again get some hardware. Gabby ran 14:39 to place 21st. Her time is #3 AT on the freshman course. Also in the freshman race was Alexa Butler (16:21 52nd), Hafsa Salahuddin (17:48 77th) and Brooke Garrity(21:37 108th). The Freshman team combined for 116 points to finish 11th.
The sophomore race once again had our lone Soph. Maya Kumar scored a medal running 21:40 to place 25th. Her time is a lifetime best for her. The junior race saw some pretty impressive performances.
Megan Niglio ran a lifetime best to finish 2nd running 19:04 (#4 AT). Meg was followed by Grace Wojciechowski in her first official 5k. She clocked a 20:52 to place 10th (#9 AT). Next in was Emily Butler 23:36 (50th), Veronica Ashcraft 23:39 (51st), Grace Gorsline 23:41 (53rd), and Selen Arkan 26:50 (91st) The junior team placed 3rd scoring 52 points.
The day ended with the senior race and this group won the class race as sophomores and reclaimed their title. Kerry O'Day ran a lifetime best of 18:28 to finish 2nd. Her time breaks our school record at OC Park of 18:30 set by Nikki Clifford in 2021 when she won the senior race. Lainy Bromley was our next medal winner with a 10th-place
finish in a time of 20:58. Maddie Van Haren also got her first XC medal running a lifetime best of 21:37 to finish 23rd. Alli Rathman finished 39th running 22:30. Combined they scored 26 points to take the victory. Merging the results of the three classes that ran a 5k, the team would have finished 2nd behind Middletown South.
That is very promising since we were missing a few of our runners.
September 30th
Shore Coaches Invitational
Shore Coaches just seem to be bad timing for us this year. Whether it was sickness, college visits or SAT’s, we were not full strength for this one. Apparently, the timing company was not at full strength either. That didn’t hold back the people that went through.
In the Freshman race Gabby Urban competed in her last freshman race running 14:55 placing 16th. In the JV race, Grace Gorsline was our top finisher running 24:46. Running just 3 in the varsity race, Kerry O’Day ran 19:32 to place 4th. Grace Wojciechowski ran 21:19 to place 38th and Regan O’Shaughnessy ran 23:47 despite having her knee flare up in the middle of the race.
October 7th
South Jersey Open
This SJ Open this year was a chance for some of our newcomers to race a 5K at Dream Park before the conference meet. In the JV race, Selen Arkan ran 24:41 to place 19th, Sydney Morrison ran 26:24 to place 43rd which was the fastest she has ever run at Dream Park and Alexa Butler ran 27:05 in her first ever 5k.
The varsity race saw Grace Wojciechowski make a name for herself running under 20 minutes for the first time ever running 19:58, she placed 10th. Her time is #7 AT at Dream Park. Gabby Urban was next in running 21:58 to place 27th, Maya Kumar 22:13 was 31st, Grace Gorsline 23:09 was 37th and Veronica Ashcraft 24:12 was 44th.
October 13th
Burlington County Open
The championship season was about to begin and we were again back at Mill Creek Park. Going into the meet, we knew our closest competition was most likely going to be Moorestown. This was going to be our first look as a whole team together. The girls managed to pack their top 5 in the top 15, and all seven runners in the top 30. Kerry O’Day finished 2nd running 19:03. Her time is #4 AT at Mill Creek and is #4 AT for seniors. Megan Niglio was 4th running 19:25. Her time is #7 AT and #4 on the junior list. Grace Wojciechowski ran 20:22 to place 6th which is #9 on the junior list. Lainy Brwomley was 15th at 21:06 and Olivia Parkinson ran 21:21 to place 15th for her first race back this year after sitting out after the Cherokee Challenge. All 5 girls were named to the All County Team. Maya Kumar ran 21:39 to place 21st, which was well better than her 23:02 from last year. Gabby Urban rounded out the varsity team running 22:04 to place 28th. Her time is #19 on the AT freshman list.
The JV race saw some impressive performances. Veronica Ashcraft placed 2nd running 23:38. Grace Gorsline was 4th running 23:43 just missing her course PR. Selen Arkan ran 24:54 which was almost a minute improvement from last year. Alexa Butler ran 26:24 which is her new 5k PR. Hafsa Salahuddin ran 29:23 and Brooke Garrity ran 35:57. Aside from winning the meet the other highlight was the standoff between Goose and Jarvis over the accuracy of the training. Needless to say, Jarvis backed down when Goose looked like she was about to go ninja on Jarvis.
October 18th
Olympic Conference Championship
The Olympic Conference meet this year was going to be a battle. We knew that Cherry Hill East had a very talented team and Paul VI looked to be putting the pieces together to have a really solid team. The weather conditions were near perfect. Kerry O’Day ran the fastest 5k of her entire life clocking 18:28 to finish 2nd. That time is #3 AT and #3 on the senior list. Megan Niglio ran 19:12 to place 5th. Her time is #6 AT and #3 on the junior list. Grace Wojciechowski nearly matched her SJ Open time, running 19:59 to place 10th.
