Varsity highlights

The Ann Arbor Pioneer Cross Country team traveled to Bedford on a very hot and dusty afternoon for the second SEC Jamboree of the season. Each team could enter as many as ten runners in this meet, and that spelled bad news for the rest of the league as Pioneer had eight runners finish in the top fifteen spots. Another great win as Pioneer once again demonstrated its tremendous depth and completely dominated the SEC competition.

Once again Senior Captain Peter Christmas ran away from the field with a fantastic time of 15:44, finishing first by at least 30 - 40 seconds. Pete continues to completely dominate his races, and we suspect he is looking forward to Portage on Saturday where he will finally be pushed in a race. Senior Captain Craig Marlatt (16:30) ran another strong race and another personal best time. Craig almost took the 2nd place spot finishing right behind Bedford's number one runner. Great job Craig! Senior Captain Eric Anderson is gaining confidence as he continues to gradually drop his times. Eric finished in 5th place with a season best time of 16:45, and appears to be running stronger and stronger as the season progresses.

Sophomore Taylor DeLuca had one of the best races of the day, and made a bold statement in his quest to capture a varsity spot. Taylor finished in 8th place as he dropped 18 seconds with a personal best time of 17:09. Great race Taylor! Junior Mac McDonald-Wilkens continues to hold on to his varsity spot as he ran to a time of 17:15 and a top ten finish. Freshman Dan Culbertson (17:17) had a great race finishing in 11th place, and Senior Will Barden (17:25) finished in 13th place with a personal best time. Good job Will! Sophomore Charlie Cavell (17:29) finished in 15th place, and Junior Paul Versluis crushed his personal best time by 27 seconds finishing in 17th place with a time of 17:32. Great job Paul! Junior Jamie Fogel rounded out the scoring with a time of 18:15, finishing in 24th place and gaining more valuable varsity experience.

Varsity team results

1st     Ann Arbor Pioneer       27
2nd     Bedford                 43
3rd     Saline                  65
4th     Adrian                  107

Pioneer varsity runners

1st     Peter Christmas         15:44
3rd     Craig Marlatt           16:30 PR! (-2)
5th     Eric Anderson           16:45
8th     Taylor DeLuca           17:09 PR! (-18)
10th    Mac McDonald-Wilkens    17:15
11th    Dan Culbertson          17:17
13th    Will Barden             17:25 PR! (-7)
15th    Charlie Cavell          17:29
17th    Paul Versluis           17:32 PR! (-27)
24th    Jamie Fogel             18:15

Junior varsity highlights

The Pioneer JV team took their cue from the varsity and proceeded to decimate the competition, taking 8 of the top 10 spots. Senior Paul Corbett brought home first place for Pioneer, setting a personal record of 17:26. Seniors Leo Callender (17:35), Mark Antonuk (17:45), and Lang Burghardt (17:52) ran strong races, taking 2nd, 3rd, and 5th places. Junior Austin Taylor ran his first race of the season in an outstanding 17:57, a PR by 56 seconds! Sophomore Eric Hubbard (17:57) and Junior Mike Weisbuch (17:58) both broke the 18 minute mark and came in 7th and 8th. Bringing in the 9th place spot was junior Jon Voiles, with a season best of 18:02.

Seniors Lars Zwaanenberg (18:15), David Del Zoppo (18:50), and David Hanss (18:52), and sophomore Kinshuk Rajan (18:36) all broke the 19 minute mark for the first time. Great job!

Once again this race, PR after PR was set, with 19 out of 34 guys running their personal bests. Of special note are four runners who have posted PRs for every race since the season opener, Brother Rice Invitational. Sophomores Eric Hubbard, Andrew Copp, and Jacob Whiten, and freshman Chris Cain have continued to cut their times every single race of the season. Awesome!

Place   Name		        Time
1       Paul Corbett            17:26   PR! (-25)
2       Leo Callender           17:35
3       Mark Antonuk            17:45   
5       Lang Burghardt          17:52
6       Austin Taylor           17:57   PR! (-56)
7       Eric Hubbard            17:57   PR! (-14)
8       Mike Weisbuch           17:58   PR! (-32)
9       Jon Voiles              18:02   
12      David Cogswell          18:13
13      Lars Zwaanenberg        18:15   PR! (-42)
17      John Strader            18:16   PR! (-36)
20      Kinshuk Rajan           18:36   PR! (-28)
21      Yan Charniauski         18:45
22      David Del Zoppo         18:50   PR! (-13)
23      David Hanss             18:52   PR! (-22)
27      Eric Levinsohn          19:08   PR! (-9)
28      Neil Keicher            19:09   PR! (-2)
31      Andrew Copp             19:18   PR! (-9)
32      Jonathan Henrichs       19:20   PR! (-20)
42      John Levinsohn          20:00
45      David Wallington        20:11   PR! (-48)
53      Christopher Cain        20:29   PR! (-29)
58      Ashwin Rameshbapu       20:39   PR! (-6)
59      Dylan North             20:50
61      Jacob Whiten            20:51   PR! (-24)
63      Sean Beck               21:15
65      Bryan Michalowski       21:18   
68      Dan Kellman             21:25
70      Peter Park              22:16   
79      Mujahed Ahmad           22:29
80      Paul Kimeldorf          22:34
81      Nate Moseley            22:35
87      Brian Diehr             24:40   PR! (-29)
96      Jim Fitzpatrick         32:34   PR! (-9)

Final notes

Our next meet is Saturday October 8 at the Portage Invitational in Portage, Michigan. The Division I Varsity race is schedule to start at 1:30pm and the Junior Varsity race is scheduled to start at 3:30pm. This is one of the best meets of the year and well worth the trip to Portage. Please be aware there is highway construction on I-94 at the Kalamazoo/Portage ramps. Traffic is backing up and adding 45 minutes of travel time. They are recommending the following alternative - Exit 80 at Sprinkle Road, go south on Sprinkle to Romence. Turn right on Romence, take it to Moorsbridge.