Varsity highlights

Ann Arbor Pioneer Men's Cross Country team successfully defended their Division I Nike-Holly Invitational crown by the narrowest of margins, winning by one point, and also displayed our phenomenal depth as our "B" team finished in tenth place. Two teams in the top ten at this prestigious invitational is quite an accomplishment and a tribute to the Pioneer Cross Country program, winning their second invitational title of the 2005 season.

For the second year in a row Pioneer had three finishers in the top ten, led by Senior Captain Peter Christmas (16:03) who ran away with the individual title. Senior Captain Craig Marlatt (16:51) finished in sixth and Senior Captain Eric Anderson (17:01) ran to a ninth place finish. Once again Peter wore down the competition with a strong, relentless pace as he cruised to an easy victory. Craig and Eric ran very impressive races on this difficult course, finishing ahead of the entire second place South Lyon team to help win the title. These three guys are doing a great job of leading this team both on and off the course. Congratulations Pete, Craig and Eric!

Freshman Dan Culbertson continues to contribute in a big way, as he ran a PR of 17:32, and finished in 23rd place passing two runners in the last 100 meters of the race. Senior Leo Callender (17:59) finished in 47th place to round out the scoring for the "A" team. Senior Paul Corbett (18:00) finished in 50th place and Senior Will Barden (18:17) finished in 56th place.

The "B" team had a great meet and gave some of our runners a well-deserved opportunity to run in a varsity meet. Junior Mac McDonald-Wilkins (17:37) finished in 26th place with a personal best time by 4 seconds, finishing ahead of some of our "A" runners. Great job Mac! Sophomore Charlie Cavell (17:46) continues to improve, also finishing ahead of some of the "A" guys in 34th place. Sophomore Taylor DeLuca (18:00) continues to gain varsity experience, and Junior Paul Versluis (18:21) ran extremely well in his first varsity race. Senior Lang Burghardt (18:26) finished in 61st place and Junior Mike Weisbuch had a personal best time of 18:30. Great job Mike! Junior Jamie Fogel competing in his first varsity race finished in 82nd place with a time of 18:49.

Those fifth, sixth, and seventh spots still are not locked up by anybody yet, and with our depth there are many candidates to fill these positions. These spots are very important to our success this year. Those individuals who end up filling these critical positions at the end of the year will have to start running consistently fast times. Who will those runners be? Stayed tuned as we look forward to our next race.

Varsity team results

Place   Team                   Points
1st     Ann Arbor Pioneer A      86
2nd     South Lyon               87
3rd     Lake Orion               99
4th     Sylvania Northview (OH) 142
5th     Grosse Point North      160
10th    Ann Arbor Pioneer B     229

Pioneer varsity runners

Team "A"
1st     Peter Christmas         16:03
6th     Craig Marlatt           16:51
9th     Eric Anderson           17:01
23rd    Dan Culbertson          17:32   PR! (-5)
47th    Leo Callender           17:59
50th    Paul Corbett            18:00
56th    Will Barden             18:17

Team "B"
26th    Mac McDonald-Wilkins    17:37   PR! (-4)
34th    Charlie Cavell          17:46
49th    Taylor DeLuca           18:00
59th    Paul Versluis           18:21
61st    Lang Burghardt          18:26
67th    Mike Weisbuch           18:30   PR (-23)
82nd    Jamie Fogel             18:49

Junior varsity highlights

Down seven strong runners, who competed as Team B in the varsity race, the JV squad still hung in there. Newcomer Eric Hubbard continues to improve every week, placing 5th in a time of 18:22. Sophomore David Cogswell (18:38) broke his PR by 18 seconds and placed 11th. Senior Yan Charniauski set a season best of 19:04 and placed 14th. Sophomores Andrew Copp (19:33), Eric Levinsohn (19:37) and Jonathan Henrichs (19:40) all PRed and broke 20 minutes. Jonathan, coming off a period of injuries, competed in his first race of the season and took an impressive 1:17 minutes off this previous record. Sophomores Max King (20:17) and Sean Beck (20:46), and Senior Ashwin Rameshbapu (20:58) smashed their PRs and broke through the 21 minute mark.

Among the freshman, Christopher Cain (22:17) and Nate Moseley (22:37) obliterated their PRs and came in well under 23 minutes. Great job! Fellow freshman, Brian Diehr (26:04), continues to improve, knocking 1:18 minutes off his PR.

5th     Eric Hubbard            18:22   PR! (-16)
11th    David Cogswell          18:38   PR! (-18)
14th    Yan Charniauski         19:04   
Lars Zwaanenberg                19:09
John Strader                    19:10
Andrew Copp                     19:33   PR! (-23)
Eric Levinsohn                  19:37   PR! (-59)
Jonathan Henrichs               19:40   PR! (-1:17)
David Hanss                     20:16   
Jon Voiles                      20:17
Max King                        20:17   PR! (-1:13)
Sean Beck                       20:46   PR! (-1:15)
Ashwin Rameshbapu               20:58   PR! (-33)
Dylan North                     22:03   
Mujahed Ahmad                   22:11
Christopher Cain                22:17   PR! (-1:23)
Jacob Whiten                    22:21   PR! (-31)
Nate Moseley                    22:37   PR! (-1:48)
Dan Kellman                     22:44
James Hild                      22:53   
Paul Kimeldorf                  23:08   
David Wallington                23:48
Brian Diehr                     26:04   PR! (-1:18)
David Hanss                     31:51

DNF
David Del Zoppo
Kinshuk Rajan
Peter Park

DNS
Mark Antonuk
John Levinsohn
Mark Zeichman
Neil Keicher
Ryota Azuma
Aaron Amin
Austin Taylor
Jun Won
Jim Fitzpatrick
Bryan Michalowski

Final notes

We look forward to returning to the Jackson Invitational at Sharp Park. This meet traditionally splits the races over two days. The Junior Varsity race will be on Friday September 23 and the Varsity will run on Saturday September 24. It is not too long of a drive, and the course is very spectator friendly, so try to get out to both races and support our runners!

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