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INSIdE THIS ISSuE SJ POWer POLL ....... S2 PLAYer OF THe Week ............ S4

Rathman runs to player of the year title PAGe S4

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DECEMBER 11-17, 2019

The heart of champions

rYAn LAWrenCe/South Jersey Sports Weekly

In the last two seasons, Williamstown football has won two South Jersey Group 5 championships, rattled off a 21-game unbeaten streak against South Jersey teams, and held the opposition to 10 points or fewer in 19 games. The Braves also beat two other area championship teams this season in Shawnee and Cherokee.

By RYAN LAWRENCE Sports Editor

With season’s end just a few short days away, Williamstown High School’s football team sat on the metal benches at the front of the team’s locker room and gave Frank Fucetola their full attention.

A perfect season ended with a defeat in a bowl game

at MetLife Stadium last year and the long-time Braves coach wasn’t eager to see that happen again. Even though Williamstown, South Jersey Group 5 champions, entered this year’s season finale with Central Group 5 champion Cherokee as heavy favorites, the score was 0-0 and business was still in order.

“No mercy,” Fucetola told

Williamstown High School’s football team, SJSW’s Boys Fall Team of the Year, collected a second straight South Jersey Group 5 title, but its path wasn’t easy. The Braves' dominating defense led the way.

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Free them. “This is your last game.

Don’t save anything. … Strap on that helmet and cause havoc.”

The program that Fucetola has molded in his 24 seasons at Williamstown is one of hard work.

The boulder-size rocks that are adorned throughout the locker room and entrance to the field are reminders of how strong the Braves need to be to reach their full potential.

In the last two seasons, Williamstown has reached it.

After picking up the program’s first championship in six seasons last fall, the Braves battered opponents en route to a second consecutive sectional title this season. And their road to adding more hardware to the school’s trophy case included wins over two other area champions (Cherokee and South Jersey Group 4 champ Shawnee) during the regular season.

The Braves’ performance against fellow South Jersey Sports Weekly-area teams and their ability to collect a second title – while playing in the biggest group in the state – earned them another honor. Williamstown’s football team is South Jersey Sports Weekly’s Boys Fall Team of the Year.

“It’s an honor, honestly,” said senior Aaron Lewis, SJSW’s Football Player of the Year. “There are a lot of teams in South Jersey and a lot of great football teams in South Jersey. So for us to be the best one, I thank you. The guys really deserve it for all the hard work, the adversity we faced. Beplease see BRAVES, page S7

S2 SOUTH JERSEY SPORTS WEEKLY — DECEMBER 11-17, 2019

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SOuTH JERSEY SPORTS wEEkLY

POwER

POLL!

1. Eastern Field Hockey

The Vikings had two losses in 2019, both to Oak knoll, a private new Jersey school ranked no.

1 in the country. eastern, ranked no. 2 in the country, won a 21st straight state title and beat five teams ranked in the top 25 in the country.

(1)

2. Williamstown Football

The Braves have won back-to-back South Jersey Group 5 championships, held opponents to 10 or fewer points in 19 games since the beginning of the 2018 season, and earned wins over fellow South Jersey champs Shawnee and Cherokee this season. (2)

3. Moorestown Friends Girls Tennis

The Foxes haven’t lost to a South Jersey foe since 2017 and took an undefeated season into the Tournament of Champions title match.

MFS, ranked no. 1 in the state for a bulk of the season, captured a second straight state title.

(4)

4. Cherokee Boys Cross Country

The Chiefs captured the state title in new Jersey’s biggest grouping, Group 4, for their first championship since 2007. Cherokee placed sixth two weekends ago at the nike Cross regionals in new York. (6)

5. Haddonfield Boys Cross Country

The Bulldawgs ran their way to a third consecutive Group 2 state title and was South Jersey’s top finisher at the Meet of Champions and placed ninth at the nike Cross regionals. (3)

6. Williamstown Girls Volleyball

The Braves took a 15-game winning streak into the Tournament of Champions after winning the Group 4 state title, the program’s third since 2010. Williamstown hasn’t lost to a South Jersey foe in nearly 14 months. (5)

