(All photos by Ryan Kelly)
On a miserable day back in December, St. Benedict’s (N.J.) Prep sophomore Edward Cheserek finished a mere two seconds behind individual winner Lukas Verzbicas at the Nike Cross-Country Nationals in Portland Meadows. Another 100 meters and head coach Marty Hannon believes his star runner could have possibly defeated the two-time champion and Illinois phenom from Sandburg High.
The NXN meet finished off an amazing season on the dirt trails for the Kenyan-born Cheserek, who came to the United States via his homeland this past summer. Hannon has just had one problem with his gifted harrier, one he certainly has the patience to deal with.
It’s patience from the 17-year-old Cheserek. Right now, even splits aren’t exactly a top priority.
“He’s like a street kid,” Hannon said. “He sees people in front of him and he just wants to catch them.”
That “problem” was front and center at last month’s Yale Track Classic in Connecticut. Running on the school’s fourth-place 4x800-meter relay squad, Cheserek ran splits that had a nearly 10-second differential.
His final time - a sizzling, 1:52.2. His opening 400 – 52.5!
“It’s still a learning process for him,” Hannon said, “but he’s still doing very, very well.”
As evident by his finishing time inside Yale’s Cox Cage, things certainly are going very well for Cheserek as he switches from the uneven terrain to the indoor boards. On Sunday, he ran to yet another nation-leading time this winter by winning the 3,200 at the New Jersey Catholic Track Conference Championships with a time of 9:12.62.
That clocking gets added to a list of individual performances that already includes the country’s best in the 800 (1:53.64) and the 1,500 (3:58.14) and a mile time of 4:12.80, No. 3 this season.
In terms of “team efforts,” Cheserek was part of two relay squads at the Ed Poreda Invitational on Feb. 2 that also made it to the top of the list at the time. He anchored the Gray Bees’ Distance Medley foursome to a time of 10:19.95 (US #2) with a 4:11.5 mile split. He also clocked a 1:53 leg for the winning Sprint Medley quartet that finished at 3:32.68 (US #2).
Cheserek came to St. Benedict’s in July after spending most of his life in an orphanage called Stadi Za Maisha in Kenya. He showed promise in his homeland with his performances in local races. Realizing his potential, the orphanage gave him a scholarship to continue with his education at St. Benedict’s where he hasn’t slowed down since his July arrival.
“We had no idea how good he was,” Hannon said. “We knew he was a distance runner and ran some local races (in Kenya). Just before he came here, he won some National Junior Olympic-type meet in Kenya.”
After dealing with a stress fracture to begin the cross-country season at the Newark school, Cheserek made an immediate impact among his new surroundings by capturing the National Independent Schools Championship at the Great American Cross-Country Festival in North Carolina on Oct. 2.
Demonstrating his controlled, reckless style, Cheserek ran his first 800 in two minutes en route to a winning time of 15:24.20 for the five-kilometer course. He followed that effort by placing second to fellow N.J. standout Jim Rosa in the Eastern States Championship race at the Manhattan Invitational Oct. 9 where he ran 12:34 for the challenging 2.4-mile course, six seconds behind the defending titlist and course-record holder Rosa.
He just missed the course mark by less than a tick at the Brown University Invitational in R.I. on Oct. 16 when he scorched the muddy course in 15:00.80.
“If he wore spikes like I told him to he would have set the course record,” Hannon said. “He slipped a few times.”
Although run on a slightly flat terrain at Brookdale Park, Cheserek smashed the CR by 14 seconds at the Essex County Championships on Oct. 29 where he ran a 5K best of 14:42.
Cheserek won his prep school championship (15:22.05) and finished second to Rosa at the NXN regionals (15:48.3) prior to his runner-up finish to Verzbicas.
At NXN on Dec. 4, the University of Oregon-bound Verzbicas won with a time of 15:59.2 with Cheserek crossing the line in 16:01.5.
“He pushed and pushed it,” Hannon said. “Everyone else fell back, except for Lukas. I am very happy with his race under tough conditions. At the finish he was (two) seconds behind Lukas. He was further back with a half mile left. He kind of just lost sight of him. Edward closed in on him at the finish. Who knows if there was another 100 meters in the race?”
Cheserek is in the late stages of what’s turning out to be a splendid winter on the indoor boards. Upcoming meets for the distance ace include the Eastern States Championships and the New Balance Nationals in New York City. At the nationals, there’s a good chance Cheserek will be matched with Verzbicas once again.
Tentatively, Hannon has plans to enter Cheserek in the Distance Medley and the two mile, an event that Verzbicas could very well compete in. The goal now is to just tame the eagerness down a few notches.
“He’s very highly motivated and he works hard to succeed,” Hannon said. “He just needs to control his enthusiasm a little bit. He’s just so eager to catch people. He’ll figure it out.”
