Varsity highlights
The Ann Arbor Pioneer Cross Country team traveled to the very
competitive Portage Invitational and came up a little short of team
expectations, but they were some outstanding individual performances.
Many of the best teams from Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana all made it
to Portage, and this year Pioneer ended up in fifth place after a
tie-breaker with defending champion Middletown, Ohio.
Senior Captain Peter Christmas (15:53) was sick today, but still ran
a courageous race staying with the leader until the final 800 meters
and finished in 3rd place. Good job Peter! Senior Captain Craig
Marlatt (16:11) loves to run at Portage and it showed today as Craig
ran to a 12th place finish in this huge field and crushed his best
time. Throughout his career Craig has always run some of his best
races at Portage, and today was no exception. Fantastic race Craig!
Senior Captain Eric Anderson ran to a 47th place finish with a time
of 16:46.
Freshman Dan Culbertson (16:32) and Sophomore Charlie Cavell (16:57)
had spectacular races at Portage today. Dan dropped 21 seconds off
of his personal best time and cruised to a 31st place finish. He was
the only freshman to place in the top fifty, and many people don't
think he has run his fastest race of the year yet. That is bad news
for our competition, and great news for Pioneer. Great race Dan!
Charlie made a statement here today that he is back, and like Dan,
has great potential to go faster than he did today, even though he
did knock 18 seconds off of his time at the state meet last year.
Sophomore Taylor DeLuca unfortunately got knocked down during the
race, but got up and finished with a time of 17:49.
Our Pioneer "B" team finished in 15th place ahead of teams like
Grandville, East Kentwood, and Kalamazoo Central, all strong cross
country programs. Senior Leo Callender tied a personal best time of
17:10 and finished 83rd. Junior Paul Versluis continues to drop his
times with a personal best of 17:13 and an 85th place finish. Senior
Will Barden (17:17) continues to run strong and beat his PR by 8
seconds with a 90th place finish. Strongs PR's were also registered
by Mark Antonuk (17:30, -10) and Austin Taylor (17:45, -12).
Senior Lang Burghardt grabbed 93rd place with a seasons' best time
of 17:20.
Pioneer JV highlights
When we run two varsity teams, our JV team is, of course, depleted by
seven strong runners. However, the JV team rose to the occasion and
had some fine performances to celebrate at Portage. In this highly
competitive field, seven Pioneer runners placed in the top 50. It
was great to see all that purple up there during the award ceremonies!
Sophomore Eric Hubbard posted his fifth straight PR, taking 5th place
with an impressive time of 17:34. Freshman Neil Keicher (18:10)
placed 22nd, knocking a whopping 59 seconds off his previous best
time. Sophomore David Cogswell (18:12) and Senior Lars Zwaanenber
(18:13) placed 23rd and 26th. Sophomore Jonathan Henrichs, in his
attempt to break 19 minutes, smashed his PR by 1:05, with a time of
18:15. Congrats, Jonathan! Rounding out the top 50 finishers were
Junior Jamie Fogel (18:15) and Senior David Hanss (18:23).
Some other notables this race included Sophomore MJ Ahmad, who had a
well managed race, maintaining a good pace throughout the course --
breaking his PR by an impressive 1:34, with a time of 19:04. Good
job, MJ! Sophomore Dylan North fell well below 20 minutes for the
first time, with a time of 19:17, a new PR by 1:05. Sophomore Sean
Beck (19:57) broke his previous best by 45 seconds, breaking the 20
minute barrier.
The freshman guys had a terrific showing, with every one of them
setting a new PR! David Wallington (19:48) and Christopher Cain
(19:57) broke through the 20 minute mark, with Christopher setting
his fifth straight PR. Dan Kellman (20:35) and Nate Moseley (20:45)
each posted impressive new PRs. Brian Diehr (22:56) took off 1:44
minutes to come in under 23 minutes. And once again, Jim Fitzpatrick
(29:14) inspired us all, ripping 3:20 off his previous best. Way to
kick butt, freshman!!!
Final notes
Our next meet is Saturday October 15 at the Gabriel Richard
Invitational at Hudson Mills Metropark in Dexter. We had a huge
turnout by our parents for the Portage meet! Hudson Mills is a short
drive, so if you missed Portage, make it to the Gabriel Richard
Invitational. The competition will be tough, so we need everyone's
support. See you there!
PR! - new personal record, refers to all-time
PR, not just the best time of the season
Go Pioneers!