After a couple of grueling meets against larger schools, the Pioneer runners travelled down to Sandy Valley High School to test themselves against schools more their size. Last year at this meet, the boys finished 11/15 teams. Today, the team bettered that finish by 6 spots, finishing 5 out of 15 teams that toed the line.
Going into the race, the team knew they had an opportunity both to run fast and to run fast as a team. Cool weather + the flat course + a lighter week of training set them up for success. And they did not let the opportunity slide. Hunter Haupricht '25 led the charge through the first mile with James Johnston '27 by his side (James was again the team's top finisher in sub-19). A tight pack of WRA runners followed, with Jack Trook '27 leading that second group through mile 1. Staying focused through the second mile, all of WRA's top 7 runners were in the top 50 of the race, with Hunter and James running near together in about 30 while a tight green pack followed. The third mile was tough, with loops challenging focus, but a number of runners fought through to personal bests: Jack Trook lowered his best to 19:17 and Nico Iteka '25 continued to lower his PB, running 19:22. Mike Rippert '24 dominated the finish line, running a stunning 19:30 in his first season with the team, and Ian Fleming '27 broke the 20 minute barrier for the first time with style, running 19:41 after a grueling and gritty finish.
A slew of runners followed with PB's: Ethan Jing '25 finished just over 20 minutes, but his passing a number of runners at the finish solidified WRA's 5th place finish, just edging the 6th place team. Rian Arora '26 ran 20 seconds faster than on the same course last year, while Daniel Randazzo '27 ran low 21 for the first time. Keven Gong '26 ran sub 22 for the first time, followed closely by Victor Wang '26, who continues to improve by leaps and bounds this season.
The boys worked as a team today to improve on last year's average finish time by almost 2 minutes (last year the average was 20:59, and it was 19:18 this season). And that was all without top-5 contender Carter Fleming in the mix today. Little by little, the team is turning themselves into a competitive team.
Some fun stats:
Top WRA finisher in 2022: 19:28
Top WRA finisher in 2023: 18:53
Only 1 WRA runner broke 20 minutes in 2022: Carter Fleming
SIX WRA runners broke 20 today: James, Jack, Nico, Hunter, Mike, Ian
5th WRA finisher in 2022: 22:02
5th WRA finisher in 2023: 19:30
Team spread (1-5 runners) 2022: 2 minutes and 30 seconds
Team spread (1-5 runners) 2023: 35 seconds
Team spread (1-7 runners) 2022: 2 minutes and 32 seconds
Team spread (1-7 runners) 2023: 1 minute and 10 seconds
Last WRA finisher in 2022: 22:11 (8th team runner)
Last WRA finisher in 2023: 21:43 (11th team runner)
Overall team finish 2021: 10/15
Overall team finish 2022: 11/15
Overall team finish 2023: 5/15
Just improvement overall! Nice work boys!
Results: https://www.baumspage.com/cc/ccevent.php?peventid=113&table=C
