To the Moon and Back

State Group 4 Recap

Friday: After the drive up to Franklin HS, this year’s State meet got off to a rocky start. The girls 800m was our first event with both Alyssa Suriano and Sofia Recinto in the Fast heat. The race got out and at approximately 220m into the race Alyssa got tripped up and hit the track hard along with the girl from Vineland that clipped her. Sofia did her best to get out of the way, but ended up flipping over landing on her back. I was unaware of what had happened and couldn’t realize why they were coming through so slowly through the first 400m. Needless to say, neither of them ran what they could run much to their disappointment. Sometimes races have things that happen that are out of your control. At least it wasn’t the only thing that they were racing. While that was going on Addie Wright was over at Pole Vault. She once again cleared her lifetime best of 10’ to place 8th over all. The day ended with the 3200m with Alyssa Suriano, Maddie Meder and Megan Niglio all racing.

The 3200m got off to a really fast start. They were through the mile in 5:28. Things still seemed a little off. Alyssa had a pretty wild kick to place 6th running 11:12.22, Maddie was 8th running 11:16.61 and Megan having an off race ran 11:35.30 to place 15th. We packed up our things headed home and tried to regroup for Saturday.

Saturday: Saturday started things off with the 4x800m relay team. We ran the same four that we ran at Sectionals. The group ran a little slower than they did the previous week at Sectionals, but managed a 6th place finish running 9:46.17. Addie Lore was over at Javelin and threw 111-7 to earn 6th place. We closed things out for our State meet with the 1600m. Trying to regroup from everything that had happened and in a race that was filled with a lot of talented individuals. Maddie Meder was unfortunately in the first heat finishing 3rd running 5:12.87. The fast heat got under way with Megan Niglio and Alyssa Suriano. Megan Ran a very Tactical race. She was in 10th coming through the first lap. Moved up to 7th through the 800 and 1200 splits. I knew she had to finish at least 5th since someone in the first heat ran 5:03.73. She closed her last lap in 1:14.99 with an amazing last 200m. She snagged 4th place and ran a new lifetime best of 5:02.71 which is #8 AT outdoors. Alyssa finished in 5:12.41 for 10th and Maddie was right behind her in 11th.

Safe to say that things did not go the way that we had hoped they would, but we still managed a decent number of people advancing to the Meet of Champions. Both of our field athletes earned wildcards as did the 4x8 relay and Megan Niglio in the 1600m. Next stop would be back at Pennsauken,

Meet of Champions Recap

This year at the Meet of Champions, Cherokee was proudly represented by Megan Niglio in the 1600m, our 4x800m relay team (Erin Healy, Alyssa Suriano, Sofia Recinto, and Maddie Meder), Addie Wright in the pole vault, and Addie Lore in the javelin. Qualifying for MOCs is no easy task, and we were extremely proud of the athletes who earned their way to this prestigious meet.

We returned to Pennsauken on a much hotter day than we were used to. The 4x800m relay kicked things off in the first event of the day. Running in the first of two heats, the girls knew they had to create separation if they wanted a shot at the podium. We started with freshman Erin Healy, who split 2:26.33 and handed off in about 10th place. Alyssa Suriano followed with a smooth and steady 2:17.31, steadily reeling in the competition and handing off to Sofia Recinto in a dead heat for the lead. Sofia didn’t hesitate—she surged immediately and created nearly a 40-meter gap with a 2:17.37 split. Maddie Meder anchored the squad, running solo against the clock and closing in 2:19.38 to bring us home in 9:20.37.

As the second heat raced, all we could do was watch and wait. Ocean City won the heat in 9:07.71, Moorestown followed at 9:18.34, and our time held up for a 3rd-place finish. It was the fastest time Cherokee has ever run at the outdoor Meet of Champions and ranks #5 all-time in school history.

Next up, Megan Niglio took the track in the 1600m. Unfortunately, the heat got the best of her and she finished in 5:21.32, placing 19th. In the field events, Addie Wright cleared 10-0 in the pole vault equaling her lifetime best to finish 21st, while Addie Lore—competing in her first MOCs—threw a season-best 117' in the javelin to place 9th, just shy of making the finals.

3rd place 4x800m

Winners Circle at CBA

Addie Lore had one more competition left in her season, heading to the Winners Circle meet at CBA—a meet tailored for athletes still preparing for Nationals or seeking a final big performance. Addie delivered, launching a new PR of 120-10 to win the javelin. That throw remains #4 all-time at Cherokee and moves her closer to Jess Woodard’s #3 spot on the list.

