Varsity highlights

The Pioneer mens varsity cross country team got off to a great start at the highly competitive Brother Rice invitational. Pioneer placed 6th of 26 teams at this meet. The Brother Rice meet featured 12 teams that placed in the top 20 at the 1999 state meet, and Pioneer beat 8 of these teams.

Leading the way for Pioneer were James Naughton (17:15) and Matt Johnson (17:20). James and Matt finished 19th and 24th respectively, the best 1-2 combination at Brother Rice since Andrew Armstrong and Steve Ramsburgh finished 16th and 24th in 1998. All of the Pioneer varsity runners improved their times from 1999.

It was a great race. While this is just one race in a long season, it's clear that this team has great potential. Believe in yourself guys, you can do very well in 2000.

Varsity team results

Team                      Points    Preseason      1999
                                     Top Ten     State Meet
1.  Detroit Cath. Central   66          3           6
2.  Saline                 135          4           3
3.  Lakeland               169          6           *
4.  Grand Ledge            173          5           5
5.  Portage Northern       187          *          13
6.  Ann Arbor Pioneer      191          9           *
7.  Traverse City Central  195          *          11
8.  Lake Orion             214          7           9
9.  Pickerington OH        220          *           *
10. Livonia Churchill      282          *          18
11. Sterling Heights       306          *          20
12. Troy                   341          *          12
13. Utica Eisenhower       354          *          16
14. Walled Lake Western    371          *           *
15. Plymouth Salem         379          *           *
16. Livonia Stevenson      432          *           *
17. Saline B team          440          *           *
18. Delasalle              457          *           *
19. Rochester Adams        462          *          14
20. Clarkston              532          *           4
21. Rochester              551          *           *
22. Brother Rice           566          *           *
23. Monroe                 573          *           *
24. West Bloomfield        605          *           *
25. Kalamazoo Loy Norrix   723          *           *
26. Waterford Mott         765          *           *

Pioneer varsity runners

Name                 Place    Time
James Naughton        19     17:15
Matt Johnson          24     17:20
Eric Ford-Holevinski  37     17:41
Joe Anderson          44     17:50
Nick Piotrowski       67     18:13
Andy Harvey           71     18:17

Junior varsity highlights

Pioneer's leading JV runner was Mike Roth. Mike established a PR (personal record) of 19:43 on the very first race of the season. Way to go Mike! Two sophmore runners, Soren Berg (19:52) and Kevin Goehring (19:54), ran excellent races in their very first cross country meet. These are fine times for a difficult course on a warm day.

The leading freshman runner was Carl Duke (21:27). He was followed closely by freshmen Sam Milgrom (21:28) and Parry Garff (21:31). Good work by these runners. Who will be the top freshman at the next meet?

Now here's a few words of encouragement to the first-time JV runners. I'm sure that some of you thought your first race was really unpleasant (I could think of stronger words...). But, hey, it gets better from here. The Brother Rice course is one of the most difficult of the entire season and it was very warm and humid. Most runners will get PR's in their next race. As the season progresses, you will get stronger and see your times improve dramatically. If you stick with it, you will have a great feeling of accomplishment by the end of the season. So don't stop now. In many ways the most difficult part is already over.

Name               Time
Mike Roth         19:43  PR!  (-5)
Soren Berg        19:52
Kevin Goehring    19:54
Harvey Acheson    20:51
Kota Takahashi    20:55
Nick Wilkensen    21:15
Carl Duke         21:27
Josh Salvner      21:28
Sam Milgrom       21:28
Parry Garff       21:31
Dan Wucherer      21:45
Stephen Sepaniak  21:51
Dan Moyer         22:12
Bill Weber        22:12
Elric Centers     22:18
Chad Schoch       23:03
Cedric York       23:42
Kellan Winbourne  24:07
Kevin Mulholland  26:56

Final notes

If a name is misspelled, or if there is some other error, please send an email.

Notice how well the Preseason Top Ten predicted the results for the varsity meet. The person that made that list must really know what he's talking about.

PR! - new personal record

Go Pioneers!