Varsity highlights
Led by Senior Co-Captain Morty Stensones-Fornaess's record breaking
performance, Pioneer completely dominated the SEC Jamboree held at
Saline's Mill Pond Park by taking five of the top ten places. In
what was probably his best run of the season, Morty's time of 16:02
smashed the course record held by Dustin Voss (the 2003 state cross
country champion) by an amazing 18 seconds. This was truly a
remarkable time given the difficulty of this course (we'll have more
on the course later). Fantastic job Morty!
The SEC teams at this Jamboree could enter as many as ten runners for
the varsity race, and all of the Pioneer runners were impressive.
Finishing in 3rd place Junior Peter Christmas (16:36) ran another
very strong race. Senior Co- Captain Takashi Gould was fourth with a
time of 16:41. Junior Eric Anderson (17:17) ran another PR and
finished in eighth place, while Junior Craig Marlatt (17:21) finished
in tenth place to help Pioneer destroy the SEC field and take a
commanding lead in the race for the league crown.
Other notable performances were Senior Kyle Kulseth (17:48) who
continues to lead the team and run strong races. Juniors Will Barden
(17:56) and Leo Callender (17:58) again ran solid races and stayed
under the 18 minute mark. Sophomore Ben Bross (18:08) and
Junior Mark Antonuk (18:24) rounded out the varsity runners.
Great job Varsity runners!
Junior varsity highlights
Once again the Pioneer JV squad crushed the SEC field by finishing in
the top four places. Freshman Charlie Clavell (17:54) ran away with
the race breaking the 18 minute mark for the first time. Charlie led
the race from the start, finished first by 30 seconds, and ran a
personal record on a difficult course. Very impressive performance
from this fine freshman!
Finishing in second place was Junior Lang Burghardt (18:24) and in
third place Senior Dale White (18:26) who has improved significantly
from 2003. Sophomore Mack McDonald-Wilkins (18:28) continues to
improve finishing in fourth. Other notable performances were Junior
Zach DeGeorge (18:57), who had an incredible race with a 39 second
drop and broke the 19 minute mark for the first time. Way to go
Zach! Sophomore Miles Atwell (19:24), Sophomore Jon Strader (19:42),
and Junior Lars Zwannenburg (21:05) all had personal best times. A
personal best time on this course is really an accomplishment. Now
about that course...Saline's Mill Pond course is one of the most
difficult in the state, which makes personal best times very hard to
come by. The first mile is flat and fast running along the pond.
The second and third miles are anything but flat and fast as the
runners trek up two hills at 45 degree angles. The first hill, named
"Toboggan Hill" is a back-breaker that would be difficult to walk up,
let alone run. The third mile hill is named "Killer Hill", and
rightly so as it virtually brings the field to a stop at a very tough
time in the race.
Freshman Taylor Deluca (19:39) continues to run under the 20 minute
mark. And how about Chris Lanius (21:40),
Jack Durham (22:26), and Chris Norat (22:45) who all crushed their
personal best times. These Freshmen loved those hills!!
Congratulations JV runners!
Final notes
Our next meet is Saturday October 9th at the Portage Invitational in
Portage, MI. The Division I Men are scheduled to run at 2:30 and
Division I Reserves (JV) at 4:30. This is a fabulous meet which
draws the best teams in the Midwest. They have a very extensive and
informative website at
www.portageinvite.com. The weather is supposed to be great, and Pioneer
has some great momentum coming into the meet, so make the drive to
Portage! See you there.
PR! - new personal record, refers to all-time
PR, not just the best time of the season
The 2004 Honor Roll has been updated.
Go Pioneers!