Portage Invitational

On a course this crowded, you must aim to be near the front of the pack quickly, because once the course narrows the sheer numbers of bodies on the course make gaining position difficult. Junior Caleb Fogel demonstrated this principle at Portage and it served him well. Caleb was not far from the front when the course funneled, then ran near the leaders most if the race. Despite tiring near the end, Caleb led the Pioneer JV with his 11^th place finish in just 17:21.5, a huge PR cut of 28.5 seconds. Congratulations, Caleb!

Junior Kevin Chaperon was Pioneer's next finisher. Kevin achieved good field position early and had a good race, placing 16^th with a time of 17:31.8. Junior Lucas Arias followed a similar strategy and had a strong performance, finishing 20^th in just 17:35.4, cutting 7.8 seconds from his previous best - congratulations on a new PR! These three runners were also part of the 10-man varsity squad Pioneer used at Jamboree #2 earlier in the week. Congratulations to our three JV medalists!

Just a bit further back, sophomore Alex Massingill ran a strong race, too. His finish time of 18:22.6 brought him 81^st place, and also set a new PR by 23 seconds - congratulations. New to the team this year, Alex runs with confidence and we see potential to be a future standout ... so keep working hard! Junior Ethan Warren finished 120^th in just18:42.1, which chopped 27.6 seconds form his previous PR - congratulations - and junior Ryan Goodwin followed in 152^nd place with a time of 18:54.1, also setting a new PR by a whopping 46.1 seconds - a real step upward in performance.

JV race highlights would not be complete without reporting on Zack Keller's latest PR: at this race, Zack cut another 24.4 seconds from his PR and finished in 19:17.1, which brought him 210^th place today. It looked like junior Michael Sullivant ( 235^th, 19:29.3), sophomore Nick Gottschlich (241^st, 19:31.3) and junior Jack McWhinnie (242^nd, 19:32.1) were emulating their varsity teammates' "running together" approach. Michael is only recently back after missing the first three races this year, and we'll likely be seeing improved times from him later in the season if he can stay healthy. Nick, who is new to the team this year, chopped 42 seconds from his PR - wow!  And Jack sliced 30.9 seconds from his previous PR, too.

Sophomore Colin Egerer finished 315th with a time of 20:10.2, while junior Ben Aukerman (319^th, 20:12.9) trimmed another 4.7 seconds from his PR. Both of these runners are very close to breaking through that 20-minute barrier - and they have 3 meets left to reach that goal - good luck! After a slow start this fall, junior Gabe Crisman seems to be picking up some steam: his 371^st place finish in 20:53.0 seconds trimmed 6 seconds from his old PR from last year.
 
German exchange student Bastian Mielke joined the team a little late this fall and didn't race until Jackson. Looks like he's getting serious about improvement, as he cut 1:42.7 from his previous best as he finished 391^st in 21:11.9. It will be very interesting to watch how quickly his time shrinks in the remaining meets. Freshman Kevin Knight wasn't far behind Bastain with a finish time of 22:38.1, and freshman Bill Carras cut 11.1 seconds from his PR for a 23:07.6 finish.
 
In summary, the JV race brought the Pioneer JV three medals, several more very good JV times, and new PRs for twelve JVs - and everyone learned a lot more about running in large races. The JV squad also enthusiastically cheered their varsity teammates when they received their awards, and, together with the Pioneer varsity,  wholeheartedly celebrated at Coach Sleeman's 70th "surprise" birthday party (it just wouldn't be Portage without that).  Incidentally, the delicious cross-country logo birthday cupcakes were purchased from Cakes by Rubina (Rubina Sadiq is a Pioneer track mom).