Former Cherokee runner Ethan Wechsler placed 15th in his marathon debut Sunday morning.
Wehsler, 23, ran 2:37.18 at the Philadelphia Marathon and was 8th in the 20-24 age group .
Wechsler finished his eligibility at Syracuse last spring. He ran 14:14.02 and 29:22.69 while he was at Syracuse. He was 4th in the 2019 XC Meet of Champions and ran 15:41 at Holmdel. He ran 9:10.90 on the track for Cherokee.
Brett Milden of Mullica Hill, who attended Clearview but played soccer and never ran track or XC after middle school, ran 2:36.26 and was 41st overall and 13th in his last year in the 25-29 age group. His marathon PR is 2:34.52 in Boston in 2023.
Also in the top 100 were Leonard Bustos of Mays Landing [2:38.18, 49th overall, 10th in 20-24], Matthias Ngo of Galloway Township [2:39.16, 60th overall, 11th in 20-24], Nicholas Simila of Wenonah [2:41.34, 82nd overall, 23rd in 25-29] and Griffin Weiner of Haddonfield [2:43.09, 97th overall, 24th in 20-24].
Bustos ran and played soccer at Oakcrest and ran at Jefferson. Ngo ran at Absegami and ran at Stockton. Simila ran at St. Augustine and Rowan. And Weiner ran at Haddonfield and Rochester.
Here’s a crazy guess: Considering that Mays Landing and Galloway Township are just a mile apart and Bustos and Ngo live near each other and are in the same age group and ran nearly identical times, maybe they’re training partners?
The results site is down now so I can’t get anything from the weomen’s race but I will eventually!
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 