Varsity highlights
Weather: 75, sunny, low humidity
Wow, we got smoked.
Before proceeding with the analysis of this unpleasant event,
we would like to salute Sean Moore of Saline. Sean set a new
course record with a time of 16:31. Sean broke the previous
record of 16:55, which was owned by Steve Ramsburgh of the 1998
Pioneer team. Great job Sean.
Pioneer took 3rd of 4 teams at the meet. While Pionner beat
Adrian handily, the team was thoroughly trounced by both
Saline and Bedford. It was a combination of a subpar performance
by Pioneer and excellent running by the opponents.
First, it should be mentioned that the Mill Pond course is
quite tough, as demonstrated by the elevated course record.
To compare a jamboree time with a time from the Jackson
race, it would be necessary to add 20-30 seconds to a varsity
time and 30-45 seconds to a JV time (JV times at Jackson
benefited from the cooler temperatures on Friday).
So, while the varsity times were not outstanding, it was not
a horrible performance either. Eric Ford-Holevinski obviously
had an off day. Matt Johnson, Joe Anderson and Nick Piotrowski
ran OK times. Andy Harvey had a good race. James Naughton was
unable to run and that didn't help.
So a mediocre performance by the Pioneers, combined with
an excellent performance by Saline and Bedford, created
a dismal final score. Pioneer will run against Saline in
the Portage Invitational on Saturday. This will give us
an opportunity to redeem ourselves.
Junior varsity highlights
Pioneer's JV runners did a great job. There weren't many PR's, but
this is due to the fact that the Saline course is 30-45 seconds
tougher than the Jackson course. If a runner came within 15 seconds
of a PR (personal record), that's an excellent performance.
Mike Roth led the way for the JV runners, with a solid time of 19:04.
The second Pioneer JV runner was Kevin Goehring. Kevin's time of
19:08 was within 6 seconds of his PR. This was excellent running
for both Mike and Kevin on a very tough course. Harvey Acheson,
Soren Berg and Kota Takahashi also ran excellent races.
We have to mention Stephen Sepaniak. Stephen ran a PR time of 19:58
and broke 20 minutes for the first time. Way to go Stephen.
Stephen was the only Pioneer runner to make a PR, but another 10
runners came close.
Next up: the Portage Invitational on Saturday. This is a fast course
and the weather should be cool. It will be an excellent PR opportunity.