7. Eastern Girls Soccer

The Vikings spent a large chunk of the season ranked no. 1 in the country by multiple publications and despite being upset in the Group 4 state tournament, had a memorable season in collecting another sectional title and a Coaches Tournament title, too. (7)

8. Lenape Football

The indians rolled to a 24-7 win over rival Shawnee on Thanksgiving to cement themselves as the area’s second-best football team. Lenape’s only two losses came to boys team of the year Williamstown, and the two defeats were by a combined 11 points. (9)

9. Camden Catholic Field Hockey

With a challenging schedule, the irish cruised to a sectional championship, dominated rival Bishop eustace in three games, and gave the state’s top two teams, Oak knoll and eastern, what were arguably each team’s toughest victories. (nr)

10. Delran Boys Soccer

reeled off 17 wins despite playing one of the toughest schedules in the state and ended a four-year run of getting knocked out in the state semifinals by advancing to the Group 2 final. (nr) This is the final Power Poll of the fall season. The first Power Poll of the winter season debuts next week.

FIELd HOCkEY PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Heck-uva goal scorer Eastern Regional sophomore Ryleigh Heck is the 2019 Field Hockey Player of the Year after picking up the slack with her sister sidelined by scoring 78 goals and leading her team to a 21st straight state title

By RYAN LAWRENCE Sports Editor

It is probably not fair to compare a high school sophomore to an all-time great, but as a member of Eastern Regional High School’s prestigious field hockey team, comparisons are difficult to avoid.

The program has churned out 21 consecutive Group 4 state championships, has been ranked No.1 in the country several times during the last two decades, has produced national team members and an Olympian, and regularly sends at least a handful of seniors onto Division-I college programs when they graduate.

Ryleigh Heck, a 10th grade scoring dynamo, is just getting started. Heck followed up an impressive freshman campaign by scoring nearly twice as many goals as a sophomore in leading Eastern to another championship season, earning South Jersey Sports Weekly’s Field Hockey Player of the Year honors.

“It’s honestly a great honor – I’m excited,” Heck said. “It’s just so cool and such an honorable thing to have, so I’m thankful for it.”

Heck is the second straight member of her athletic family to claim the award: her older sister, Kara, won South Jersey Player of the Year honors last season. In 2019, Ryleigh Heck and the Vikings played without the elder Heck after Boston College-bound Kara suffered a knee injury in a lacrosse game last spring.

If the Vikings were supposed to look shorthanded this season, they did a good job of hiding it in steamrolling through the competition in South Jersey, beating a who’s who of nationally ranked, out-of-state teams, and taking their season all the way to the last

rYAn LAWrenCe/South Jersey Sports Weekly

Eastern Regional sophomore Ryleigh Heck was instrumental in the Vikings’ path to a 21st straight state title, scoring an eye-popping 78 goals in 25 games. And as the games got more important down the stretch, Heck was even better: 48 of her goals came in Eastern’s final 14 games. game, losing in the NJSIAA Tournament of Champions finals to Oak Knoll.

The younger Heck was instrumental in the Vikings’ season, scoring an eye-popping 78 goals in 25 games. And she only got stronger as the season progressed: 48 goals of Heck’s 78 goals came in Eastern’s final 14 games.

Quick math: that amounts to nearly 3.5

goals per game during the season’s final six weeks.

“Ryleigh is a manipulator on the field,” Eastern coach Danyle Heilig said. “She can manipulate the opposition, she reads them so well, sees their body movement and works off that so well and so beautifully. Someone compared it to being a good please see RYLEIGH, page S5

DECEMBER 11-17, 2019 – SOUTH JERSEY SPORTS WEEKLY

Keira Poyatt prepares to dive into the water as part of one of Bishop Eustace’s 200-yard freestyle relay teams.

S3

Shawnee’s Kate Ruona lunges forward in the butterfly leg of the 200-yard individual medley.

