Varsity highlights

Weather: 40, showers, sleet

After a lackluster performance on Tuesday, Pioneer rebounded strongly at the Portage Invitational. Pioneer placed fifth of 24 teams. With cool temperatures and a fast course, six of the seven varsity runners established personal records (PR's).

The Pioneers were led by Matt Johnson (14th, 16:30), a PR by 17 seconds. But the hero of this meet was Andy Harvey. Andy went from the doghouse to the penthouse by taking 21st in a time of 16:47. This is a PR for Andy by a massive 42 seconds. Awesome. Eric Ford-Holevinski also broke 17 for the first time. Pioneer had three runners under 17:00 for the first time in several years. Another top performer was Robby Young. Robby ran 17:28, a PR by 14 seconds.

The team made an excellent recovery from the subpar Jamboree #2. If this improvement can continue, and if James Naughton can overcome his injury, Pioneer will be in excellent shape for the regional and state meet.

Varsity team results

Team                      Points
1.  Rockford                33
2.  Saline                  73
3.  Traverse City West     155
4.  Portage Northern       155
5.  Pioneer                169
6.  Grand Rapids Union     223
7.  Holt                   240
8.  Traverse City Central  251
9.  Plymouth Salem         278
11. Muskegon Mona Shores   295
12. Forest Hills Northern  300
10. East Kentwood          284
13. Grand Haven            327 
14. Muskegon Reeths Puffer 365 
15. Holland                366 
16. Grandville             394 
17. Portage Central        451 
18. Jackson                471 
19. Forest Hills Central   485 
20. Hudsonville            511 
21. Kalamazoo Central      522 
22. Battle Creek Central   671 
23. Loy Norrix             674 
24. Grand Rapids Central   678 

Pioneer varsity runners

Name                 Place    Time
Matt Johnson          14      16:30  PR!  (-17)
Andy Harvey           21      16:47  PR!  (-42)
Eric Ford-Holevinski  23      16:50  PR!  (-22)
Joe Anderson          57      17:22
Robby Young           64      17:28  PR!  (-14)
Mike Roth            124      18:32  PR!  (-14)
Kevin Goehring       132      18:48  PR!  (-14)

Junior varsity highlights

OK, we finally have a complete set of JV times. It was a great race. Twelve of 16 runners made PR's.

First, we would like to salute the improvement that Dan Wucherer has made this season. In the first race of the season, Dan finished two minutes behind Mike Roth. At Portage, that gap had closed to only 6 seconds. Great work Dan, keep it up.

In the battle of the sophmores, Soren Berg continues to lead. Soren ran a PR time of 18:34. Kevin Goehring is not far behind. He ran 18:48 in the varsity race, also a PR. The other competitor in this battle, Harvey Acheson, wasn't able to run on Saturday.

Among the freshmen, Parry Garff smashed his PR by over a minute. After the Jackson meet, it seemed that Sam Milgrom was well ahead of his fellow freshmen. While Sam did finish first among the freshmen at Portage (19:25), Parry (19:32) and Stephen Sepaniak (19:39) have made great progress over the last two races. This contest is not over yet.

Dean Dohadwala and Kevin Mulholland both made big improvements to their PR's. Dean's PR went down by exactly one minute. That's a lot. Kevin Mulholland reduced his PR by nearly the same amount, 57 seconds. And we are pleased to note that Kevin beat out 81 runners at Portage. Way to go, Dean and Kevin.

Congratulations to the entire team on a great performance at Portage.

Name                 Place    Time
Soren Berg            50     18:34  PR!  (-25)
Dan Wucherer          57     18:38  PR!  (-34)
Matt MacVey           59     18:38
Kota Takahashi        75     18:52  PR!  (-29)
Jon Moler             80     18:56  
Sam Milgrom          122     19:25
Nick Wilkensen       124     19:27  PR!  (-25)
Parry Garff          133     19:32  PR!  (-1:06)
Stephen Sepaniak     145     19:39  PR!  (-19)
Carl Duke            162     19:51  PR!  (-5)
Josh Salvner         177     20:08  PR!  (-9)
Dean Dohadwala       200     20:12  PR!  (-1:00)
Bill Weber           259     20:59 
Cedric York          286     21:20  PR!  (-48)
Kevin Mulholland     323     22:01  PR!  (-57)
Max Hospadaruk       373     23:38  PR!  (-17)
404 finishers

PR! - new personal record