Pioneer won a close race to the finish line on Thursday at the SEC Red Division Championship boys’ cross country meet at Hudson Mills Metropark. Four teams separated themselves from the pack and made for a very competitive final league meet of the season.
Pioneer finished with 61 points, just seven points better than runner-up Saline. Dexter took third with 78 points and Skyline was fourth with 80 points.
Huron finished fifth with 139 points in the eight-team field.
Pioneer took three of the top 10 spots led by Owen Johnson. The senior, who finished second at last year’s meet and 34th at the D-1 State Finals, took first overall with a time of 16 minutes, 05.60 seconds. Teammate and fellow senior Matt Ruud was fifth in 16:36.50 and sophomore Vincent Peterson Sand was 10th in 16:4920 for the Pioneers.
Sophomore Aaron Sterken was 19th (17:05.20), junior Chase Klapthor was 26th (17:15.50) and senior Fred Wallace was 28th (17:15.81) for the Pioneers.
Brandon Anderson led the Dreadnaughts across the finish line. Only a sophomore, Anderson is certainly moving up in the world – or at least on the cross country trail. He finished 143rd at last year’s state finals as a freshman but is on course for big things next month at MIS.
Anderson took fourth for Dexter with a time of 16:35.60 – his third top 10 finish in his last five races.
The Dreadnaughts had three other runners among the top 20. Senior Josh Lamb was 14th in 16:56.60, senior Adam Hauser was 16th in 17:00.70 and junior Owen Ackerman was 17th in 17:02.20. Junior Alex Hoffman was 27th (17:15.80), senior Griffin Bentley was 34th (17:45.60) and senior Zachary Sawin was 37th (17:51.30).
Skyline’s Nicolas Fry landed in second place for the Eagles with a time of 16:19.5. Only a junior, Fry has had a spectacular season so far. He’s finished in the top 10 in six of his eight races this season with a PR of 16:02.6 on Oct. 16.
The Eagles had a strong showing at the head of the race. Not only was Fry second, but senior Sanjay Rao ran seventh with a time of 16:45.20 and sophomore Luke Suliman ran ninth in 16:48.60. Three runners in the top 10 – impressive!
Junior Christopher Van Lent was 29th (17:20.80), sophomore Mason Jett was 33rd (17:45.40) and senior Alex Ball was 40th (18:07.90).
The River Rats were led by junior Adam Bigelow (20th, 17:10.5), senior Lev Nakamura (24th, 17:12.60) and sophomore Lucas Weintraub was 25th (17:14.8). Senior Matthew Dowling was 32nd (17:43.2), freshman Walker Brose was 38th (17:57.50), sophomore Henry Beard was 42nd (18:12.50) and junior Aidan Behmer was 44th (18:28.0).
