On a brisk Friday afternoon, Pioneer made the long journey to Oxford Hills Country Club to compete against 14 other teams. Five varsity runners remained at home but the team still managed to place a respectable fifth out of fifteen teams. Not bad!
Since teams were allowed to run nine men in the varsity race, it gave several guys some great first-time varsity experience. Oxford Hills lives up to its name – its hilly and one of the more challenging courses Pioneer runs. Despite the tough course, four Pioneer varsity runners set PRs.
Senior co-captain David Cogswell ran a very strategic race, moving his way up to 5th place, with a time of 16:37.9, setting a new PR by 7.1 seconds. Senior co-captain Taylor DeLuca ran a great race, placing 12th with a time of 16:48. Sophomore Andy Sanz-Guerrero continues to impress, placing 15th in a time of 16:54.8 – a new PR by 19.6 seconds!
Junior Neil Keicher made a great final push, moving past several runners. His time of 17:53.1 was a new PR by 2.1 seconds and put him in 47th place. In what might have been the best performance of the day, Junior Robin Nitzer smashed his PR by 39.6 seconds on this difficult course. He placed 49th in a time of 17:53.9. Awesome job, Robin!
Senior co-captain Erik Levinsohn ran in his first race of the season, recovering from injuries which had him sidelined until this point. But, he didn’t look like a man who had been out all season, finishing in 17:55 for a 50th place finish. It was great to see Erik back and running so well in his first race! Senior Kinshuk Rajan wasn’t far behind, placing 55th in 18:01.6. Sophomore Juan Sanchez (18:26.9) and Junior Julius Theophilus (19:17.7) both got a taste of running on the varsity team gaining valuable experience.
