Jack Tindall became the first freshman ever to win a Burlington County Open, and Cherokee packed its five scorers in 13 seconds on the way to its 26th title and 12th in a row.
Cherokee, ranked 5th in New Jersey, went 1-3-4-5-6 for a score of points, tied for 2nd-lowest in meet history. Cherokee scored 15 last year. Cherokee scored 19 in 1999 and again in 2019.
Shawnee was 2nd with 68 points and Cinnaminson 3rd with 98.
Tindall ran 16:35 on a Mill Creek Course missing the two trips up the hill, which meet officials decided wasn’t safely navigable.
Sophomore Benjamin Realley, junior Logan Bromley and seniors Enzo Corona and Liam Tindall all ran between 16:41 and 16:48, and senior Benjamin Weiner and sophomore Sean Sooy backed up the Chiefs’ top 5 in 7th and 8th with 16:49 and 16:52. That’s five in 13 seconds and seven in 17 seconds.
Since 1995, Cherokee has won 24 of a possible 30 Open titles. The Chiefs also won in 1988, 1989, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.
A Cherokee sweep was broken up Cinnaminson junior Jacob Wickersham, who placed 2nd in 16:37.
Also in the top 10 were Shawnee seniors Noah Stapleton [9th in 17:02] and Simon Barnhardt [10th in 17:12].
Others under 17:30 were Northern Burlington senior Caleb Wiederholt [11th in 17:17], junior Yanni Ekatomatis [12th in 17:19], Rancocas Valley seniors Christian Rouzard [13th in 17:20] and Christopher Gray [14th in 17:21], Shawnee senior Elias Knoll [15th in 17:24] and Rancocas Valley junior Teddy Jones [16th in 17:27].
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 