Sophomore Jack Tindall was the overall winner, junior Benjamin Realley placed 5th and junior Maximo Harada was 12th and Cherokee nearly upset New Jersey’s 2nd-ranked team Saturday, faling three points shy of beating Manalapan for the state Group 4 championship at Holmdel County Park.
Manalapan won 71-74 for its first state title, preventing Cherokee from winning its 9th championship and 4th in the last six years.
Tindall ran a lifetime Holmdel best 15:53.19, fastest ever by a South Jersey sophomore on the historic 5,000-meter layout. The previous best was 16:11 by Cherry Hill East’s Aaron Groff at the 2013 state Group 4 meet.
He’s the first sophomore to win a state Group 4 XC title in 31 years, since Matt Elmuccio of Westfield won his first of three in a row in 1994.
Realley ran 16:31.28 and Harada 16:44.13 – his 1st time under 17 minutes at Holmdel.
Cherokee’s 4th runner was junior Gavin Danielewicz, who placed 22nd in 17:00.74 – a 40-second Holmdel best. Junior Leo Vyvyan was 49th in 17:24.30 – an 18-second Holmdel best.
Cherokee’s top five included a sophomore and four juniors. Manalapan’s top two are seniors.
Tindall is the 5th Cherokee runner to win a state title, following Joe Halin in 1999, Marc Pelerin in 2001, Shawn Wilson in 2012 and Ethan Wechsler in 2018.
Senior Milo Poerner ran 16:26.75 for 4th place, senior Alvin Lin 16:48.26 for 14th and junior Cian Sherlock 16:50.28 for 16th for Cherry Hill East, who placed 4th in Group 4 with 154 points.
Washington Township sophomore Trevor Szilier ran 16:57.26 for 18th place.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 