The winter sports season kicked off last Monday with the start of the regular season for ice hockey, bowling and swimming. Bishop Eustace and Shawnee girls swimming opened up their seasons last Wednesday at Camden County Tech. The Renegades defeated the Crusaders, 137-33. ■ Shawnee’s Caroline Pley lunges for the wall during the butterfly leg of the 200-yard individual medley.

Shawnee’s Rachel Romano swims toward the wall during the 100-yard breaststroke.

Bishop Eustace gathers for a team huddle in the water prior to the start of the meet.

Shawnee’s Julia DeMarco swims ahead in the 100-yard butterfly.

ALL PHOTOS Mike Monostra/South Jersey Sports Weekly

Bishop Eustace’s Ella Axelson pushes forward during the 100-yard breaststroke.

SOuTH JERSEY SPORTS wEEkLY

PLAYER OF THE wEEk!

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SOUTH JERSEY SPORTS WEEKLY — DECEMBER 11-17, 2019

GIRLS CROSS COuNTRY RuNNER OF THE YEAR

Rathman cements her place among Cherokee greats

Joshua Jean-Baptiste CHERRY HILL WEST JUNIOR FOOTBALL

On Thanksgiving eve, Cherry Hill West clinched its second straight winning season with a 19-7 win over Cherry Hill east in the Battle of the Boot. it was the seventh consecutive year the Lions won the rivalry game. in an added twist to the game, Joshua Jean-Baptiste, a transfer from Cherry Hill east, led the way for the Lions in his first game against his former team. Jean-Baptiste scored touchdowns of 50 and 70 yards on offense while also recording 11 tackles and two sacks on defense in the victory.

Quotable: “They were huge,” head coach Brian Wright said of Jean-Baptiste’s two touchdowns. “They set the tone for the rest of the game. i would say for him that they probably allowed for him to be a lot more comfortable out there too. Though we didn't speak much of it during the week, i am sure that he had to be going through a gamut of emotions because of the situation playing against his old team. Josh is an elusive football player with speed ... that's a tough combination for a defender to have to deal with in the open field. “it took us a little this season to figure out where Josh fit defensively,” Wright added. “Josh started out as a defensive back but by the middle of the season we moved him down into the box as a linebacker. Though he was undersized at times, his instincts and toughness took over and before you knew it he was all over the field making plays.” ■

Mike MOnOSTrA/South Jersey Sports Weekly

Kate Rathman had a season to remember for Cherokee in 2019. Rathman put up personal best times in almost every race she ran, won three straight races in the month of October and finished 13th in the NJSIAA Meet of Champions.

The Cherokee senior put up personal-best times throughout the season and placed a career-best 13th at the NJSIAA Meet of Champions

By MIKE MONOSTRA Sports Editor

A new name joined the pantheon of Cherokee girls cross country in 2019.

Prior to the season, only two runners in program history, Lisa Burkholder in 2004 and Megan Lacy in 2009, 2010 and 2011, had run times of less than 19:20 at the NJSIAA Meet of Champions.

This season, senior Kate Rathman joined them with a breakout season. Rathman put up personal-best performances in race after race, capping off her season with a 13th place performance at the Meet of Champions with a time of 19:02. Prior to the Meet of Champions, Rathman finished in the top10 of every race she competed in and won three consecutive meets in October. Rathman’s huge season has earned her another

title, South Jersey Sports Weekly’s Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year.

“Every 5K she ran, at whatever course, was her lifetime best at the course except for the Olympic Conference meet, but they altered the course from last year,” head coach Mark Jarvis said of Rathman’s season. “When I looked at what she was doing meet-wise, it was like, wow.”

Rathman’s senior season was by far the best of her career, a big statement considering her first three seasons were not too shabby either. Rathman qualified for the Meet of Champions each of the last two seasons, won back-to-back Olympic Conference Championships in 2017 and 2018, and also placed in the top-three for her grade at the Cherokee Challenge every year of high school.

However, Rathman was never able to finish her season on a high note. She struggled with wearing out toward the end of the season and also dealt with side-stitch pain in her abdomen.

“No one knew why it was happening,” Rathman said of the side-stitch pain. “It would just happen randomly at different times. It would feel like a knife was going through me, so it was really hard to keep up with my training.”