Lainy Bromley ran 20:35 to finish 16th, which is #6 AT on the senior list. Olivia Parkinson completed our top five running 20:42 for 18th, which is #8 AT on the senior list. Maddie Van Haren running in her first 5k since the Battle at OC ran 21:37 to finish 32nd. Maya Kumar ran a lifetime best at Dream Park of 21:48 to place 35th. Regan O’Shaughnessy ran 22:07 in her first race back since her knee flared up to place 36th, which is her fastest-ever 5k. Gabby Urban completed the varsity team running 22:12 to place 43rd.
The team won scoring 51 points ahead of Paul VI which scored 62. Earning first-team all-conference honors were Kerry, Megan, and Wojo. Second-team honors were received by Lainy and Liv.
In the JV race, Veronica Ashcraft clocked a lifetime best of 23:01 to place 7th. Grace Gorsline ran 23:20 to place 9th. Selen Arkan ran 24:21 and placed 11th. Freshman Alexa Butler ran a lifetime best of 25:50 to place 22nd and dip under 26 minutes for the first time ever. Hafsa Salahuddin ran 34:43 to place 41st. Brooke Garrity ran 35:00 to place 42nd and seeing her first 5k, Madhumita Ranjith ran 36:02 to place 44th.
October 28th
South Jersey Group IV Sectionals
Last time to race at Dream Park for our senior class. They certainly have had their fair share of races at Dream Park over the past four years. The team title once again looked
to be a battle with Cherry Hill East. The first race of the day followed by slightly warmer than normal conditions led to a slow start and ultimately not super fast times. Despite that, the girls still needed to show up, and they did. Kerry was 3rd running 18:59. Megan was 9th running 19:43. Wojo was 10th running 20:01, Lainy was 15th running 20:29 (just missing her course pr of 20:27). Liv was 18th running 20:42 and Maddie Van Haren finished 43rd running 21:59. Regan, unfortunately, had to drop out after the pain in her knee came back during the race.
Despite the disappointment of not running your fastest, or even not finishing, the team ran for each other today and it showed. They outscored Cherry Hill East 54 to 67 to reclaim their 3rd sectional title in the last 4 years. Not just winning a Sectional title but taking the team back to the State Group 4 Championship Meet. The other impressive feat is that our top 4 runners would have qualified for the State meet on their own if the team hadn’t advanced.
October 31st
Haddonfield JV Invitational
Last race of the season for most of these girls and they didn’t disappoint. Running at Pennypacker Park for the only time each year that we get to see Haddonfield’s home course. Leading the way in the A race was Gabby Urban who clocked 22:08 to place 9th. Veronica Ashcraft ran a lifetime best of 22:48 to place 14th. First time under 23 for her. Grace Gorsline ran 22:52 to place 15th and Selen Arkan ran a lifetime best of 23:58 running under 24 minutes for the first time ever.
In the B race, Alexa Butler continued her progression of getting faster clocking 25:02 to place 9th. Madhumita Ranjith in just her second XC race dropped her time to 25:03 and finished 49th. What an ending.
November 4th
State Group IV
The weather conditions for the State meet looked to be the best that I can remember in quite a while. No wind, cloudy and cool. Heading into the state meet, the main goal was to advance to the meet of champions. a top 3 finish was the ideal goal, but knew that could prove challenging in the deep field.
At the conclusion of the race, I knew the girls had done something pretty special. It seemed like everything was starting to click at the right time. 6 of the seven girls ran lifetime bests at Holmdel. Kerry O'Day was certainly on a mission as she posted the 2nd fastest time in school history at Holmdel clocking 18:41 (her previous best was 19:24 from 2021) for 4th place. Megan Niglio ran 19:30 to finish 8th (her previous best was 19:58 from 2021). Her time is #9 all-time in school history. Next across the line was Lainy Bromley who ran 20:20 a new Holmdel PR to place 31st.
Grace Wojciechowski in only her second time racing at Holmdel ran 20:53 to place 56th and then Olivia Parkinson ran 20:57 to place 59th. The team scored 135 points to place 4th. Just 3 points off of 3rd place. The 5-man team average was 20:04 which is the second-best team average at the state meet and the 3rd best team average ever run at Holmdel. I knew they did something pretty special when we got our top 5 under 21 minutes. With the top team from every group getting an automatic bid, we needed to wait until they announced the wild card teams to make it official. That news came Sunday afternoon when they posted them online.
This marks the fourth time the team has qualified for the Meet of Champions. 2004 (8th), 2010 (6th), 2021 (1st) and now 2023(??). The 2020 season ended at Sectionals and the NJSIAA did not hold a state championship or MOC. They did have a pseudo-MOC meet, the Holmdel Invitational, which we were invited to and placed 5th.
November 11th
Meet of Champions
Last dance at Holmdel for four of the girls lining up today. A top-ten finish as a team would be something to smile about at the end of the day. We knew that we had the ability to finish in the top 5 if everything went better than expected, but one can certainly not rely on that. But we knew that we had the chance to show the state that we were deserving of being in the top ten. Four of our girls knew what it meant to compete on the biggest stage in New Jersey. We had discussed certain things all week as to what to expect.
