Meet highlights

Fifth in the state! That's pretty awesome stuff - and, we think, the best showing by a Pioneer team since Coach Sleeman and his squad brought home a state championship in the early 1990s. Interestingly, the top three qualifiers in our region - Huron, Saline, and Pioneer - finished 2nd, 3rd, and 5th! That's extraordinary, and of obvious benefit to us to be in such a strong region as our competition against top teams throughout the season paid off in the year's final - and most important - meet.

And now - all hail to Jeff and Morty! Jeff was 11th overall in a scorching 15:31 (a 20 second PR) and Morty was 27th in 15:42 (faster than his previous best by 16 seconds) - qualifying both as All State! All Pioneer boosters are extremely proud of you! And of Takashi, who has been battling various physical ailments over the last month but mostly overcame them in this last meet to tie his PR at 16:02 - enough for 41st place, which was crucial to the team's strong showing. Lang (16:42) also ran a very strong race and an 11 second PR, and Craig capped off his remarkable string of ever-decreasing times by busting the 17 minute barrier and completing the scoring for Pioneer in 16:58 - also an 11 second PR. And let's not forget Hiro, who ran - you guessed it - an 11 second PR to run a 17:07 and tie Johannes, who has hovered just above the 17 minute barrier all season long.

Final thought about the future: it's bright! Pioneer's second through sixth finishers are all sophomores and juniors who will presumably be back and stronger next year, and this year's junior varsity squad was as strong or stronger than any unit it faced this year.

So congratulations, Pioneers, for a job very well done - and look out for us again next year!

Pioneer varsity runners

Name                      Place    Time
Jeffery Hubbard            11     15:31 PR! (-20)
Morten Stensones-Fornaess  27     15:42 PR! (-16)
Takashi Gould              41     16:02
Langdon Burghardt         116     16:42 PR! (-11)
Craig Marlatt             146     16:58 PR! (-11)
Johannes Widmalm          161     17:07
Hiroaki Totsuka           162     17:07 PR! (-11)

Team Results

Team point totals exclude all individual (non-team) qualifiers
1.  Highland Milford          90
2.  Ann Arbor Huron          149
3.  Saline                   166
4.  Grand Ledge              201
5.  Ann Arbor Pioneer        236
6.  Pinckney                 240
7.  Novi                     252
8.  Muskegon Mona Shores     275
9.  Portage Northern         276
10. Detroit Catholic Central 322

Final Note

Make sure you're there for the festivities honoring this year's great achievements at our Banquet in the Pioneer cafeteria on the evening of Tuesday, November 11.

PR! - new personal record, refers to all-time PR, not just the best time of the season