Varsity highlights
The varsity team got off to a bit of an uneven start on an
unseasonably hot and humid afternoon as it finished third behind
Bedford and Adrian in the four-team SEC Red division. While a few of
the varsity runners still seemed to be rounding into shape following
on-again-off-again pre-season workouts, sophomore Morty
Stensones-Fornaess easily stood out as the fastest Pioneer runner of
the afternoon, finishing seventh overall in 17:23 - a personal record
(PR) by a full 13 seconds. This was a terrific start to his second
Pioneer cross country season.
Co-captain and senior Kevin Goehring also ran quite well, finishing
ninth in 17:50 and missing his PR by a mere nine seconds - quite an
accomplishment given the weather conditions, likely first race
jitters, and the relatively difficult Pioneer course. Sophomore Kyle
Kulseth made an extremely impressive cross country debut with his
12th place 17:54 finish - the best Pioneer time for a first-ever race
in at least five years. Sathish Mohan also ran well in his first
cross country race with an 18:58. More was expected from co-captain
and senior Soren Berg, sophomore Takashi Gould, and junior Jeff
Hubbard - all of whom ran races in the low 17:00s or below last year
- and more will assuredly be delivered in the meets to come.
Junior varsity highlights
No doubt pushed by the promise that the JV race winner would run in
the Varsity race at Saturday's Holly Invitational, junior Dan Moyer
ran perhaps his best race as a Pioneer, finishing ahead of all his
teammates and ninth overall at 18:57, only 13 seconds off his PR -
which on this course and in that heat is saying something. Good luck
in the Varsity race on Saturday, Dan!
Senior Nick Wilkinson and sophomores Johannes Widmalm and Walker
Rutter-Bowman finished in a pack 20 seconds behind Moyer in 16th,
17th, and 18th place. Widmalm's 19:19 bettered his PR from last year
by 1:26, and he was the only JV runner with a PR performance
Many of the freshmen had strong first races, and two in particular -
Eric Anderson (19:27) and Lang Burghardt (19:35) - had extremely
impressive debuts.
In what has become a web site custom, the following are a few words
of encouragement, especially for first-time JV runners. If you
thought your first race was, at best, unpleasant, it gets better from
here. The Pioneer course is more difficult than most if not all this
season's venues, and it was hot and humid out there on Tuesday. Many
of you will get PRs in your next race. Don't stop now - in many ways
the most difficult part is already over.