Will you be my State Qualifier?

February 14th, 2025

So happy Valentine's Day to everyone. What better place to be on a Friday evening than at the Bubble. Well, honestly I can think of many places better to be, but wouldnt want to change the people that I get to hang out with. Upon arriving at the Bubble, I was greeted with some special flowers from the girls. I was told the presentation on the bus was a little better, but still loved the gesture. So tonight was the South Jersey Group 4 Sectional Championship. The task at hand is easy. Top 6 qualify for the State Championship.

This indoor season has been a hard one to get a grasp on. Sickness has plagued Cherokee and has made its way over to the team at different points this year. Getting into some sort of a rhythm has been hard. That along with a string of bad weather and the track getting covered in snow have all contributed to that. Despite the obstacles, the girls showed up and competed. we saw 14 season best marks out of the 18 evenst we had going on.

The meet started off with the open 400m where both Emily Couture and Sofia Recinto ran season best times. Emily Butler was just off her season best 400m by 2 hundredths of a second. Then the 1600m came up on the track with all 3 of our runners in the fast heat. This race bunched up for the first few laps with no one really wanting to push the pace. Once the race started to open up, Freshman Erin Healy managed to keep moving herself up to move into the top 6. Maddie Meder, Megan Niglio and Erin Healy finished 3rd, 4th and 5th. Maddie's time of 5:11.73 lowered her #9 indoor all time mark, and Erin's time of 5:19.38 lowered her #11 indoor all time mark and marks the first time she has ever run under 5:20.

The 800m was next on the track for us with Alyssa Suriano and Grace Wojciechowski both in the fast heat. Alyssa ran an indoor lifetime best of 2:23.61 to place 4th and move on. Her time is #13 indoor all time. Grace also was just a hair off her pr, but did run her pr on a flat track.

The sprinters took the field next in the 55m dash. All 3 ran lifetime best marks. Veronica Ashcraft 7.71 #11 indoor all time, Hayden Toscano 7.79 and Addie Judernatz 7.86. At the same time that was going on, Addie Lore threw a huge pr in the shot put to make the finals, then furthered that throwing 32-8.75 to place 5th.

We closed things out on the track with the 3200m and the 4x400m. In the 32, the girls finished 2nd, 4th and 7th. Maddie Meder ran her season best Mark to place 2nd. Erin Healy lowered her 3200m mark by running 11:41.17 which is #11 indoor all time. Megan Niglio who had to run out of the unseeded just missed advancing by less than 3 tenths of a second. The night ended with the 4x400m relay team of Veronica Ashcraft, Maddie Meder, Megan Niglio and Emily Couture running a season best time of 4:14.49 to place 5th.

Next up for the girls is the State Group 4 Championship next Sunday at the Bubble.