WMU leads area at Hillcrest Early Bird

KALONA — A plethora of teams traveled to Hillcrest Academy on Tuesday afternoon to compete at the Ravens annual Early Bird Meet.

Winfield-Mt. Union, Highland, WACO and Hillcrest Academy all represented the Union area teams.

The Wolves led the way on the boys side, finishing as the top area team with 42 points in the runner-up spot.

Cedar Rapids Jefferson took first overall with 30 points.

Leading Winfield-Mt. Union was Kohlby Newsom with a time of 19:43.65, good enough for fourth place. Fellow teammates, Bowen Thomson and Gabe Hemsworth went sixth and seventh. Jacob Haines was 17th, Jeff Maish finished 18th and Deacon Bird was 31st.

WACO finished third with 54 total team points.

Isaac Rich led the Warriors with a time of 21:28.40 and an eight place finish. Kerrian Luitjens followed in 11th, Tristan Luitjens was 14th, Mattias Luitjens 16th, Tanner Egli ran to 18th and Deacon Bird ended in 31st.

Highland ended with a score of 126 points and a fifth-place finish. Brenden Schnoebelen finished 27th with a time of 25:09.72. Following Schnoebelen was Jackson Schneider in 32nd, Brayden Zywiec in 33rd, Chase Boshart in 34th and Chase Hickenbottom 38th.

Competing for Hillcrest was Micah Gerber and Jesse Blossom. Gerber was a fifth place finisher with a time of 20:22.06 and Blossom finished 12th.

On the girls side of things, Winfield-Mt. Union was the top area finisher as well, finishing with 82 team points and third overall.

Afton Wilkerson finished 24th with a time of 30:21.31. Karilyn Titus was 28th, Maggie Hutton ended 30th, Olivia Martinez was 32nd, Emma Richardson 33rd and Bayla Thomson 34th.

Three ran for Highland. Erika Thomann finished 15th with a time of 26:57.49. Katelyn Waters was 26th and Halle Hazelett 27th.

WACO also brought three to the competition. Justine Lynn was a 17th place finisher with 28:13.63. McKenzie Vradenburg finished 18th and Hannah Dennis 25th.

For Hillcrest Academy, Delaney Shaw was the lone runner, clocking a time of 28:32.85 for 19th.