SEC Jamboree #3
Hudson Mills Metropark
October 16, 2008

Varsity Highlights
Conditions could not have been more perfect for the final SEC jamboree of the 2008 season: temperatures 55 °F at race time, clear skies with a few puffy clouds above trees at their peak of color, and the field was dry, only slightly softened by the previous day’s rain.  Pioneer’s Varsity dominated the Red Division race, collecting only 24 points on their way to victory and putting all seven Pioneer varsity runners in the top-ten.  How amazing is that?
 

Senior captain Dan Culbertson tasted victory at last week’s Gabriel Richard Invitational – and must have been hungry for more.  From early in the race, Dan ran with the Red Division’s fastest men, yet as the race progressed, Dan and Bedford’s top man slowly increased their pace as they battled for first place.  Coming into the kick they were still in a virtual tie.  Pioneer fans lining the final stretch cheered as Dan kicked in with a burst of speed and Bedford’s man could not keep up.  Dan won 1^st place with a time of 15:45, slicing 3.4 seconds from his PR.  Congratulations, Dan!
 

Junior Nathan Karr also had a wonderful day at the jamboree.  Nathan lopped a huge 15.4 seconds from his previous PR as he cruised in to capture 3^rd place in just 15:50.  Congratulations on joining the “under 16-minute” club, Nathan!  Junior Adam Kern raced with Ann Arbor Huron’s top man and claimed a 5^th place finish in 16:02, almost matching his PR.  Senior captain David Wallington cut 5.5 seconds from his PR as he took 7th place in 16:07 after racing Saline’s top man to the finish.
 

Junior Nick Kern rounded out the scoring for Pioneer, ending up in 8^th place with a time of 16:24.  Not quite up to his usual results, but a tremendous effort by a real team player!  Nick was racing despite a horrible cold that drained his usual exuberant energy level and left him with a voice about two octaves lower than normal.  Fortunately, he’s bound to be feeling better by Regionals next week and we hope he was feeling a little better by Saturday’s PSAT.  Get well soon, Nick!
 

Junior Andy Sanz-Guerrero finished right on Nick’s heels as he claimed 9^th place for the Pioneers in just 16:25.  And after Coach Sleeman appeared along the trail to remind him, junior Joe Frakes exacted a sweet bit of “revenge” by passing several Saline runners who had beaten him to the finish line at last week’s Gabriel Richard meet.  That effort brought him a 10^th place finish in 16:38, shredding his old PR by 19.9 seconds!
 

With Joe’s finish, Pioneer placed all seven runners in the top-ten.  Every Pioneer finished before the 2^nd man from any other team.  What a finish!  Winning Jamboree #3 also earned Pioneer the 2008 SEC championship.  Dan Culbertson, Nathan Karr, Adam Kern and David Wallington also earned “All-Conference” honors.

JV Highlights
The JV seemed inspired by their varsity teammates’ overwhelming victory: many had excellent finish places and many others set new PRs for themselves.  Although the varsity race was between the four teams – Pioneer, Huron, Saline and Bedford – comprising the red division (along with an incomplete team from Skyline), the JV race included runners from both red and white division schools.
 
Starting off the good news for Pioneer was junior Caleb Fogel who claimed 2^nd place with a time of 17:23, which means that last week’s throat issues did not cause him too much trouble in Jamboree #3.  Congrats, Caleb, and we’ll be hoping for another good day, health-wise, for you next week at Regionals.  Right on Caleb’s tail was junior Kevin Chaperon, who took 3^rd place with a time of 17:27.  These two have shown that they are true competitors throughout the season.  Junior Lucas Arias joined them in the top-ten JVs with a 7^th place finish with a time of 17:34, dropping 1.4 seconds to set a new PR.  Congrats Lucas!
 
