Varsity highlights
The Pioneer varsity cross country team had a solid performance at the
Gabriel Richard Invitational, placing 7th among nineteen teams. With
three of the top five finishers running PR races, those earning
points were fairly well bunched together, and the team began to show
some of its vast potential.
Sophomore Morty Stensones-Fornaess led the way once again. Though he
didn't run his fastest race ever, his 16:36 marked yet another solid
performance in a season filled with them. Senior co-captains Kevin
Goehring and Soren Berg both ran very strong races, with Kevin
busting the 17 minute mark for the first time with a 16:48 and Soren
finally looking like he's capable of meeting if not exceeding the
form he displayed last year as he beat his PR by one second for a
16:50 finish. Sophomore Kyle Kulseth also continued to show steady
improvement with another impressive PR time of 17:30 in his first
cross country season.
Though junior Jeff Hubbard ran a very solid 17:34, he has yet to run
as fast as he did last year, when he posted a PR time of 17:09. If
the team is going to have a chance to go to the State meet, Jeff will
likely have to meet or exceed his performance as a sophomore.
Pioneer also continues to sorely miss the contributions of sophomore
Takashi Gould, who ran in the first three races of the year
(including a PR 17:05) but has missed the last three due to injury.
Junior Dan Moyer ran another strong race as the sixth man, though he
faded just a bit in the last mile as he posted his 18:04. Senior
Gabe Velasquez, who has been coming on strong all year but was
obviously hurting even before the gun went off, ran a courageous race
nonetheless and limped home in 20:07.
Junior varsity highlights
Coach Sleeman departed from the routine of the last few years and did
not run both a Varsity "A" and "B" team, but many JV runners had
solid races, and a second Varsity team would likely have done at
least as well as some of the Pioneer "B" teams have fared in the
past. Satish Mohan finished first for the junior varsity, breaking
the 18:00 mark with a PR time of 17:55. Second place finisher Nick
Wilkinson also continued his string of improving races, finishing
with a second consecutive PR time of 18:07, and Sam Milgrom, in third
place for Pioneer, bounced back nicely after a three week layoff and
continued his string of improvement in every race this year with a PR
time of 18:16. Carl Duke was not far behind, bettering his PR by
more than 30 seconds with an 18:21.
Eric Anderson, who also continued his string of improving races with
another PR performance of 18:29, now has serious competition for the
coveted Most Promising Freshman award from Mark Antonuk, who beat
Eric by three seconds in this race and was Pioneer's fifth finisher
with a PR time of 18:26.
If Takashi Gould is unable to return to form this year, there may be
at least one if not two varsity spots up for grabs. This will make
for a very interesting race on Thursday, the final race before the
Regional meet. A stellar performance in the SEC # 3 at Hudson Mills
by any one of the junior varsity runners mentioned above - including
the freshmen - should at least give Coach Sleeman some food for
thought.
Other notable performances at the Gabriel Richard Invitational
include Andrew Lyjak's 31 second PR of 18:48, Chris Miller's
improvement of 43 seconds to 19:51, and Jake Holme's upgrade of
nearly a full minute to 21:15.
Final notes
The next race is the final SEC jamboree at Hudson Mills on
Thursday. The boys Varsity race will start at 4:00 and the JV race
is at 5:30.
PR! - new personal record, refers to all-time
PR, not just the best time of the season
The 2002 Honor Roll has been updated
Go Pioneers!