Early Bird cross country meet

Hillcrest Academy hosted its first athletic event on campus since the name change from Iowa Mennonite School on Tuesday September 3.  Eleven schools with 256 athletes participated in the Early Bird cross country meet.  The five kilometer course is on the athletic fields and in the neighboring Joetown woods.  The Hillcrest Academy girls team placed fifth of five full teams.  Sophomore Leah Bontrager led the squad placing eighth with a time of 23:44.  Bontrager ran a strong race moving up through the race field throughout the race all the way to the finish.  Senior Sarena Gerber also medaled placing twelfth in 24:59.  Freshman Taryn Leichty ran a strong race holding off sophomore Julia Boller at the finish.  The pair finished in 29:14 placing thirty-second and thirty-third.  Senior Ainsley Shaw finished forty-fourth in 41:14 as the team’s fifth runner.  Sophomore Rowan Boulter of City High won the race in a new course record time of 20:29.48.  The course has been changed from previous years.  City High won the girls team race with a perfect score of 15. Forty-four runners finished the girls varsity race.  The Ravens had no runners in the girls JV race which had 56 finishers.

 

Girls results
Girls Individual results					Team Scores
Leah Bontrager		8th	23:44		City High		15
Sarena Gerber		12th	24:59		Cedar Rapids Jefferson		81
Taryn Leichty		32nd	29:14		Highland		82
Julia Boller		33rd	29;14		Washington		94
Ainsley Shaw		44th	41:14		Hillcrest Academy		101

Sophomore Collin Miller and Junior Colby Harris led the Hillcrest Academy boys team Tuesday at the Early Bird meet. Miller ran a career best time of 24:10 for forty-fourth place. Collin had a big breakout race on a challenging course. Harris was two seconds back in forty-fifth place. Senior Jesse Slater was two places back in forty-seventh place and finished in 24:35. Senior Toby Chen and sophomore Owen Swartzendruber placed fifty-second and fifty-fifth to round out the scoring. Junior Johnny Diaz had a tough race but managed to finish. Hillcrest placed seventh out of seven complete teams. Cedar Rapids Jefferson placed first over City High with Wapello placing third. Junior Lukas Lamparek of Cedar Rapids Jefferson was the individual winner finishing in 18:01 on the challenging course. Lukas now holds the course record on the new five kilometer course.

Ninety-nine runners finished the boys JV race.