Back to 2006 index
Back to Home page
Brother Rice Invitational
September 9, 2006
Varsity highlights
Once again the Pioneer varsity started their season with a commanding win at the Brother Rice invitational held at Kensington Metro Park. And, once again, De La Salle came in second, despite having a strong group of top four runners. As coach always says, “It’s the fifth man who can make or break the team!”
As we sometimes do, Pioneer ran two teams, “A” and “B” in the varsity race, both posting some good times for the first race of the season. Sophomore Dan Culbertson was in the race lead pack, a group of about five guys, the entire race. Then he put some distance between himself and the rest of the pack, finishing in second place in a fine time of 16:43. Great way to start the season, Dan! Four Pioneer runners (Seniors Mike Weisbuch and Paul Versluis and Juniors Taylor DeLuca and Eric Hubbard) ran together as a strong group throughout the race and finished within 18 seconds of each other. Paul posted a 10th place finish with a time of 17:16. Mike (in his first varsity “A” team race) placed 16th in 17:25. Taylor came in 22nd with a time of 17:31 and Eric raced past several runners at the end to place 23rd in a time of 17:34. The other two runners in the A team, Junior Erik Levinsohn and Senior Jamie Fogel rounded out the team with times of 18:04 and 18:32. Great job by all the guys!
The varsity “B” showed the depth and strength we have as a team. Junior Charlie Cavell posted a great 38th place finish in a time of 17:47. Senior Mac McDonald-Wilkins finished strong in 18:11, as did Junior David Cogswell in 18:16 and Senior Austin Taylor in 18:19. Running in their first varsity races, Juniors Jonathan Henrichs (18:40) and Kinshuk Rajan (18:45) and Sophomore Neil Keicher (18:50) gained valuable experience.
Congratulations to all the guys on starting the season with an impressive win!
Varsity Team Results:
Place Team Points
1st Ann Arbor Pioneer 73
2nd De LaSalle 112
3rd U of D Jesuit 117
4th Traverse City Central 196
5th Livonia Churchill 211
Pioneer Varsity Runners:
“A” Team
Place Name Time
2nd Dan Culbertson 16:43
10th Paul Versluis 17:16
16th Mike Weisbuch 17:25
22nd Taylor DeLuca 17:31
23rd Eric Hubbard 17:34
53rd Erik Levinsohn 18:04
87th Jamie Fogel 18:32
“B” Team
38th Charlie Cavell 17:47
61st Mac McDonald-Wilkins 18:11
67th David Cogswell 18:16
73rd Austin Taylor 18:19
93rd Jonathan Henrichs 18:40
99th Kinshuk Rajan 18:45
102nd Neil Keicher 18:50
Junior Varsity highlights
14 of the 23 Pioneer JV runners today were freshmen running their first high school cross country race. For some of them, it was their very first cross country race ever, quite an overwhelming experience in a very crowded event. The JV race is not officially scored at this meet, but thanks to volunteer timer Andrew Copp, we do have some very good (unofficial) times to share:
After spending most of the summer rehabbing from a nasty fracture last spring, a time of 18:43 brought Pioneer’s top JV finisher Freshman Nick Kern a 7th place finish – congratulations Nick! Not far behind was Freshman Nate Karr, finishing slightly ahead of Freshman Adam Kern, both clocking in at 19:01 and placing well inside the top twenty finishers. Sophomore David Wallington’s time was 19:32, more than 4 minutes faster than his time for this race last year, and unofficially 11 seconds faster than his 2005 PR. Also under the 20 minute mark were Freshmen Andy Sanz-Guerrero (19:40) and Shohei Azuma (19:56).
Senior John Strader (20:03) shaved 5 seconds off his time from last year, followed by Sophomore Hayden Spitzley (20:13) and Freshman Kevin Chaperon (20:17). Junior Jacob Whiten’s time of 20:46 was nearly 3 minutes faster than his time for this race last year; he was followed by Freshman Brendan Pauley (20:55).
At 21:04, returning Senior John Voiles was followed by Freshman Kosta Roumanis (21:17), running in his first meet for Pioneer, and Freshman Kiowa Jones (21:18), returning Junior Max King (21:30) and Freshman Aaron Trierweiler (21:47). Sophomore Chris Cain finished at 22:14, trimming more than 2 minutes from his time at this race last year, followed by Freshmen Rafael Kronenberg, Jonathan Diep, Mike Sullivant, Ben Aukerman and Nick LeVeque and Sophomore Matt Lerner.
Many of today’s JV race times are better than those posted for this race last year by several of today’s Pioneer varsity squad runners - great news for the Pioneer teams of the future and a great beginning for this season.
Pioneer JV runners
Name Time
Nick Kern 18:43
Nate Karr 19:01
Adam Kern 19:01
David Wallington 19:32
Andy Sanz-Guerrero 19:40
Shohei Azuma 19:56
John Strader 20:03
Hayden Spitzley 20:13
Kevin Chaperon 20:17
Jacob Whiten 20:46
Brendan Pauley 20:55
John Voiles 21:04
Kosta Roumanis 21:17
Kiowa Jones 21:18
Max King 21:30
Aaron Trierweiller 21;47
Chris Cain 22:14
Rafael Kronenberg 22:37
Mike Sullivant 23;50
Jonathan Diep 23:50
Nick LeVeque 25:13
Matt Lerner 29:46
Back to 2006 index
Back to Home page