Cherokee and Ocean County

After months of preparation and gallons of sweat lost, the much anticipated racing season of Cherry Hill East's Cross Country Team began on the solemn day of Tuesday, September 11th. East arrived at tree-encrusted slopes of GCC ready to retrieve the honor that they had buried there one year prior. Not that the race on that fateful day was about honor but about expectation: the expectation that we had constructed with our countless treks up Holmdel's entry hill, or with the excrement kicked up in our faces whilst we trudged through the swampy corner of Richterman, or even with the time spent fantasizing about the sweeping turns at the one and only, sandy, Delsea, high school. Our team was ready.
As the gun shattered the icy pane of silence separating pretenders from contenders, East conservatively worked out of the blocks, preparing for an offensive; East, led by Ben Dillon (17:07), Mike Minion (17:13), and Mike Bruce (17:44), came out of the woods dominating Cherokee runners 2-7, having secured the field. The finish line also saw Dan Helfand (17:41)make a huge move to pass several Cherokee runners, with him finishing between Minion and Bruce. Jared Dashevsky (17:57) closed out the 7 to put a cap on a 21 - 37 rout. For a different perspective, read http://www.ccctf.com/cc12_pics_pgI.html . Notable performances were run by Aaron Groff (17:59), Sean Taylor (18:35), and Joseph Andalora (18:58).
Results can be found here: http://nj.milesplit.com/meets/124519/results/210484

On Friday, the team traveled up to Little Israel Lakewood for the Battle at Ocean County Park. The day was not so much characterized by fast times but by hard-core racing and strategy. The begin the day, Aaron Groff unloaded a 10:47 for 4th place in the Freshmen race, prevented CBA from taking the top 5 positions in an unprecedented performance for a Cherry Hill East freshman. Brett Dashevsky (11:59) and Kennedy Omari (12:05) also won medals and did very well(special recognition to Dylan Clark, who should have recieved one with his 12:34 but didn't). In the sophmore race, Dan Helfand (17:23),  Christian Mele (17:48), and Jeff Braun (18:12) medaled, with a solid showing by Mr. Mele. Other notable performances were run by Jason Decker (19:59) and Dorr Dillinger (20:25). In the Junior race, Ben Dillon (16:46) performed masterly, running  fantastic race for the big W. Jared Dashevsky (17:30) also medaled, and a notable performance was run by Aaron Zucker (19:28).
To close the day, Mike Minion (16:30) worked on the edge of the pack to grab a consistent, 4th place finish. Sean Taylor (18:09) also medaled. With another relatively positive day of racing, let's move on toward our perfect duel record and victory at sectionals. Keep running and GO COUGARS.