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Don Baese Carson City Crystal Invitational
September 29, 2007
Varsity highlightsLast year at the Carson City Invitational, Pioneer lost to Rockford in the rain by five slim points.  Not this year!  On a beautiful sunny autumn day at the Fish Creek Sportsman Club, Pioneer came with the confidence & talent needed to win, even without their usual lead runner.  Junior Dan Culbertson, sidelined by a nagging injury, did not run - the first missed race of his entire cross country career.  Despite Dan’s absence on the course, the varsity team demonstrated its incredible depth and strength, posting a score of 78 points and handily defeating the competition – 20 points better than last year’s Carson City showing! Working his way through some serious jostling at the beginning of the race, Senior Charlie Cavell made his way to the front, ultimately placing 2nd with a time of 16:09.5.  Great job, Charlie!  Sophomore Nick Kern had another fabulous race, placing 11th with a time of 16:28.8.   With a new PR by 22.3 seconds, Sophomore Nathan Karr had a fantastic race, placing 16th with a time of 16:43.7, and joining Pioneer's ever-growing ranks of "under 17-minute" runners.   Senior Captain Taylor DeLuca brought in a strong 22nd place finish, with a time of 16:52.4.    Sophomore Adam Kern was not far behind, with a 27th place finish and a time of 16:58.6.  Senior Captain David Cogswell placed 34th in a time of 17:04.8.  Sophomore Andy Sanz-Guerrero ran his first varsity race, with a very good time of 17:14.4.  He set a new PR by 14.6 seconds and came in 38th place.  What an excellent debut in the varsity ranks, Andy! 
Congrats to the varsity team for an excellent race.  It is especially fun to note how many sophomores are performing so well at the varsity level.  Keep up the good work!
 Varsity Team Results

Place

 Team  Points

1st

 Pioneer     78

2nd

 Caledonia   105

3rd

 Grand Ledge   112

4th

 Heritage   138

5th

 Petosky

  149

6th

 Rockford

  151

Pioneer Varsity Runners

Place

Name

Time

 

2

 Charlie  Cavell

16:09.5

 

11

 Nick  Kern

16:28.8

 

16

 Nate  Karr

16:43.7

 PR!   - 22.3

22

 Taylor  DeLuca

16:52.4

 

27

 Adam  Kern

16:58.6

 

34

 David  Cogswell

17:04.8

 

38

 Andy  Sanz-Guerrero

17:14.4

 PR!    -14.6
JV Highlights
Pioneer had just 2 entries in the Carson City Freshmen race, Pioneer's first race of the day.  David Torres finished in 19:10.4 to cut his PR by 35.3 seconds - an excellent effort.  Malcolm Shanks made his debut run for Pioneer, finishing in 30:00.1 and gaining valuable experience along the way.
An hour later, the rest of the JV squad dominated the field, setting lots of new PRs along the way.  Senior Jonathan Henrichs ran a fantastic race, steadily working his way up until he was right on the heels of the Lowell runner who had taken an early lead.  Jonathan stayed right with the leader until the fast start took its toll, then Jonathan passed him to take control of the 3rd mile, finishing with an almost 25-second lead in just 16:48.8, a new PR by 47.3 seconds.  Congratulations!
Senior Kinshuk Rajan took 15.5 seconds off his old PR with his strong 3rd place finish time of 17:41.5.  Junior Neil Keicher claimed 7th place and took 14.8 seconds off his PR with his 17:55.2 finish time, his first under the 18-minute mark and his best time this year by over 35 seconds.  It's wonderful to see Neil running well after struggling with injuries last year.
Senior Chris Fortson slashed 1:30.8  from his PR to finish in 23rd place in a time of 18:22.2 - great race!  Junior Julius Theophilus took 28h place with his 18:20.8 finish time, trimming another 5.3 seconds from his PR in the process.  This is the first full cross country season for both of these Pioneer track veterans, and they are improving rapidly.
Exchange-student (and junior) Robin Nitzer and new sophomore Juan Sanchez ran quite a dual.  At the finish line, Robin claimed 31st place in 18:33.5 (knocking 41.5 seconds from his PR) and Juan finished 32nd with a time of 18:33.8 - what a great first race!  Welcome, Juan. 
Sophomore Kevin Chaperon took 35th place with an 18:35.2 finish, and chopped 22.2 seconds from his PR in the process.  Sophomore Niko Rombes (18:40.1) took the 42nd spot, and sophomore Mike Sullivant took 51st place in 18:57.9, setting a new PR by 3.1 seconds.  Sophomores Aaron Trierweiller (69th place, 19:23) and Joe Frakes (92nd place, 19:53). both stayed under that 20-minute mark - good job!
Other Pioneers who PR'd at this race included sophomore Jonathan Diep (20:00.4) who trimmed 16.4 seconds off his PR, Lucas Arias (20:04.2) who knocked 52.8 seconds from his old PR, and Gabe Crisman (20:59) who cut his PR by 1:01 to slide under the 21-minute mark for the first time.  Junior Manuel Akard (22:49.7) also cut 1:20 from his old PR, and sophomore Zach Keller - who has been showing steady improvement at each meet - dropped an amazing 2:03 from his PR to finish in 24:51.
It was good to see sophomore Caleb Fogel running well in his first race this season after battling knee problems for a long time.  There's lots of potential there if he can stay healthy!
Two notes about JV times listed here as compared with those shown in the official results at www.playmakers.com.  First, Hayden Spitzley did not run, but Lucas Arias used his numbers, so Lucas' time is listed under Hayden's name on the official results.  Also, there were some non-trivial differences between the official times listed for Pioneers Arias, Fogel, Whiten & Aukerman and their times as measured by the team.  We believe the Pioneer times are more accurate, and so this website is using the Pioneer times for results listed here. 
 JV Team Results

Place

 Team  Points

1st

 Pioneer     56

2nd

 Rockford   105

3rd

 Caledonia   114

4th

 Petosky   122

5th

 Ionia

  129

 Pioneer JV Runners

Place

Name

Time

 

1

 Jon  Henrichs

16:48.8

 PR!   - 47.3

3

 Kinshuk  Rajan

17:41.5

 PR!    -15.5

7

 Neil  Keicher

17:55.2

 PR!    -14.8

23

 Chris  Fortson

18:22.2

 PR! -1:30.8

28

 Julius  Theophilus

18:29.7

 PR!     -5.3

31

 Robin  Nitzer

18:33.5

 PR!    -41.5

32

 Juan  Sanchez

18:33.8

 

35

 Kevin  Chaperon

18:35.8

 PR!    -22.2

42

 Niko  Rombes

18:40.1

 

51

 Michael  Sullivant

18:57.9

 PR!    - 3.1

69

 Aaron  Trierweiler

19:23.0

 

92

 Joe  Frakes

19:53.0

 

102

 Jonathan  Diep

20:00.6

 PR!   - 16.4

112

 Lucas  Arias

20:04.2

 PR!    -52.8

115

 Caleb  Fogel

20:09.3

 

118

 Jacob  Whiten

20:12.5

 

132

 Ben  Auckerman

20:28.6

 

n/a

 Gabe  Crisman

20:59.0

 PR!   - 1:01

n/a

 Manuel  Akard

22:49.7

 PR!   - 1:20

n/a

 Zach  Keller

24.51.0

 PR!   - 2:03
Pioneer Freshman Race

Place

Name

Time

 

115

 David  Torres

19:10.4

 PR!    -35.6

147

 Malcolm  Shanks

30:00.1

 

Updated Oct 3, 2007