Penn Relays History
Penn Relays History
Congrats to Cherokee for their acceptance into both 4x800s
This week our teams will be competing in the prestigious Penn Relays. Our team has a great history at this meet and thanks to Coach Jarvis, we have a trip down history lane with the girls program.
For the boys’ program, we will wait for Coach Shak to (possibly) put together a history.
The girls will race in event # 104 - High School Girls’ 4x800 Large School scheduled for 9:34 am on Thursday.
The boys will race in event # 303 - High School Boys’ 4x800 Large School scheduled for event 9:20 am on Friday.
Penn Relays History
Penn Relays is without a doubt one of the most prestigious events run in the track circuit for high school, college, and pro athletes. We have seen great success over the years while attending Penn. We have run 4x100’s and 4x400’s almost every year we have had a program, since they do not have qualifying standards, but other events, such as the 4x800, have more strict standards since they have a limited field size.
4x100
Relay-wise, our fastest 4x100m relay ever run at Penn was in 2013 when the team of Danni Iannone, Courtney Foster, Jess Strauss, and Liz Montague ran 49.70 to win their heat. They finished 32nd out of the 247 large school teams that ran.
4x400
Coincidentally, that same year was the highlight of our 4x400m relay performances. On Thursday, the relay team won the South Jersey Large School heat running 3:54.98. This would be the first wheel that the girls’ program has ever won. On the relay were Kristen Visconti, Sarah Robbie, Courtney Foster, and Brittany King. This broke the current school record by just over a second. This qualified them for the Philadelphia Area final on Saturday. They came back Saturday and ran even faster to place 3rd running 3:54.12 which is still the school record.
4x800
The 4x800m relay team qualified for the first time ever in 2000. The team of Erin Chiarulli, Melissa Razo, Michelle Bilicki, and Julie Harms ran 9:39.30 to place 8th in their heat and 31st overall. The next year that the team qualified was in 2021. The team of Kelsey Niglio, Kerry O’Day, Megan Niglio, and Nikki Clifford ran 9:21.19 to win their heat and qualify for the Championship of America race for the first time in school history. This marked our second wheel to add to the trophy case. They came back the next day and despite our lead-off leg getting tripped up with about 200m to go, they still managed to run 9:17.77(which was the fastest time ever run outdoors) to place 4th in the COA race. The next year in 2023, the team of Kelsey Niglio, Kerry O’Day, Maddie Meder, and Meagn Niglio ran 9:23.45 to place 3rd in their large school heat once again qualifying them for the COA Race. They came back the next day and dropped a 9:14.25 to place 6th in the COA race. This is the current outdoor school record.
Distance Medley
The DMR first qualified in 2004 for their first and only appearance at Penn. The team of Megan O’Leary, Emily Keller, Grace Pelerin, and Lisa Burkholder ran 12:35.61 to place 15th. The team also qualified in 2022 and 2023 but elected to run the 4x8 over the DMR.
Individuals
Individually, our first person to qualify to run at Penn was Monica Olkowski in 1990. Monica ran 4:43.12 in the 1500m to place 3rd.
Our next individual to qualify was Emily Kulcyk in the 400m Intermediate Hurdles. She ran 1:04.04 to place 19th in 2010.
Then began our string of field qualifiers.
2011 Melissa Lake threw 136-7 in the Javelin to place 4th and Jess Woodard threw 42-7 in the Shot Put to place 8th.
In 2012, Lake threw 136-11 to place 7th, Woodard threw 126-7 in the discus to place 9th and on the track Megan Lacy ran 9:44.72 in the 3000m to place 4th.
2013 saw Jess Woodard throw 156-5 in the discus to place 3rd and was the top American earning her a coveted Penn Relays watch.
Our last individual to get in was Kaela Schrier who threw 115-8 to place 13th in the Javelin in 2017.
This year our 4x8 and DMR relays both would have gotten in. We have chosen to run the 4x8 over the DMR. We will also field 4x1 and 4x4 relays.
Fundraising Goals
It is the mission of 4xAlumni 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 ***
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 only have the availibility to collect funds via Venmo, but we are actively seeking ways to collect via credit card, Zelle, PayPal and other forms to accomodate the ecosystem in 2024.
During the months of April, May and June, we will be collecting funds that will directly contribute to scholarships for graduating seniors. Please consider donating to help fund our scholarship money.
Venmo: @ Cherokee4xalumni
Sectionals Meet Up
Looking forward to the end of the season, Cherokee will be competing in the Group 4 Sectionals at Pennsauken HS on May 31st and June 1st. Because of the proximity to local watering holes and Marlton, the 4xAlumni group will be meeting at Double Nickle to celebrate the season and get another chance to connect with others.
Please consider joining us after the track meet at Double Nickel (1585 Route 73 Pennsauken) at 3 pm on June 1st. We’ll have 4xAlumni gear to give away + much more. This is a 19/21+ event.
Consider filling out this Form so we can have an idea how many are attending.
About 4xAlumni
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 ‘99
Vice President: Michelle (Bilicki) Wolosky ‘00
Secretary and Treasurer: Caitlin (O’Malley) Bertheaud ‘05
Social Media & Communication: Lisa Burkholder ‘06
Marketing & Fundraising: Marc Pelerin ‘02
Event Coordinator: Tim Haggerty ‘96
Team Liaison: Dave Sitzer ‘00
Voting Members: Joe Halin ‘00 & Sunny Patel ‘96
Venmo: @ Cherokee4xalumni