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What we did well and where we can improve
Notes from Regionals, Oct 25, 2008
The Pioneer team won the Regional meet with 23 points, the lowest of any of the Regionals around
the state. - Dan Culbertson was 1st in 15:48
- Adam Kern was 4th in 16:05
- Nathan Karr was 5th
in 16:07
- David Wallington was 6th in 16:16i
- Nick Kern was 7th in 16:17
- Joe Frakes was 18th in
16:44
- Andy Sanz-Guerrero was 21st in 16:48
The team will compete this
Saturday in the State Finals at Michigan
International Speedway in Brooklyn, MI at 2:00 p.m. race time. It will be a very competitive meet and Pioneer has an excellent chance to win the meet if everyone performs
to their potential. We will leave from Pioneer at 10 a.m. in two vans. We are allowed 12 runners to enter in uniform. In addition to the varsity, the following will
also travel with the team: Caleb Fogel, Kevin Chaperon, Lucas Arias, Jonathan Diep,
and Ethan Warren. Many of the runners on the team are interested in going
to the meet and need a ride. If any parents that are going are willing to take anyone with them to the meet please let
me know.
For the runners not competing this Saturday, there is the
race at Hudson Mills on Sunday November 9 - the Turkey Trot - organized by the Tortoise and Hare running store
that many runners from around the area will run in. Both 5k and 10k races are available. Here is a link to more
info: http://www.tortoiseandhare.com/races/turkeytrot.htm If anyone is interested in running in the Nike meet in Indiana on the weekend of Nov 8 & 9 they should check out the information on Nike
High School National Cross Country on Google.
Sunday November 9 is also the Senior Qualifying race for seniors-only
will be run at Jackson's Sharp Park at 2 p.m. It is free; our Pioneer seniors will
be running.
Notes from Jamboree #3, Oct 18, 2008
Yesterday the team won the final League Meet with 24 points. Huron had 62 and Saline 63.
Pioneer had all 7 seven varsity runners in the top ten and 4 of the 7 had their best times ever. Dan Culbertson won
in 15:45. Nathan Karr was 3rd
in 15:50. Adam Kern was 5th
in 16:02, David Wallington was 7th
in 16:07, Nick Kern was 8th
in 16:25, Andy Sanz-Guerrero
was 9th in 16:25, and Joe Frakes had a big pr in 16:38 and was 10th, beating 4 Saline
runners that had beaten him last Sat. The Regional is next on the 25th.
Notes from Portage, Oct 4, 2008
We won the Portage Invite with 67 points. 2nd place was from Illinois with 104 points
and 3rd place was Bay City Western with 120 points. 40 schools were in the race. We were: Dan Culbertson
(7th) in 15:48, Nick Kern (10th) 15:51, Adam Kern (12th) 16:00, Nathan Karr (18th) 16:10, David Wallington (20th) 16:12,
Andy Sanz-Guerrero (27th) 16:19, and Joe Frakes (74th) 16:58. Six of our seven had their best times
ever. Our 6th man was better than all number 4s on all other teams. The reality is, though, that we can do better,
even as we are winning in a strong manner. We can put two men in the top five and three more in the top ten.
We just need to do it at the right time.
Notes from Jamboree #2, Sept 30, 2008
Pioneer
had 6 runners in front of the number 2 runner on the other 3 teams and had 6 of the top 10 spots. Nate dropped off the
pace a couple of times but came back to the front twice. At one point he was leading but then did not get back in front
after he dropped back to 3rd near the end. David Wallington led for over a mile and looked very good even when
he dropped back to 7th. We are doing very well but still can improve and do even better. We are currently tied
for 1st in the Coach's poll. I hope it is a motivator and does not lead to complacency. The course was supposedly
150m longer so the times could have been even better (although it's the place that counts). We had a 31 second spread
so that is great. If we can get the spread under 30 I don't think we can be beat.
Notes from Jackson, Sept 19
& 20, 2008
The team did very well at the Jackson Invite. The JV team ran on Friday and
had 38 points to Saline's 39. The Saline team took it out hard with many in the top ten early on. By the end
though Joe Frakes was 1st, Kevin Chaperon was 3rd, Lucas Arias was 4th, Jonathan Diep was 8th, and Alex Massingill was
22nd. The JV runners had 30+ second personal efforts over any previous effort. All in all a great effort.
The front 4 are all juniors and Alex is a sophomore.
In the Varsity
race on Saturday there were 19 teams. Saline was again the competition and they were 2nd to our 1st. Pinckney
( 3 x state champs the last 3 yrs) was 3rd. Dan Culbertson had his best race of the year with a 2nd in 15:52. Nick
Kern was 3rd in 16:05, Nathan Karr was 7th in 16:11, Adam Kern was 14th in 16:25, Andy Sanz-Guerrero was 16th in 16:28, and
David Wallington was 18th in 16:31. Pioneer had 42 points and Saline was 94. Saline did not have one of
their top two, however, and would have been under 70 with him in the race. They took it out hard early on and we gradually
picked them off during the course of the race and eventually put 6 in front of their number 3 runner. We are doing very
well and are ranked number 9 in the Midwest. Google Dyestat to find the current rankings.
Although we are doing very well we have not reached our full potential and we are doing our best in training to achieve it
by the end of the season.
Notes from Jamboree #1, Sept 9, 2008
The
team won the League meet yesterday with 27 points. Saline was second with 46 so it was a very solid win. Nick
Kern won for his first victory. Dan Culbertson was 4th, Adam Kern was 5th, Nathan Karr was 6th, Andy Sanz-Guerrero was
11th, David Wallington was 13th, and Joe Frakes was 34th. Caleb Fogel won the JV race and this was his first victory
as a runner. His time would have put him 23rd in the varsity race and only 2 seconds behind the 6th Saline runner.
Hopefully he will keep improving and be closer to our 5th man soon. There were 9 teams in the race but after ourselves
and Saline they were all in triple digits. While we are doing very well I am still grading our team performance at about
a "B". We actually could have 5 runners in the front if they would believe in themselves more. At the
same time we are doing well. We still have greater potential.
Notes from Kensington, Sept 6, 2008
We did
very well last Sat with 46 points and first place against 21 teams. Catholic Central was surprisingly strong and has a very
good team but they were second with 76 points. We were: 3, Dan Culbertson; 7, Adam Kern; 8, Nick Kern; 11,
Nathan Karr; 17, Andy Sanz-Guerrero; and 27, David Wallington; with the top 5 counting. We ran 6 instead
of seven in the varsity and Joe Frakes was 2nd by .5 in the JV race with his best race ever. Adam ran a very fine race
with strong splits. Andy had his best race ever also. We need to finish stronger overall for the top 6 runners
over the last mile. I would grade our performance at a B level with lots of room for improvement.
The fact we could win so storngly without our best effort shows the potential of things to come. We run against the
League tomorrow, Tues, at Saline. Saline has a very strong team and will be out to beat us on their home course.
We can win but everyone needs to go out strong, run strong, and come in strong.
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