Sectionals Recap~States Bound

The Cherokee girls Cross Country team had an exceptional day at the South Jersey Group IV Sectional Championship meet. Having not qualified for the State meet as a team since 2012, we knew how hard it was to be in the top 5 at the sectional meet. Going into the meet we knew 3rd, 4th, or 5th was very possible, but we needed everyone to race as they have been all season. Consistent. One minor mishap, and there would be plenty of teams that would be more than willing to step up and take one of those spots. When you #2 runner has been getting sick during the morning and during the warm up, We didn't know what to expect once the gun went off. With less than mile into the race it was evident that the girls showed up to race. When the race ended, we were pretty sure that we had secured a top 5 finish. Kate Rathman and Sophia Eick would have both advanced individually with Kate running 18:52 to finish 5th. That time is #4 in school history at Delsea, and was just 2 seconds off of Lisa Burkholders sophomore class record of 18:50 which she set in 2003 when she won the Sectional meet.

Sophia Eick ran 19:07 to finish 9th.Her time is #5 all time in school history and is her lifetime pr. Those two certainly led the charge for the team's 4th place finish advancing them to the State Group IV Championship. Shannon Young was next in for the team running a lifetime best of 20:11 to place 39th. Her time was 2 minutes and 1 second faster than she had run last year as a junior. Riley Gleason was right on her heals running 20:16 to finish 41st. This was her second fastest 5k ever and was 1 minute 16 seconds faster than she ran last year as a freshman. Kayla Fericy wsa our #5 and boy did she come through big time. Running a lifetime best of 20:41 to place 57th she allowed us to have our top 5 runners all under 21 minutes. Alyssa Blackmon ran her lifetime pr of 21:35 to place 78th and Gabby Moraschi ran 21:52 which was her 2nd fastest time this season.

Now we get ready for the Group IV State meet this coming Saturday at the historic Holmdel Park.