Varsity highlights

Weather for varsity meet (Sat): 70's, humid, mostly cloudy, light winds
Weather for JV meet (Fri): 60's, low humidity, windy

The Pioneer team ran well at the Jackson Invitational. Pioneer appears to have placed 7th of approximately 25 teams. The results are not completely certain because a computer failure stopped the meet officials from announcing any final results. The team standings were obtained after the various coaches pooled their own tabulations. Originally it seemed that Pioneer was 6th, but that was because Bedford left the meet early and got left out! Update: final results have been obtained. All of the results are now final results.

Although 7th out of 25 teams doesn't seem impressive, the field was particularly strong this year. Other than Rockford, Novi and Detroit Catholic Central, pretty much all of the other top teams ran at Jackson. It was a solid performance by the Pioneers.

Once again, the Pioneers were led by Johnson (17th, 17:06) and Naughton (20th, 17:09). However, the real story of the meet was the performance of 3rd man Eric Ford-Holevinski. Eric finished right behind Matt and James in 22nd place. Eric was just 4 seconds behind James and his 17:12 time was a PR (personal record) by 23 seconds. Pioneer placed three runners in the top 25, something that has not been accomplished in several years. Besides Matt, James and Eric, Joe Anderson also ran well and took 37th. Nick Piotrowski had an off day, but we all know that Nick will do better in the future.

Times were slower than expected because of damp conditions and humidity. For example, last year Matt Johnson ran 16:47 and finished 18th. This year Matt ran 17:06 but still moved up a place in the standings.

Varsity team results

Team                      Points
1.  Grand Ledge             90
2.  Milford                120
3.  Portage Northern       138
4.  White Lake Lakeland    141
5.  Saline                 150
6.  Temperance Bedford     159
7.  Ann Arbor Pioneer      171
8.  Traverse City Central  177
9.  Sterling Heights       189
10. Grand Blanc            257
11. Plymouth Salem         271
12. Pinckney               298
13. West Ottawa            346
14. Kalamazoo Central      351
15. Howell                 409
16. Portage Central        420
17. De La Salle            475
18. Adrian                 506
19. Swartz Creek           512
20. Kalamazoo Loy Norrix   514

Pioneer varsity runners

Name                 Place    Time
Matt Johnson          17     17:06
James Naughton        20     17:09
Eric Ford-Holevinski  22     17:12  PR!  (-23)
Joe Anderson          37     17:28
Nick Piotrowski       77     18:21
only 5 Pioneer runners participated

Junior varsity highlights

From top to bottom, Pioneer's JV runners turned in great performances. There were an amazing 17 PR's. Mike Roth and Soren Berg broke 19 minutes for the first time. The 20 minute barrier was cracked by Sam Milgrom, Nick Wilkensen and Carl Duke.

Andy Harvey was the #1 finisher in the race, with a time of 17:35. Andy normally runs varsity, but he ran JV this week after ending up in Coach Sleeman's doghouse. It was a strong, focused race by Andy. Robby Young also had a strong race, taking 4th overall with a time of 17:58. Mike Roth got another PR, just as he has for each race this season. Mike finished 15th overall, with a time of 18:46.

The battle for top sophmore continues, with the times of Soren Berg, Kevin Goehring and Harvey Acheson all very close to 19:00. But they should now look out for freshman Sam Milgrom. Sam ran 19:12 and finished just behind Harvey Acheson. All of these runner should set their sights on making the varsity. With continued improvement, it's a real possibility now. Similarly, the newly-revitalized Dan Wucherer (19:12) and Kota Takahashi (19:21) could also make the varsity by the end of season. Keep working hard guys, you may surprise yourselves.

Other notable PR's were obtained by Dean Dohadwala (-1:20), Elric Centers (-58), Gabe Sanders (-54), Kevin Mulholland (-50), Stephen Sepaniak (-46), Josh Salvner (-44) and Carl Duke (-40).

Congratulations to the entire JV team. The future is starting to shine bright for the Pioneer team.

Name                 Place    Time
Andy Harvey            1     17:35
Robby Young            4     17:58
Mike Roth             15     18:46  PR!  (-  33)
Soren Berg            21     18:59  PR!  (-  29)
Kevin Goehring        22     19:02  PR!  (-  29)
Harvey Acheson        28     19:10  PR!  (-  20)
Sam Milgrom           29     19:11  PR!  (-1:08)
Dan Wucherer          30     19:12  PR!  (-  31)
Kota Takahashi        **     19:21  PR!  (-  31)
Matt MacVey           **     19:31
Pat Fay               **     19:51
Nick Wilkensen        **     19:52  PR!  (-  19)
Carl Duke             **     19:56  PR!  (-  40) 
Jon Moler             **     20:14
Stephen Sepaniak      **     20:15  PR!  (-  46) 
Josh Salvner          **     20:17  PR!  (-  44) 
Chad Schoch           **     20:40  PR!  (-  23)
Bill Weber            **     20:49
Parry Garff           **     21:06
Dean Dohadwala        **     21:12  PR!  (-1:20)
Elric Centers         **     21:20  PR!  (-  58)
Cedric York           **     22:08  PR!  (-  38)
Gabe Sanders          **     22:27  PR!  (-  54)
Kevin Mulholland      **     22:58  PR!  (-  50)

PR! - new personal record

Go Pioneers!