“Luckily, the problem went away on its own, so I think that’s a reason I was able to stay more consistent and keep going strong this season,” Rathman added.

As a team, Cherokee girls cross country changed up its schedule for the early part of the season to keep the team’s top runners fresh. Rathman and many of her teammates didn’t run a 5K race until the Shore Coaches Invitational at Holmdel on Oct. 5. In the race, Rathman ran a time of 19:20, more than a minute faster than her time at the previous year’s Meet of Champions on the same course.

“I was very surprised,” she said. “I was really happy to see that I broke my Holmdel PR time. It gave me a look at how the rest of the season would play out.”

The rest of October was a dream for Rathman. She went on to win the South Jersey Track Coaches Association Open at Delsea, the Burlington County Open at Mill Creek Park and the Olympic Conference Championships at DREAM Park in consecutive weeks, running times of please see RATHMAN, page S8

DECEMBER 11-17, 2019 – SOUTH JERSEY SPORTS WEEKLY

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SOuTH JERSEY SPORTS wEEkLY

AwARdS With the end of the fall season, South Jersey Sports Weekly named Athletes of the Year in nine high school sports over the course of the last three weeks, as well as a boys’ and girls’ team of the year for the fall sports season. The teams and players are selected from the 30 high schools within SJSW’s coverage area.

GIRLS TENNIS:

Renna Mohsen-Breen, Moorestown Friends GIRLS SOCCER:

Riley Tiernan, Eastern BOYS SOCCER:

Ryan Burrell, Delran FOOTBALL:

Aaron Lewis, Williamstown BOYS CROSS COUNTRY:

Ethan Wechsler, Cherokee GIRLS VOLLEYBALL:

rYAn LAWrenCe/South Jersey Sports Weekly

GYMNASTICS:

“She really manipulates defenders and goalies and exposes them within a second. As soon as they do something to try to stop her, she’s working off of that. And it just makes her lethal,” Eastern coach Danyle Heilig said of Ryleigh Heck, in action here during the Tournament of Champions title game against Oak Knoll.

FIELD HOCKEY:

RYLEIGH

Summer Wroniuk, Williamstown Isabella Nelli, Washington Twp. Ryleigh Heck, Eastern GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY:

Kate Rathman, Cherokee GIRLS TEAM OF THE YEAR:

Eastern Field Hockey

BOYS TEAM OF THE YEAR:

Williamstown Football

continued from page S2 running back – when they see a defender shift, they’re moving the other way. That’s really the way Ry is. She really manipulates defenders and goalies and exposes them within a second. As soon as they do something to try to stop her, she’s working off of that. And it just makes her lethal.”

Heck’s lethal scoring ability makes it worth drawing some comparisons that could have come off as far-fetched when she played her first game as a freshman a little over a year ago. Consider this: Heck’s 122 goals in her first two seasons aren’t far off from the 137 goals that former Eastern Viking and all-time state scoring record-holder Austyn Cuneo tallied in her first two high school seasons.

Cuneo, currently starring at Rutgers University, scored a whopping 328 goals at Eastern, including a single-season record of 96 in her junior season. “(Ryleigh) had 78, which is a tremendous amount of goals,” Heilig said when putting Heck’s 2019 scoring into historical perspective. “And I feel like kids make their biggest growth really junior to senior year and sophomore to junior, so I’m excited to see what she’s going to bring in the next two seasons.”

Heilig laughed.

“I don’t think everybody else is looking forward to it, but we surely are,” she said.

While goal records are fun, Heck, who is already committed to play collegiately at the University of North Carolina after she graduates in 2022, is far more focused on wins. In each of her first two seasons, Heck has enjoyed being a part of two state championship teams but has also seen both what it’s like to

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win and to lose the final game of the season (in the TOC championship).

“It’s definitely about keeping our streak going,” Heck said of Eastern’s state championship run, the longest in state history for any girls sport. “I feel confident for next year. … With (nine) seniors leaving, (I’ll try to) become more of a leader. This year I was just a sophomore with a big senior leader group. (But) I think next year and the year after it’s just about working hard and see what comes.”

