JV Highlights
Despite the cold, windy conditions, the Pioneer JV gave it everything they had one last time, resulting in 11 new
PRs. That last chance to improve that 2008 PR for the record books or meet that personal goal is a powerful incentive!
So congratulations to all of those who PR’d today. Keep training after the official season is over, and you may
amaze yourselves next year!
At the end of each JV season, we like to specially recognize our JV seniors for their hard work:
Senior Kevin Sherman, well-known around Pioneer Track & Field, was a very good sport and came out for cross country this
fall. After surviving his first 5k, Kevin kept working and ended the year with a time of 19:36 at Jamboree #3, dropping
2:54 as the season progressed. Kevin should be very proud of what he has accomplished – and all that fall running
should give him a nice cardio boost. Senior Arthur Huerta rejoined cross country this year after a season away.
Unfortunately, nagging injuries kept him out of several races, so he didn’t have too many chances to improve his race
times – but his stop-watch-clicking fingers got a great workout on days he could not run. His best race
was at Regionals, where he finished 81st with a time of 20:02.6, about 3 seconds away from his all-time personal
best. Arthur was also the guy who found and made initial contact with the web-hosting company we use for this website
– thank you!
As for the stars of the Regional JV race, junior Caleb Fogel actually led for a sizable chunk of
the course, eventually finishing 2nd to the Huron runner who’d been lurking not too far back – a tough
break. Caleb’s time was 17:39.1 for this race; during the season he cut 1:31 from his best 2007 time despite experiencing
breathing-related problems during some races. When healthy, Caleb has been our top JV runner, and earned a
place on the 10-man varsity squad for Jamboree #2. He has also shown a quiet, mature leadership among the JVs.
We are counting on Caleb to come back healthy in 2009, hungry for fast times and a likely place with the varsity.
Junior Lucas Arias also had
a very strong race, finishing in 3rd place with a time of 17:44.4. Lucas has consistently been Pioneer’s
2nd or 3rd JV finisher all year, and has cut 1:38 from his best 2007 time. Lucas also got a chance
to run with the varsity at Jamboree #2, and hopefully is inspired to work for a permanent varsity slot next year. Junior
Kevin Chaperon also placed in the top-ten at Regionals; his 17:55.2 earned 8th place. Kevin has cut 37 seconds
from his 2007 time, despite having a slow start to the season. His talents earned him the chance to run with the varsity
at Jamboree #2. Kevin could also be a major contender for next year’s varsity if dedicated summer training leads
to more consistent times.
Junior Ethan Warren dug deep and cut 7.1 seconds from his PR to finish 26th in 18:29.8.
Ethan did not run cross country last year, but during the season he chopped 2:19 from his first 5k time at Kensington.
This young man has been improving rapidly, and if that continues we’ll expect to see some really fast times from him
next year. Sophomore Alex Massingill was also new to cross country this fall, but has dropped his times by 1:34 since
Kensington, finishing 32nd today with a time of 18:36.3.
Junior Jonathan Diep finished 47th with a time of 19:01.7.
Jonathan had a great start to the season and dropped 63 seconds from his 2007 best at the Jackson Invitational. He was
near the front-runners at Jamboree #2 … and was then injured, missing the next race and unable to finish the next.
Jon ran well at both Jamboree #3 and Regionals, but was still using a lot of ice post-race as the season ended. Get
well soon, and we hope next year you’ll stay healthy and continue the improvement that was interrupted this year.
Sophomore
Colin Egerer finished on Jonathan’s heels at Regionals, taking 48th place with a time of 19:01.9, a 22 second
PR. Colin joined the team late, and didn’t run his first race until Jackson, but showed a 51-second improvement
over his short season. Can’t wait to see what he’ll be able to do next year! Freshman Kevin Knight
finished up in style, with a 50th place finish in 19:05.6 – a 46.4 second PR! Kevin (whose older sister
is also a talented runner for Pioneer) started out the year a little slowly but cut 1:54 off his time this season. Sophomore
Noah Kaczor was right behind Kevin in 53rd with a time of 19:07.3. Noah has dropped 2:27 from his 2007 best
time and was the top JV finisher at Jamboree #2!
Juniors Ryan Goodwin & Zack Keller crossed the finish line virtually together.
Ryan finished 56th with 19:10.2, while Zack finished 57th with 19:10.5, a new PR by 6.7 seconds.
Ryan, new to cross country this season, dropped his time by 1:53 over the season, while Zack dropped 3:15 from his 2007 best
(and has dropped over 9 minutes since he joined the Pioneer team last year!)
Sophomore Nick Gottschlich was 60th in 19:15.7, cutting
12.4 seconds from his PR. Nick has dropped 1:03 from his time since joining the team this season, and he has potential
to take his running to the next level during the 2009 season. Junior Michael Sullivant finished 61st in 19:16.7,
his best time of the season. Michael was not able to run in the September races; a few more meets and Michael would
certainly have surpassed his 2007 records.
Junior Jack McWhinnie took 66th place in 19:30.2, a 2-scond PR,
and has improved his times by over 2:30 since joining the team this year. Junior Gabe Crisman took 69th in
19:35.4, a huge PR of 24.6 seconds. Gabe has cut over 1:23 from his best time of 2007. Junior Ben Aukerman snipped
another 6.6 seconds off his PR to claim 72nd place in 19:40.4. After coming tantalizingly close last week,
Ben finally reached - and passed - his season goal of 19:45, cutting over 37 seconds from his 2007 best. We celebrate
your milestone, Ben.
Dmitry Tretyakov finished his cross country season with a bang: he chopped 55.4 seconds from his
PR while he finished 115th in 21:13.7. Dmitry dropped over 3 minutes from his first 5k time this fall –
good for you! Bastian Mielke was right behind in 116th place with a time of 21:13.9. Bastain has also
dropped 1:47 from his initial race time. We hope you’ve both enjoyed running cross country at Pioneer and hope
you keep running and join us again in the spring for Track & Field season.
Sophomore Tristan Sheppard dropped
24.5 seconds from his previous best time as he finished 122nd with a time of 21:44.4. Tristan’s first
race was late in the season, but he still managed to cut 27 seconds in a very short period of time. Freshman Bill Carras slashed
32.4 seconds from his previous best to finish 129th at 22:01.6. Bill has improved his time by almost 2 minutes
since the beginning of the season.
Although not running at Regionals, we also salute junior John Fonte, who managed
to drop 21 seconds from his 2007 best this year. John ran in only 2 meets before an injury which put
him in a walking cast the rest of the season. John became a very talented stopwatch clicker at the finish line,
and he rarely complained, but you could still tell that he really wanted to be back out on the course. Next year,
John! David Torres, currently an exchange student, and Aaron Trierweiller, currently coping with a sudden growth spurt
that has made running difficult, are also very much still part of this team!
