Delsea’s Matthew Littlehales and Holy Cross’s Julia Flanagan posted the fastest South Jersey times at the 30th annual Cherokee Challenge Saturday.
Littlehales ran 9:42 to place 2nd in the Senior Boys Race, and Flanagan ran 11:21 to take 3rd in the Senior Girls Race. Both were over 3,200 meters.
Littlehales’ time is fastest by a Delsea runner since Nick Costello ran 9:38 when he placed 2nd to Shawn Wilson of Cherokee in the 2012 Senior Race. Flanagan’s time is fastest ever by a Holy Cross girl.
Team scoring is determined by adding the top placer in each of the four races. If a school doesn’t have at least one runner in each race, they don’t have a team score.
Salesianum of Wilmington, Del., won the boys race with 45 points [5-9-4-27], followed by Allentown with 50 points [2-14-26-8], with Egg Harbor Township the top South Jersey school in 7th with 87 points [36-6-24-21]. Conestoga won the girls race with 37 points [12-17-6-2], followed by Penn Charter with 43 [1-35-2-5]. Top South Jersey school was Ocean City in 3rd place with 51 points [21-1-5-24].
In combined scoring, Pingry edged Germantown Friends 137-139 with Egg Harbor [160] and Cherokee [177] the top South Jersey programs in 4th and 5th.
Here’s a look at all the South Jersey boys who ran sub-11 and girls who ran sub-13.
BOYS
9:42 … Matthew Littlehales [Delsea], 2nd, senior race
10:07 … Rex Takakly [Cherry Hill West], 5th, senior race
10:08 … Shaun Maloney [Haddon Twp.], 6th, senior race
10:09 … Trevor Szilier [Washington Twp.], 1st, sophomore race
10:21 … Ryan Scaricaciottoli [Cinnaminson], 5th, junior race
10:26 … Hamza Salahuddin [Cherokee], 1st, freshman race
10:26 … Logan Pavelik [Williamstown], 12th, senior race
10:29 … James Clauson [Haddon Twp.], 14th, senior race
10:30 … Dominic Burgio [Williamstown], 15th, senior race
10:31 … Landon Forero [Collingswood], 16th, senior race
10:32 … Teddy Jones [Rancocas Valley], 17th, senior race
10:35 … Marcus Flagg [Gloucester], 19th, senior race
10:35 … Matthew Reed [Egg Harbor Twp.], 21st, senior race
10:37 … Aaron Smith [Lenape], 11th, junior race
10:38 … Vincent Kelly [Gloucester], 24th, senior race
10:40 … Edward Abu-Adas [Cinnaminson], 13th, junior race
10:43 … Liam Aspenberg [Egg Harbor Twp.], 6th, sophomore race
10:44 … Duke Snyder-Shellito [Gloucester Twp. Tech], 18th, junior race
10:44 … Logan Camm [Audubon], 28th, senior race
10:49 … Giovanna Fuchs [Sterling], 22nd, junior race
10:51 … Jaden Carn [Lenape], 10th, sophomore race
10:51 … Daniel Svec [Egg Harbor Twp.], 24th, junior race
10:52 … Timothy Rooney [Egg Harbor Twp.], 12th, sophomore race
10:53 … Gabin Danielewicz [Cherokee], 25th, junior race
10:54 … Dominic Lera [Seneca], 31st, senior race
10:55 … Vincent Dougherty [Haddon Heights], 27th, junior race
10:56 … Leo Vyvyan [Cherokee], 29th, junior race
GIRLS
11:21 … Julia Flanagan [Holy Cross], 3rd, senior race
11:42 … Alyssa Suriano [Cherokee], 4th, senior race
11:42 … Riley Tolson [Ocean City], 1st, sophomore race
11:54 … Sophia Aldridge [Williamstown], 7th, senior race
11:59 … Madeline Meder [Cherokee], 8th, senior race
12:01 … Riley Fayer [Audubon], 9th, senior race
12:09 … Sofia Recinto [Cherokee], 10th, senior race
12:19 … Lillian Flora [Ocean City], 5th, junior race
12:29 … Devyn Per [Egg Harbor Twp.], 13th, senior race
12:31 … Juliana Catalani [Maple Shade], 8th, junior race
12:32 … Makayla Zell [Moorestown], 4th, sophomore race
12:35 … Ashley Doyle [Delran], 14th, senior race
12:37 … Lenna Driscoll [Ocean City], 5th, sophomore race
12:37 … Audrey McCorkle [Lenape], 10th, junior race
12:41 … Carly Godfrey [Ocean City], 11th, junior race
12:41 … Taylor Sierzega [West Deptford], 12th, junior race
12:42 … Kayla Romanoski [West Deptford], 15th, senior race
12:44 … Cecilia Foreman [Mainland Regional], 14th, junior race
12:50 … Erin Healy [Cherokee], 8th, sophomore race
12:52 … Addison Lambert [Egg Harbor Township], 17th, junior race
12:55 … Celia Frederico [Moorestown], 18th, senior race
12:56 … Juliet Stack Maya [Moorestown], 9th, freshman race
12:57 … Meghan Johnson [Egg Harbor Township], 19th, junior race
12:58 … Olivia Masucci [Vineland], 20th, junior race
12:58 … Lydia Gravante [Audubon], 21st, junior race
Washington Township’s Trevor Szilier ran away from the field to win the Sophomore Race at the Cherokee Challenge Saturday morning.
Szilier ran 10:09 over 3,200 meters, finishing 80 meters ahead of 2nd-place Nikhil Shah of Pingry School of Bernards Township, who ran 10:25.
Szilier is Washington Township’s 2nd winner at the Challenge and first in 22 years, following Carmen Cavella, who won the Senior Race in 2003 in 9:58.
Szilier was the 6th-fastest freshman in New Jersey last year with a 4:34.81 [converted from full mile at Greensboro Nationals] and the 4th-fastest freshman at 3,200 meters in South Jersey with a 10:03.58 at the Gloucester County Championships at Deptford.
Other South Jersey runners in the top 10 were Egg Harbor’s Liam Aspenberg [6th in 10:43] and Lenape’s Jayden Carn [10th in 10:51].
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 