New Balance Nationals Thursday

After what seemed like a long break until Nationals, New Balance Nationals Outdoors finally arrived. The girls had 3 busy days ahead of them. Things started off Thursday night with the 4xMile relay. There were several weather delays and they didn't wind up racing until about 10:35 in the Championship heat. We decided to go with the same order that we went with for indoor nationals. Megan Niglio started things off for us splitting 5:11.63(5:09.82-16 split), We were in about 11th place at the first exchange. Alyssa Suriano was up next for us. She split 5:08.40(5:06.61) #6 AT split and moved us up to 5th place handing the baton to Erin Healy. Erin split 5:14.42(5:12.60) #11 AT Split and dropped back one spot to 6thm with a nice pack of runners chasing after her. Maddie Meder was our anchor who closed in 5:15.89(5:14.06) to place 10th. Their final time of 20:50.33 is #2 AT in school history right off of the school record of 20:42.80 set in 2022. That time is #2 AT in South Jersey history and #14 AT in State history. The girls were hoping for more, but what a way to start our Nationals meet.

4xmile Race Video

New Balance Nationals Friday

Friday had two things on our plate, Erin Healy was slated to run the Freshman 2 mile in the morning and later that night the 4x800m relay was all set to compete. What seemed like a very short turn around for Erin saw her running in heat 3 of 4 for the freshman 2 mile. Being very patient with her race, she slowly started picking them off one by one and found herself in 5th place through the mile in 5:36.68. She then set her sights on the leader. With a lap and a half to go, she moved her way up to 2nd place and held it through the line running 11:19.02. 2nd in her heat and that held up for 12th place over all. That was the second fastest 2 mile that Erin had run this season. Back home to NJ and then everyone headed back to Philly Friday night. The girls just missed making the Championship heat, but knew they were in the same boat they were in for MOC's. Try and be in the front of this heat, and see where that leaves us. We went with the same lineup order that we did for Penn Relays. Alyssa Suriano would lead things off, then to Megan Niglio, Sofia Recinto and then ending with Maddie Meder. Alyssa did a great job at the lead off position splitting 2:16.01(#4 AT Spit), her fastest 800 split ever. She handed it off to Megan in 4th place. Megan split 2:20.22 and maintained 4th place. That time was just off Megan's lifetime split of 2:20.16. Sofia was next up and did an amazing job of closing the gap and handing off right next to the leader. She had an amazing split of 2:13.56 which is #3 AT split. Now it was in Maddie's hands as there was a chase group with some girls that could run sub 2:10. Maddie caught first place but then eventually was passed by two teams behind her. She split 2:17.19, just off her lifetime best split of 2:17.00. When the clocked stopped, I think we all couldn't believe what we were seeing. 9:06.96. This crushed their outdoor school record of 9:13.67, which they set at Penn Relays in the Championship of America race. The shocker was that it broke the outright school record of 9:07.27 which was run at the 2022 Indoor National meet where they placed 4th.Megan Niglio was a freshman on that team and now left as a senior breaking that record along with 3 new girls. That time is also #6 in South Jersey History. They also placed 10th over all.

4x800m Race Video SJTRACK Article

New Balance Nationals Saturday

Saturday was our wind down day as we had nothing going on at the track. The boys team however did have Freshman Davis Walker competing in the freshman 200m. Davis had already run the freshman 100m Thursday morning. He managed an 11.22 after a false start gun took a little bit of his reaction away. For Saturday he saved the best for last as he ran 22.42 to place 21st with a new lifetime best.

New Balance Nationals Sunday

We now entered our last day with the DMR going off at 11:30 followed by the freshman 800m. The DMR had Megan Niglio in the 1200m, Maddie Meder in the 400m, Sofia Recinto in the 800m and Alyssa Suriano anchoring the 1600m. We were in heat 3 of 4 and just again missed out on being in the Championship heat. Megan led off with 1 3:41.85 split(her 2nd fastest ever) handing off to Maddie Meder in 3rd place. who split 1:00.69 keeping us in 3rd. Sofia Recinto was up next splitting 2:20.13 handing off to Alyssa still in 3rd place. Alyssa Suriano closed us out in 5:10.42 to finish 3rd in our heat running 12:13.08. That time was good for 15th over all and is #4 AT outdoors. Lastly we closed things out with Erin Healy running her 2nd fastest 800m ever with a 2:23.57. All in all it was a very successful end to our 2024-25 year. We saw one school record, #2 and #4 AT outdoors. And a #2 and #6 AT in South Jersey history.

Girls Year Reflections

The 2024–25 season was one for the books. We captured a conference and county title in cross country, two sectional titles in cross country and outdoor track, reached the podium at MOCs in cross country and outdoor track, and saw a flood of all-time top-10 performances across XC, indoor, and outdoor. We set one school record and added performances that now sit at #2 and #4 all-time outdoors, and #2 and #6 in South Jersey history.

But above all, this season was about memories—races run, goals reached, and bonds formed.

We extend a heartfelt thank you to the Cherokee Alumni Association for supporting us through travel to NXR, Indoor Nationals in Boston, and Outdoor Nationals, as well as helping cover entry fees, hotels, and transportation. None of this would be possible without you.

We're also looking forward to big upgrades next year: a brand-new track surface and a turfed field area that will hopefully allow us to place a portable long jump runway. That project will only be possible with continued support from our incredible alumni community.

Thank you again for being a part of our journey.

~ Coach Mark Jarvis