And as for the comparisons to any of the other championship teams to wear the same uniform since 1999, or to the best players the program has ever produced? It is part of the territory and nothing that scares ubertalented and competitive athletes like Heck.

“I definitely think there’s pressure,” she said of Eastern’s history, “but we like it because it motivates you to keep going.” ■

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S6

SOUTH JERSEY SPORTS WEEKLY — DECEMBER 11-17, 2019

GYMNAST OF THE YEAR

Nelli becomes a shining star for the Minutemaids In her first season at Washington Township, Nelli won the Olympic Conference all-around and was the highestfinishing freshman at the NJSIAA Individual Championships

In your hands, every week.

By MIKE MONOSTRA Sports Editor

It only took a few months for Washington Township freshman Isabella Nelli to climb to the top of the South Jersey high school gymnastics mountain.

Nelli shined in her first season, leading the Minutemaids to a 7-1 season, winning the Olympic Conference all-around title and finishing in eighth place in the all-around at the NJSIAA Individual Championships. Some may call Nelli’s ascent awe-inspiring or extraordinary. Nelli chooses to use another adjective.

“It was shocking,” Nelli said about her season. “I didn’t know what to expect and I just really was shocked.”

As shocking as it may have been, there was no doubt Nelli was South Jersey’s top gymnast by season’s end. Her consistently solid routines and outstanding performance at the conference championships and states makes her South Jersey Sports Weekly’s Gymnast of the Year.

Nelli entered high school gymnastics with a sparkling club resume. Competing as a level nine gymnast for Atlantic Coast Gymnastics last spring, Nelli was a top-10 finisher in her division at the Eastern National Championships in May. While other gymnasts decide to focus on club instead of competing in high school, Nelli decided to take a different route and join the Minutemaids for her freshman year.

“I knew some of the girls coming into it,” Nelli said. “I came in thinking I was going to make new friends, make new opportunities for myself. When I first had practice with

Your Towns.

Your Teams.

Mike Monostra/South Jersey Sports Weekly

Washington Township’s Isabella Nelli enjoyed a decorated freshman season in 2019, winning the Olympic Conference all-around title with a career-high score of 37.7 and placing eighth in the all-around at the NJSIAA Individual Championships. them, I just bonded with them.”

Competing in both high school and club was not an easy task. Nelli needed to balance practices for both teams throughout the fall while also finding time to make it to Washington Township’s dual meets. Washington Township head coach Lauren PellecchiaKupiec helped her new gymnast with planning out the season.

“Prior to the season starting, we worked out a schedule that would benefit high school, that would benefit her and her club,” Pellecchia-Kupiec said. “It was a lot for her.

A lot of days she was doing double practices.

She did not miss a meet all season. She did every single thing that she possibly could.”

Another obstacle was the vast difference in scoring from club to high school. In order

to overcome this, Pellecchia-Kupiec and Nelli created routines centered around her best skills from the club that would also score high on the high school rubric.

This would pay off in a big way once the season started as Nelli shined for the Minutemaids. In dual meets, Nelli was typically the highest-scoring gymnast, tallying consistent all-around scores of around 36 to 37 points. At the Olympic Conference Championships, Nelli had her best performance of the season, scoring a 37.7 in the all-around to finish in first place.

Nelli faced adversity on Nov. 2 when she struggled at the South Jersey sectional meet.

While she was able to qualify for states, she finished in a disappointing fourth place please see NELLI, page S8

Whether you're in Haddonfield or Mullica Hill, Deptford or Medford, or any of the other towns with Sun Newspapers in South Jersey, a scope that includes more than two dozen high schools, South Jersey Sports Weekly has you covered.

Feature stories, full-page photo spreads and program power rankings; Players of the Week, Athletes of the Year, insight from coaches, and games to watch. Baseball, softball, and football; basketball, golf, and lacrosse; swimming, field hockey, wrestling, tennis and every other varsity sport.

