Senior Nick Kuenkel, junior Liam Tindall, senior Robert Poplau and freshman Benjamin Realley all placed in the top 30 to lead Cherokee to 3rd place in the state Group 4 meet at Holmdel Saturday.
This is the 5th straight year Cherokee has placed in the top 5 and the 19th time in the last 26 years the Chiefs have placed 5th or better.
The race featured the three highest-ranked public schools in the state – Westfield, Ridgewood and Cherokee – and they finished in that order, with Westfield placing all five scorers in the top 20 for 54 points and Ridgewood edging Cherokee 104-110 for 2nd place.
Kuenkel placed 5th in 15:47, Tindall ran 16:15 for 15th, Poplau placed 21st in 16:21 and Realley was 28th in 16:39. Junior Benjamin Weiner was Cherokee’s 5th scorer in 48th with a 17:05.
Since 1996, Cherokee has won Group 4 seven times, placed 2nd three times, 3rd five times, 4th twice and 5th twice.
Williamstown junior Dylan Saber ran 16:14 for 14th place. That makes him the 2nd-fastest Williamstown runner ever at Holmdel. Paul Szulewski ran 15:54 at the 2010 Meet of Champions.
Saber’s time is No. 11 in Gloucester County history at Hollmdel:
15:54 … Mike Mantini [Gateway], 1978
15:54 … Paul Szulewski [Williamstown], 2010
15:59 … Anthony Dentino [Washington Twp.], 2010
16:01 … Peyton Shute [Woodbury], 2022
16:09 … Noah Culbreath [Kingsway], 2014
16:09 … Brady Shute [Woodbury], 2020
16:10 … Nick Pshunder [Delsea], 2014
16:11 … Sebastien Reed [Pitman], 2019
16:12 … Anas Bensaoud [Clearview], 2019
16:13 … Brian Skelly [Washington Twp,], 1999
Kingsway’s Ryan Duffy placed 18th in 16:18.93, which breaks his own South Jersey freshman record at Holmdel. More on Duffy later!
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 