Cherokee’s Jack Tindall destroyed a historic Holmdel County Park freshman course record Saturday at the Shore Coaches Invitational.
Tindall, in his first high school 5,000, ran 15:54 and placed 2nd in the Group A race, destroying the freshman record of 16:15 set by New Jersey legend Craig Forys 21 years ago.
At the 2003 Monmouth County Championships, Forys ran 16:15 and placed 2nd to Red Bank’s Joe Kingsbery. He matched that time a week and a half later in the Shore Conference Championships, when he placed 5th behind Kingsbery, Rob Dennis of Red Bank, Will Melofchik of CBA and Chris Pisano of Toms River North.
Forys went on to earn 11 All-America honors at Michigan. His 8:24.09 steeplechase in 2014 as a post-collegiate is 3rd-fastest ever by a New Jersey native and earned him a No. 4 U.S. ranking. In 2016, he placed 6th in the steeple at the U.S. Olympic Trials. Forys also ran 13:34.21 for 5,000 meters.
The previous South Jersey freshman record at Holmdel was set just last year when Ryan Duffy of Kingsway ran 16:22 in the B race at Shore Coaches and then lowered it to 16:19 at the state Group 4 race.
Tindall beat that by nearly half a minute.
He placed 2nd in the A race to senior Lukas Disko of Bridgewater-Raritan, who ran 15:54. Disko ran 9:13.61 for 3,200 meters last spring and placed 5th in the Meet of Champions.
Overall, Tindall’s time was 4th-fastest of the seven boys races behind Ridgewood senior Luke Pash [15:45], Ridge senior Brenden McMahon [15:50] and Disko. All three who ran faster are seniors. Pash ran 4:04.49 for 1,600 meters last spring and McMahon ran 9:04.07 for the full two miles indoors.
His time is No. 37 in South Jersey history and No. 12 in Burlington County history. He’s the 9th Cherokee runner to break 16 minutes at Holmdel.
And the Varsity A race didn’t start until 2 p.m. on a very warm afternoon that wasn’t conducive to fast times.
Despite five of the first 23 finishers, Cherokee placed 2nd in the Varsity A race, 49-65, behind Westfield.
Cherokee had the 2nd-fastest average among all schools in all the races at 16:43, behind only Westfield’s 16:38.
Cherry Hill East packed its five runners in 38 seconds and placed 3rd with 68 points, just behind Cherokee. Westfield, Cherokee and Cherry Hill East went 1-2-3 in the full merge, 155 for Westfield, 203 for Cherokee and 218 for East. Ocean City, which won the Group C race, was 7th in the merge.
Not only was Tindall the top freshman in all the races, Cherokee’s No. 2 runner, Benjamin Realley, was the top sophomore, 9th in 16:35.
Senior Liam Tindall placed 16th for the Chiefs in 16:52, sophomore Sean Sooy was 22nd in 17:03 and senior Enzo Corona 23rd in 17:07. They were backed up by senior Benjamin Weiner, who was 30th in 17:23, and junior Logan Bromley, 34th in 17:29.
Cherry Hill East packed its five scorers from 16:34 to 17:12 and actually had its top six within 40 seconds.
Seniors Brandon Lyons and Brody Bogos both finished in the top 10, Lyons 8th in 16:34 and Bogos 10th in 16:40. Junior Alvin Lin ran 16:50 for 14th, junior Will Nelson 20th in 17:00 and junior Colin Moore 24th in 17:12, with sophomore Cian Sherlock 26th in 17:14.
Scored as a dual meet, Cherokee edges East 27-28.
Williamstown junior Dominic Burgio also broke into the top 20, running 16:55 for 18th place, and senior teammate Dylan Saber ran 17:20 for 29th.
Also under 17:30 was Washington Township senior Hunter Bostwick, who placed 31st in 17:24.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 