You know the race is going to go out super fast. You know just a few seconds could result in losing more than just a few spots. There was certainly a lot of hype leading up to this meet with the talent level and the once again near-perfect weather conditions. Kerry O’Day became just the 2nd girl in school history to place in the top ten at MOC’s She clocked an 18:44 to place 10th.
Megan Niglio ran a lifetime best at Holmdel of 19:17 to place 22nd. That time moves her up to #6 AT on the Holmdel list. Olivia Parkinson ran 20:45 to be our 3rd scorer in 106th running her fastest time at Holmdel this season...
Grace Wojciechowski ran 21:06 to place 131st and Lainy Bromley rounded out our scoring running 21:15 to place 136th. Maddie Van Haren ran 22:06 to place 147th and Maya Kumar ran 22:18 to place 149th. Both of those times were the fastest that they had ever run at Holmdel.
The team ended their State competition with a 9th-place finish at the Meet of Champions. Kerry earned 2nd team All-State honors.
November 25th
Nike Northeast Regionals
Tub Gator Cross Country was looking at their 2nd trip ever to NXR and the 3rd time that we will have raced at Bowdoin Park. This year’s field looked stacked with 23 teams from the northeast all looking to qualify for the National meet.
There were a few new Gator’s added to the TG family. Grace, Maya, and Gabby are all now part of the family and Maddie now joins the Tub Gator Cross Country family.
Everyone arrived at the park close to 1:00 on Friday to go through their normal pre-meet. Coach Jarvis and Viscidy got a little sidetracked and wound up showing up just as the girls were finishing everything up. The parents, girls, and coaches headed over to check into the hotel and then get cleaned up for dinner. Heading over to the Olive Garden gave us our pre-race dinner followed up with some Chronology and then Heads Up to cap off a fun evening. Next up was race time.
Gabby was the first to race in the Northeast Open race. Having not raced a 5k since the Haddonfield meet probably kept her from being at her best, but the experience of competing at Bowdoin and competing at a Regional meet was worth it. She ran 24:12 and placed 54th.
In the championship race, Kerry O’Day finished with a bang running the fastest time ever at Bowdoin by a Cherokee athlete. 19:20 got her 18th place which earned her 3rd team All-Region. Megan was next in running 20:11 to place 47th, Lainy Bromley ran 20:53 to place 97th. Liv Parkinson ran 20:57 to place 100th. Grace Wojciechowski ran 22:08 to place 158th. Maya Kumar ran 22:10 to place 160th and Maddie Van Haren ran 22:41 to place 170th. The team finished 9th out of the 23 teams that raced. They were the top team from South Jersey.
Final Thoughts
One can say every year is a rebuilding year in high school. A graduating class moves on, a new freshman class comes in. Returning athletes try to get better. One thing I think is true is that the people who get invested are the ones who see success. Success looks a lot different to many people. Sure one can simply look at the clock to determine what success looks like, but for many of the girls on the team that isn't a fair assessment.
Many girls on the team this year have battled. Not necessarily on the cross country course, but have battled. They battled injuries, and for some not new ones. Ones that they have been battling for a few years. The thing that makes me most proud as a coach is seeing those individuals who did not give up. It is easy in life to give up when things don’t go your way, but those who stick with it and push through are the ones that I know will be successful in life. That is what running is to me. Preparing you to deal with the ups and downs of life.
This year’s team once again put Cherokee XC back on the map. They finished ranked 2nd in South Jersey and 9th in the State. As coach Schramm, my HS coach would say, they won the triple crown. County, Conference and Sectionals. The leadership on the team this year was by far one of the best senior classes I have had as a coach. There were people that were bought in even though their seasons did not go how they wanted them to. They cheered on and included everyone. I couldn’t ask for more, and that is the reason they were successful. I hope the underclassmen were paying attention. They get to lead this team next year, and it all starts with what you do from this day forward.
~ coach Jarvis
Honors:
Burlington County Open Champions
Olympic Conference Champions
South Jersey Group 4 Sectional Champions
Ranked 2nd in South Jersey
Ranked 9th in New Jersey
Kerry O’Day
1st Team All-Conference
1st Team All Burlington County
1st Team All Group 4
2nd Team All-State
3rd Team All-Northeast
All South Jersey
Megan Niglio
1st Team All-Conference
1st Team All Burlington County
2nd Team All Group 4
All South Jersey
Grace Wojciechowski
1st Team All-Conference
1st Team All Burlington County
Alaina Bromley
2nd Team All-Conference
1st Team All Burlington County
Olivia Parkinson
2nd Team All-Conference
1st Team All Burlington County
Athletes of the Week
Week 1- Gabrielle Urban
Week 2 - Kerry O’Day
Week 3- Grace Wojciechowski
Week 4- Alexa Butler
Week 5- Regan O'Shaughnessy
Week 6- Maya Kumar
Week 7- Alaina Bromley