Sophomore Alex Massingill continues to impress and sliced 8.6 seconds from his PR to finish in 24^th place with a time of 18:14.  Junior Ethan Warren finished 45^th with a time of 18:37, cutting 5.1 seconds from his PR.  Congratulations to both!  Sophomore Noah Kaczor (64^th, 19:13) and junior Michael Sullivant (66^th, 19:18) led a large group that all finished under 20 minutes.  Sophomore Colin Egerer, who joined the team after summer practices ended, really broke through to cut 29 seconds from his previous best with a 19:24, 69^th place finish – Congrats, Colin.  Junior Zack Keller took 72^nd place in 19:27, just ahead of sophomore Nick Gottschlich who cut 2.4 seconds for a 73^rd place 19:28 finish.  Both were just ahead of junior Ryan Goodwin in 75^th with a time of 19:29.  Senior Kevin Sherman, familiar to track & field fans but new to cross country this fall, found his legs and earned 79^th place with his19:36 finish time – which cut 1:20.6 (yes, way more than a minute) from his previous best.  Congratulation, Kevin!
 
Junior Jonathan Diep finish 83^rd with a time of 19:45 – not close to his best, but considering his recent struggles with injuries, we were happy that he was able to run and finish the race.  Behind Jonathan was junior Ben Aukerman in 85^th, chopping 25.9 seconds from his PR to finish in 19:47.  Ben is built more like a sprinter than a classic distance runner, and his first 5ks for Pioneer had times well over 23 minutes.  Little by little, Ben has whittled down his time and is now only 2 seconds from reaching his 2008 goal.  Ben definitely joined the “under 20 minutes” club with a bang, and the team celebrated Ben’s accomplishment with him. Congratulations, Ben!
 
Freshman Kevin Knight also had a great day, finishing 87^th in 19:52 and cutting over a minute (1:07.8) from his PR!  Good job, Kevin!  Sophomore Gabe Crisman touched the 20-minute mark by cutting 53 seconds from his PR in a 94^th place finish.  Senior Arthur Huerta, sidelined by injuries and running in just his second race this season, finished 101^st in 20:16, and junior Jack McWhinnie followed in 112^th at 20:33.   Sophomore Eric Seitz had his best race ever, cutting a huge 1:23.7 from his previous PR for a 121^st place finish in 21:02.  Exchange student Bastian Mielke followed at 138^th in 21:43.  Sophomore Tristan Sheppard and exchange student Dmitry Tretyakov were still running hard at the finish: Tristan managed a burst of speed just ahead of the finish line to squeeze past and take 145^th place in 22:09, Tretyakov following in 146^th place in 22:10.  Freshman Bill Carras also had his best race of the season, as he cut 33.6 seconds from his PR to finish in just 23:34.
 
As the season begins to draw to a close, we can see definite improvement among the JVs as their hard training begins to pay off.  They have one more chance to achieve their goals for the season: the Regional Meet next Saturday.

JV Results
 

Place	Name	Time	PR?
2	Caleb Fogel	17:23
3	Kevin Chaperon	17:27
7	Lucas Arias	17:34	PR!  -1.4 secs
24	Alex Massingill	18:14	PR!  -8.6 secs
45	Ethan Warren	18:37	PR!  -5.1 secs
64	Noah Kaczor	19:13
66	Michael Sullivant	19:18
69	Colin Egerer	19:24	PR! -29.0 secs
72	Zack Keller	19:27
73	Nick Gottschlich	19:28	PR!  -3.0 secs
75	Ryan Goodwin	19:29
79	Kevin Sherman	19:36	PR!   -1:20.6  !!!
83	Jonathan Diep	19:45
85	Ben Aukerman	19:47	PR! -25.9 secs
87	Kevin Knight	19:52	PR!   -1:07.8  !!!
94	Gabe Crisman	20:00	PR! -53.0 secs
101	Arthur Huerta	20:16
112	Jack McWhinnie	20:33
125	Eric Seitz	21:02	PR!   -1:23.7  !!!
138	Bastian Mielke	21:43
145	Tristan Sheppard	22:09	PR!  -3.0 secs
146	Dmitri Tretyakov	22:10
152	Bill Carras	22:34	PR! -33.6 secs