Varsity highlights

The Ann Arbor Pioneer Cross Country team traveled to the Gabriel Richard Invitational at Hudson Mills (new course) finishing third behind Dexter and only seven points behind second place Pinckney. And in another display of our incredible depth, the Pioneer "B" team had another top ten finish. Preliminary results had Pioneer B in 9th place, but this is undoubtedly wrong because Lang Burghardt was not included in the tabulations. In any case, it was great work by the Pioneer B team.

It appears there will undoubtedly be a showdown at MIS in November, as Pioneer continues to make progress matching up with the #1 ranked Pinckney squad. (Note: Dexter is a division 2 school, so they will be in a different race at the state finals.) Led once again by Senior Captain Peter Christmas (16:18) finishing in 3rd place and five spots ahead of the #1 Pinckney runner, Pete continues to run strong race after strong race. Senior Captain's Craig Marlatt (16:54) and Eric Anderson (16:57) had great runs as both finished ahead of the Pinckney #2 through #7 runners. Craig had another top ten finishing in 9th place, one spot and only two seconds behind the Pinckney #1 runner! Eric finished in 11th place and ran one of his best races of the year. Great job Pete, Craig and Eric!

Freshman Dan Culbertson finished in 24th place with a time of 17:21 running on a sore knee. Senior Leo Callender (17:27) rounded out the scoring with a 29th place finish. Junior Paul Versluis ran for the first time on the "A" squad finishing in 36th place with a time of 17:36 and Sophomore Charlie Cavell (17:53) finished in 46th place. There is no doubt that to win at MIS our four through seven runners will have to close the gap with Pinckney's two through seven runners.

Our "B" team had a fantastic day, led by Senior Will Barden (17:30) who finished in 31st place, and made a strong statement for an "A" squad position. Senior Lang Burghardt had an excellent race with a time of 17:38. Senior Mark Antonuk (17:55) finished in 48th place, and Sophomore Eric Hubbard ran very well in his first varsity race with a time of 18:03. Junior Taylor DeLuca (18:06) finished in 58th place, and Sophomore David Cogswell (18:13) also running in his first varsity race finished in 63rd place gaining valuable experience. Senior Paul Corbett (18:27) rounded out the scoring finishing in 78th place.

Varsity team results

    Team                  Points
1   Dexter                   40
2   Pinckney                 69
3   Ann Arbor Pioneer "A"    76
4   South Lyon              163
5   Livonia Churchill       207
6   Saline                  217
7   Hartland                235
8   Milford                 254
9?? Ann Arbor Pioneer "B"   257??
Total of 26 teams

Pioneer varsity runners

Place   Runner           Time
Note: this is a new Hudson Mills course
Pioneer "A"
3rd     Peter Christmas 16:18
9th     Craig Marlatt   16:54
11th    Eric Anderson   16:57
24th    Dan Culbertson  17:21
29th    Leo Callender   17:27
36th    Paul Versluis   17:36
46th    Charlie Cavell  17:53

Pioneer "B"
31st    Will Barden     17:30
40th??  Lang Burghardt  17:38
48th    Mark Antonuk    17:55
57th    Eric Hubbard    18:03
58th    Taylor DeLuca   18:06
63rd    David Cogswell  18:13
78th    Paul Corbett    18:27

Junior varsity highlights

The Pioneer JV team had a terrific race! If they were officially tabulating team scores in the JV race, Pioneer would have scored 36 points and that surely would have put them in first place. And, let's remember we ran two varsity teams, so that makes it all the more impressive.

You could best describe the top three JV runners as "lonely" during the Gabriel Richard Invitational. Taking first, second, and third places in this large race, these guys were way ahead of the rest of the field. Junior Mac McDonald-Wilkins ran to a first place finish, with an impressive time of 17:36 on this difficult course, with absolutely no one in sight, in front or behind. Junior Austin Taylor came closest to Mac, running to a second place finish in 18:03. Junior Jamie Fogel brought home a third place finish for Pioneer in 18:16. Great job, guys!

Rounding out the top five runners for Pioneer were Seniors Lars Zwaanenberg (18:45), who placed 14th and Yan Charniauski (18:58), who placed 16. Great finishes for both of them!

It's just downright strange to not be writing about PRs, as they have been so abundant this year. Alas, there was not a single one on this tough course. But, two guys deserve special mention. In a race where most of their teammates were running 30-45 seconds slower than their last race, these two had great races. Sophomore Jacob Whiten (20:55) was only 4 seconds from his PR and Senior Paul Kimeldorf (22:38) was a mere 4 seconds from his season best. A hearty congratulations to Jacob and Paul!!

Place   Name                            Time
1st     Mac McDonald-Wilkins    Jr      17:36
2nd     Austin Taylor           Jr      18:03
3rd     Jamie Fogel             Jr      18:16
14      Lars Zwaanenberg        Sr      18:45
16      Yan Charniauski         Sr      18:58
19      Jon Voiles              Jr      19:04
20      John Strader            Jr      19:07
23      Kinshuk Rajan           So      19:09
25      John Levinsohn          Sr      19:11
26      Neil Keicher            So      19:12
45      David Del Zoppo         Sr      19:33
48      Erik Levinsohn          So      19:35
65      David Hanss             Sr      19:58
77      Dylan North             So      20:09
96      Ashwin Rameshbapu       Sr      20:27
114     Sean Beck               Jr      20:41
132     Jacob Whiten            So      20:55
        Dan Kellman             Fr      21:20
        Nate Moseley            Fr      21:26
        David Wallington        Fr      21:42
        Chris Cain              Fr      21:49
        Paul Kimeldorf          Sr      22:38
        Brian Diehr             Fr      23:25
        Mark Zeichman           Sr      24:27
        Jim Fitzpatrick         Fr      34:00
        Mark Hanss              Jr      DNF

DNR
Ryota Azuma
Bryan Michalowski
Jonathan Henrichs
Mike Weisbuch
Max King
Andrew Copp
Peter Park
Mujahed Ahmad

Final notes

Our last SEC Jamboree will be Thursday October 20th at the old course at Hudson Mills. Unlike the Gabriel Richard course, the old layout is very spectator friendly, and the times should be considerably faster. Pioneer can lock up its second SEC title, so let' s all come out and support our team! The varsity will run at 2:30, and the JV will run at 3:30. Hope to see you there.

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