Junior Megan Niglio, senior Madison Van Haren, sophomore Madeline Meder and senior Kerry O’Day ran 12:16.72 to win the distance medley Tuesday night at the 88th annual Easterns at the Armory.
Niglio led off with a 3:49.10 that had Cherokee a close 2nd behind Shenendehowa of Clifton Park, N.Y., Van Haren split 59.29 to move Cherokee into the lead, Meder ran the 800 in 2:25.32 to extend the lead to 10 meters, and O’Day anchored in 5:03.01, running away from the field to give Cherokee its first Easterns relay win.
Cherokee’s time is fastest in New Jersey this year and No. 8 in the U.S., according to the MileSplit national database.
The only previous Easterns wins for the Cherokee girls team were by Monica Olkowski in the 1,000 at the 1990 meet in Boston and Megan Lacy in the mile in 2010, also at the Armory.
Cherokee becomes the 3rd South Jersey school to win the Easterns DMR. Lenape won in 2010 and 2013. Cherokee’s time is 8th-fastest in Burlington County history, and the top nine times on the all-time county top-10 are from Cherokee or Lenape.
This is the 3rd straight year the Chiefs have run 12:20 or faster.
All-Time Burlington County Girls Indoor DMR Top 10
11:54.63 … Lenape, 2013
11:55.90 … Lenape, 2012
11:57.21 … Cherokee, 2022
11:58.92 … Lenape, 2010
12:04.9h … Lenape, 2015
12:10.07 … Cherokee, 2023
12:15.60 … Lenape, 2014
12:16.72 … Cherokee, 2024
12:19.81 … Lenape, 2009
12:20.11 … Shawnee, 2017
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 