It's everything you'd want in a local newspaper sports section. Free with The Sun each week and online every day at South JerseySportsWeekly.com and @SJSportsWeekly (Twitter).

DECEMBER 11-17, 2019 – SOUTH JERSEY SPORTS WEEKLY

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BRAVES

continued from page S1 ing able to win a championship and be named Team of the Year, it’s great for these guys.”

“We worked hard and we won football games,” added fellow senior Jonathan Wood.

“I’m sure we’re not the only team in South Jersey that worked hard, but we also faced a lot of adversity and we feel like that’s what brought us together the most. We had a lot of guys get injured and we just stepped it up, had trust in everyone that was stepping in and playing,” Lewis said.

The Braves’ ability to repeat as South Jersey Group 5 champions was even more remarkable when you consider the hurdles they had to clear to reach the finish line.

Running back Wade Inge, SJSW’s Football Player of the Year in 2018, graduated last spring, as did dynamic quarterback J.C. Collins, meaning the offense would have to be revamped.

Inge and Collins combined for 49 touchdowns last season and accounted for 294 of the 392 points the Braves scored in ‘18.

And then the 2019 season started and one Williamstown starting linebacker suffered a season-ending ACL injury in September (Kent State-commit Brandon Perkins) and another (Julian Gravener, who recorded 15.5 tackles and 1.5 sacks in the first of two wins over a talented Lenape team) suffered the same injury in October.

“We had that mentality – and coach says it all the time – you’re one play from getting in,” Wood said. “Our second and third guys, they practice that way and you can tell.

Joey Racobaldo stepped in for Perk. And Turner Inge (Wade’s younger brother) was another guy ‘one play from getting in’ and he did a phenomenal job.”

On the offensive side, junior Doug Brown had a breakout first season at quarterback, entering last weekend with 1,500 yards passing in 12 games and a total of 23 touchdowns (16 passing, seven rushing). And the three-headed rushing attack of Inge, Lorenzo Rodriguez-Hines and Christian Forman com-

Mike Monostra/South Jersey Sports Weekly

Williamstown's David Fuller-Williams attempts to bring down Shawnee running back Jake Barnett during the Braves’ 17-0 win at Shawnee on Oct. 25. bined for 19 touchdowns, with the senior Forman leading the charge (11 touchdowns and an average of 4.5 yards per carry).

“They all did an awesome job,” Wood said.

For Fucetola, it all begins with the hard work the Braves sign up for when they enter the program.

“They’re always in the weight room,” he said. “And it’s good coaching and good kids. The character is very good. We’re putting kids into colleges every year, we have seven kids going into college this year. Year in and year out, we’re doing the right thing here.”

It’s difficult to argue with the results.

Williamstown has won three South Jersey Group 5 titles since 2012 and two in a row. And during the last two seasons, the Braves once boasted a 21-game unbeaten streak against South Jersey opponents.

This season, Fucetola’s “lights-out” defense led the way. The Braves entered last weekend with five shutouts this season in 12 games and had held their opponents to 10 or fewer points in all but three games.

“It helps when you have Aaron,” Fuc-

etola said with a laugh about the University of Michigan-bound Lewis. “That helps a little.”

But it took a team effort, especially when the injuries began to pile up.

“I think it’s a mixture of hard work and brotherhood,” Lewis said. “When we step on that field, we know each one of us has each other’s back and no one wants to let anyone down. That drive, of not wanting to let each other down, it makes us play hard. … The chemistry we have here is crazy.

The brotherhood we have is not like anywhere else.”

Williamstown has come a long way since its current seniors were freshmen.

The 2016 season, which began with four players transferring to a rival school, saw the Braves endure a seven-game losing streak at one point. In the next year, Williamstown took a small step forward, finishing 5-5.

The giant leap came last year, bringing a South Jersey championship and unbeaten record into the last game of the season.

The Braves were eager to finish business this year after collecting another sectional

crown.

“My first two years we struggled,” Wood said. “These last two years we really stepped up to bring this program back to what I knew it was when I was younger watching them play. It’s a phenomenal thing for the players and the coaches. We just all had trust in the coaches and in the program and put (WIlliamstown) back on the map and we’re hoping to keep it here for a few more years.”

