The Cherokee girls won the sprint medley and placed 7th in the distance medley with all-time South Jersey top-12 times in both events Saturday at the Oregon Relays at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
Cherokee won the sprint medley in 4:04.69, No. 12 in South Jersey history, Saturday afternoon, then came back and took 6th in the DMR in 12:07.43, No. 11 in South Jersey history.
In the sprint med, Maddie Van Haren and Alison Cooke ran the 200 legs, Kelsey Niglio the 400 in 58.51 and Nicole Clifford anchored in 2:13.55. That’s the fastest time in the state in five years. Cherokee broke the school record of 4:08.81 set by the 2011 team at Nationals.
In the DMR, freshman Megan Niglio led off with a 3:46.08 for 1,200 meters, Cooke ran 58.80 for the 800 and Kelsey Niglio split 2:00.40 for the 800, handing off to Clifford at 7:05.28.
Clifford, in her third hard effort in two days, split 5:02.15 to bring Cherokee home. Clifford also placed 8th in the mile in 4:57.81.
Cherokee, which ran 11:57.91 indoors, broke the outdoor school record of 12:21.87, set by the 2012 team at the Rowan Invitational.
O’Day also ran personal bests of 2:23.99 in the 800 and 5:16.28 in the mile, Van Haren ran PRs of 12.84 in the 100 and 25.60 in the 200, Cooke ran 25.86 to PR in the 200, Niglio PR’d with 59.60 in the 400 and Megan Niglio ran 10:35.26 to place 6th in the freshman 3,000. Cherokee also ran 1:46.26 in the 800-meter relay.
All-Time South Jersey SMR list
3:59.6h … Willingboro, 2003
4:00.34 … Willingboro, 2006
4:00.71 … Willingboro, 2002
4:01.07 … Lenape, 2015
4:02.60 … Sterling, 2017
4:02.69 … Willingboro, 2004
4:02.89 … Woodrow Wilson, 2002
4:03.04 … Camden, 1995
4:03.42 … Millville, 2008
4:03.54 … Lenape, 2006
4:04.44 … Millville, 2013
4:04.69 … Cherokee, 2022
4:04.86 … Woodrow Wilson, 2009
4:05.2h … Winslow Twp., 2003
4:05.36 … Willingboro, 2010
4:05.38 … Millville, 2019
4:05.70 … Ocean City, 2004
4:06.06 … Ocean City, 2005
4:06.36 … Millville, 2011
4:06.56 … Rancocas Valley, 2007
4:07.16 … Egg Harbor Twp., 2015
All-Time South Jersey DMR list
11:53.15 … Lenape, 2012
12:00.47 … Haddonfield, 2021
12:00.64 … Ocean City, 2004
12:02.34 … Haddonfield 2000
12:02.37 … Haddonfield, 2014
12:04.39 … Lenape, 2010
12:05.39 … Ocean City 2005
12:05.98 … Sterling, 2017
12:06.73 … Ocean City 1994
12:07.21 … Lenape 2008
12:07.43 … Cherokee, 2022
12:08.61 … Ocean City, 2014
12:10.75 … Sterling, 2016
12:10.76 … Lenape, 2017
12:12.24 … Millville, 2009
12:13.16 … Bishop Eustace, 2011
12:14.05 … Cherry Hill East, 2007
12:14.24 … Highland, 2004
12:14.61 … Lenape, 2013
12:15.42 … Ocean City, 2015
12:16.79 … Lenape, 2015
12:18.27 … Bishop Eustace, 1995
12:18.29 … Shawnee, 2012
12:19.26 … Woodrow Wilson, 2001
12:19.41 … Rancocas Valley, 2011
12:19.46 … Ocean City, 2013
12:19.60 … Shawnee, 2015
12:19.79 … Haddonfield, 2015
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 