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gomery in the state semifinals
from Cinnaminson Sun_Current Issue
by nmg
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Cherokee gets its championship pAGE S 2
Swimming Dynasty
MIkE MoNoStRA/South Jersey Sports Weekly Cherry Hill East’s senior class capped off its high school career on top with a third Public A state championship since 2017. Top row: Robert Thompson, Jackson Brookover, Alex Volin and Andrew Maier. Bottom row: Bobby irwin, kurt Comber, Spenser DuBois and Gian Santiago.
Cherry Hill East boys swimming won its third state title in four years while establishing itself as the undisputed No. 1 team in the state
out of the park Knock your message sunsales@newspapermediagroup.com | 856.282.1347 By MIKE MONOSTRA Sports Editor Few boys swimming programs in New Jersey are as decorated as Cherry Hill East. The Cougars have won 15 state championships, sixth most in state history and second only to Moorestown (20) out of South Jersey schools.
More than half of the Cougars’ 15 state titles came during the 1970s. Cherry Hill East won eight titles in a nine-year span from 1971 through 1979, cementing its place as the state’s best program at the time.
please see HiSTORiC, page S5 The present-day Cougars are trying to replicate that dominance. This season, Cherry Hill East fi nished a perfect 15-0 and won its third state title in the past four seasons when it defeated North Jersey power Bridgewater-Raritan for the Public A championship in February. The 2020 senior class is the fi rst to win at least three state championships since the class of 1979 won four state titles from 1976 to 1979. The Cougars’ dominant season has earned them South Jersey Sports Weekly Winter Boys Team of the Year honors.
“It’s crazy to think this class has won three state titles,” senior Bobby Irwin said. “We went to the state (championship) four years in a row, which is crazy. We’ve only lost one regular season meet the whole four years. We only had two losses over four high school years. It’s unbelievable.”
The Cougars’ resume speaks for itself. Cherry Hill East fi nished the season undefeated for the fi rst time since 2017 and scored 100 or more points in all but one meet. The Cougars spent nearly all of the season ranked No. 1 in NJ.com’s rankings and were the No. 1 team in South Jersey Sports Weekly’s Power Poll for the entire winter season. Cherry Hill East fi nished the year having won 23 consecutive meets dating back to 2018 and has not lost a dual meet to a South Jersey opponent since January of 2013.
Senior Jackson Brookover said despite the program’s dominance, he doesn’t feel the team got respect from outsiders until its big win in December over Non-Public power Christian Brothers Academy. While that was the victory that vaulted the Cougars to the top of NJ.com’s poll, the team believes it was simply proof they were a force to be reckoned with.
SOUTH JERSEY SPORTS WEEKLY POWER POLL!
Third time’s a charm for Cherokee
1. Cherry Hill East Boys Swimming
the Cougars will enter next season having not lost to a South Jersey opponent in nearly eight years. their last South Jersey dual meet defeat was an 87-83 loss to Shawnee on Jan. 14, 2013. (Last week: 1)
2. Camden Catholic Wrestling
Sophomore Martin Cosgrove became Camden Catholic’s eighth state champion since 2000 when he defeated Brick Memorial’s David Szuba in the 195- pound state final on March 7. (2)
3. Cherokee Girls Basketball
For the first time in program history, the Chiefs advanced to the Group 4 state championship game after downing Shawnee in the South Jersey Group 4 championship and then defeating Montgomery in the state semifinals. (7)
4. Cherry Hill East Girls Swimming
the Cougars will graduate three of the four swimmers from their record-setting 200-yard medley relay team, but will return junior Annie Behm, SJSW’s Girls Swimmer of the Year. (4)
5. Timber Creek Boys Basketball
Demetrius paynter scored 20 points to boost timber Creek to a 60-57 win over Wall township in the Group 3 state semifinals. the victory put the Chargers in the state finals for the first time since 2008. (8)
6. Gloucester Catholic Ice Hockey
the Rams will return four of their top five scorers next season, including Chris pelosi, Jason player and SJSW Boys Ice hockey player of the Year Jake Grace. (5)
7. Washington Twp. Boys Bowling
the Minutemen will lose half of their varsity lineup to graduation, but Marcus Spann, the team’s top bowler from the 2020 season, is back for next year. (Not ranked)
8. Winslow Twp. Girls Track
Senior Nylah perry was victorious in the 400-meter dash and junior olivia Wright took home second place in the triple jump at the NJSIAA Indoor Meet of Champions on March 8. (9)
9. Paul VI Girls Basketball
the Eagles’ 2019-20 season came to a quick end after a 90-80, double overtime loss to St. Rose on March 6. Abaigeal Babore scored 25 points to lead paul VI in scoring. (3)
MIkE MoNoStRA/South Jersey Sports Weekly Cherokee celebrates after winning the program’s first sectional title since 2017 with a 45-34 victory over Shawnee in the South Jersey Group 4 final last Monday.
After suffering defeats in the South Jersey Group 4 finals the last two years, the Chiefs got over the hump to collect a championship
By MIKE MONOSTRA Sports Editor
Alexa Therien didn’t want to let the trophy go.
The Cherokee junior had been through plenty of heartbreak in the South Jersey Group 4 championship during her fi rst two years on the team. There was the upset loss at home against Toms River North in 2018, followed by a diffi cult defeat in 2019 at Lenape.
Last Monday, Therien and her teammates erased the demons of the past two years as the Chiefs downed Shawnee, 46-35. The win gave Cherokee its fi rst sectional title in three years and most of the players, including Therien, their fi rst chance to fi nally lift a sectional championship trophy.
“It was awesome,” Therien said. “I never had a feeling like it, to hold that thing up. The past two years, we couldn’t get it done. This year, to get it done, it’s such a good feeling.”
Therien added this year’s team entered the sectional fi nal with a lot more confi dence than the previous two seasons, citing the team’s tough regular season schedule as the perfect way to prepare for the playoffs. Cherokee’s season included non-conference wins over Moorestown Friends, St. Rose, Mainland and Wildwood Catholic as well as a perfect record in the Olympic Conference American Division. “We had the confi dence,” Therien said. “We know how to play in big games, we had a couple during the regular season. We just handled ourselves well.”
“It was defi nitely different,” sophomore Katie Fricker added about the team’s mentality. “Coming from last year’s loss … especially me and all the returning players, we wanted it so bad with how close we came last year to the trophy.”
In the season’s biggest game to that point, Cherokee’s top two players came together to provide most of the team’s scoring and defend against one of South Jersey’s best freshmen. A force inside on both ends of the court, Therien shut down Shawnee standout freshman Nia Scott last Monday, holding her without a point in the fi rst half while scoring 11 points herself. When Therien got into foul trouble in the second half, senior Kennedy Wilburn, the only starter remaining from Cherokee’s last sectional championship team, took over guarding Scott and also managed to score a few key buckets down the stretch. Wilburn led the Chiefs with 15 points in the game.
“She’s a really good player and, as a freshman, she’s just outstanding,” Wilburn said about Scott. “I knew I had to go on her because Alexa had four fouls. But I feel like it was a good matchup, because she’s really tough in the post and I think I can handle the post well.”
“I’m just overwhelmed,” Wilburn added about the sectional title. “Our team has been please see CHiEFS page S5