Lewis concurred.

“Looking back, no one would have ever expected we’d come out the way we are (now), we won three games and played in a consolation game against Egg Harbor my freshman year,” he said. “No one expected this from us, but we were alright with that.

We knew we had each other. We’re a big family, and that’s what we preach all the time, we don’t worry about the outsiders, we only worry about everyone in the weight room. ... We just kept working and didn’t pay attention to the outside. If we keep working, we’ll get the result we want and we’ve gotten the result we wanted two times now.” ■

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SOUTH JERSEY SPORTS WEEKLY — DECEMBER 11-17, 2019

NELLI

continued from page S6 with a score of 36.125 after struggling on one of her vault attempts and then later falling off the balance beam.

Pellecchia-Kupiec noted Nelli was mad at herself for not hitting her sectional routines, but admired her ability to get past that disappointment and focus on the state championships.

“I think she needed for herself to go out to states and show what she showed at conference,” PellecchiaKupiec said. “That’s what she did.”

At states, Nelli began her competition on the balance beam. She fell at sectionals while trying to land a back handspring with a back layout. Nelli realized completing this skill at states would be a big boost to her confidence moving forward.

“Beam is usually one of my harder events,” she said. “I just wanted to stay on and hit the one skill I fell on at sectionals.

“I nailed the skill,” Nelli continued. “The rest of the meet just went really smoothly from there.”

Nelli’s final score at states was 36.6, good enough to finish eighth overall in the all-around. She was the highest-finishing freshman at states and top among all South Jersey competitors.

Nelli wasn’t an ordinary freshman. She brought an air of confidence to the gym and gave a lift to her teammates at Washington Township. Pellecchia-Kupiec was impressed with Nelli’s ability to gel with the other girls even when balancing club and high school.

“Bella came on very talkative from the start, very open, very silly with all of the girls,” Pellecchia-Kupiec said. “She was just so excited to be there and she wanted everyone to know, I want to be here and I want to have fun.

“The girls loved her,” PellecchiaKupiec added. “She really is hard not to love.”

Nelli may have entered high school with a lot of talent and confidence, but she does not believe she could have had such an outstanding season without the support of her team.

“Gymnastics is as much mental as it is physical,” Nelli said. “From a mental aspect, it’s a lot easier to perform when you have motivation and that support system helps you with that.” ■

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Cherokee’s Kate Rathman leads the pack en route to a victory at the Olympic Conference Championships on Oct. 23. Rathman’s first-place finish on Oct. 23 was the third race in a row she won.

RATHMAN

continued from page S4

less than 19 minutes in each event.

“If you look at our all-time lists, it’s either Megan (Lacy), her or Lisa Burkholder,” Jarvis said. “Even when she ran the time she ran at the county open, that was the secondfastest time ran at Mill Creek in history, out of anybody, and Megan’s the only one in front of her.”

At the South Jersey Group 4 meet, Rathman finished in second place behind Egg Harbor Township’s Olivia Shafer, but ran her fastest time in any race of her career at 18:13.

Her time helped Cherokee to a second place finish, the team’s best finish at sectionals since finishing in second in 2011. Rathman identified the team’s second place finish ahead of her individual accomplishments as her favorite memory of the season.

“I was more excited for the team finish,” she said. “Even

though I was happy about my race that day, I was excited for the team because we’ve been working all season to reach the top goals that we had and for all of us to be in it together.”

Rathman’s season ended with a bang as she placed in the top-10 at the Group 4 Championships to qualify for the Meet of Champions, where her 13th place finish was the highest for any Cherokee runner since Lacy finished seventh in 2011.

Rathman couldn’t have imagined becoming one of Cherokee’s greatest female cross country runners when she first stepped into the school in 2016. Reflecting back on her outstanding season, she could only thank the many people who helped her throughout her career.

“After middle school, I knew coming in I was decent,” she said. “But after all my coaches helped me through, all of the training, the support, that’s one of the main reasons I’ve turned out the way I am today.” ■

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