Individual winner Ethan Wechsler led three Cherokee runners among the first four finishers to lead Cherokee to its fourth straight Olympic Conference XC title and 11th overall.
Wechsler, a junior, covered the 5,000-meter course at Dream Park in Logan Township in 15:41 Wednesday, finishing 50 meters ahead of Bishop Eustace senior Connor Melko for the title.
This is the third straight year and eighth time in the last 18 years a Cherokee runner has won the individual title.
Cherokee, ranked No. 2 behind Haddonfield in South Jersey and No. 4 in the state, outscored second-place Camden Catholic 28-90.
Juniors Chris Spisak and Chase Miller finished third and fourth for Cherokee in 16:01 and 16:17, sophomore Brett Shea ran 16:29 for seventh, and junior Michael Gavio made it five runners in the top 13 with a 16:43.
Junior Tyler Jackson backed up Cherokee’s five scorers with an 18th-place finish in 16:48, and sophomore Nico Grilli nearly made it all seven runners under 17 minutes when he placed 26th in 17:02.
Scoring Cherokee against the entire field, Cherokee goes 1-3-4-7-13 and the field goes 2-5-6-8-9 for a 28-30 Cherokee win.
Cherokee averaged 16:14, which is fast no matter how flat the course is.
Also in the top 10 were Washington Township senior Austin Milou [5th in 16:23], Camden Catholic senior Richard Castaneda [6th in 16:26], Cherry Hill East junior Oliver Adler [8th in 16:33], Washington Township senior Evan Chu [9th in 16:34] and Camden Catholic senior Matt Coffey [10th in 16:36].
Cherokee, which joined the Olympic Conference in the fall of 2000, previously won Olympic Conference titles in 2000, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Here’s a look at Cherokee’s individual winners:
2005 … Greg Bredeck, 16:05 [Gloucester County College]
2006 … Alex Yersak, 15:58 [Gloucester County College]
2007 … Alex Yersak, 16:38 [Gloucester County College]
2011 … Shawn Wilson, 15:41 [Gloucester County College]
2012 … Shawn Wilson, 15:25 [Gloucester County College]
2016 … Jack Shea, 15:44 [Gloucester County College]
2017 … Justin Kelly,15:37 [Gloucester County College]
2018 … Ethan Wechsler, 15:41 [Dream Park]
