Hrm, yeah, it does seem like a waste to get rid of all that syrup. Lemme think here. Well, one thing is that my jam recipe (from the Ball Blue Book) doesn't require draining, so maybe that's a better option to start with? Also, you could make some totally yummy cherry syrup with the, well, syrup. The rough idea would be to heat up the drained syrup, add some sugar and/or corn syrup, probably some vanilla and/or almond flavoring, and let it reduce a bit (and salt! always salt!). Myself, I would add a pat of butter at the end when you take it off the heat. Mmm. Put it in a jar, keep it in your fridge, and use it on pancakes & waffles & stuff.

I'm guessing you could also make jelly with the syrup, but I don't have a recipe, and you may well not get enough syrup to pull it off. I'm currently making a clafouti with some of our cherries. Clafouties are a quiche's response to dessert. I'll probably post it later if it comes out.

I've had a Turkish sour cherry juice drink that was absolutely sublime. Just juice, sugar, and water to make it the consistency of cranberry juice cocktail.

Or just keep that juice around and mix it with seltzer.