Raven senior Collin Miller just wanted to beat all of his Hillcrest Academy teammates in his first race of the season on Tuesday, August 31. 

With a time of 21:36, Miller was the first Raven across the finish line, claiming a medal with a ninth-place finish in Hillcrest’s annual Early Bird meet. 

“I started in the back so I could catch up to people, that’s motivating,” Miller said. “I'm pretty happy. I've never medaled before, so that was exciting.” 

Right behind Miller was Highland’s Carlos Valenzuela, who also medaled with a 10th-place finish.

“The first half, I just kept a good pace,” Valenzuela said. “And I found someone to stick by throughout the race. By the end of the race, I tried gapping a few people since I had conserved my energy as much as I could.” 

Valenzuela is starting his junior season in much better shape than he began as a sophomore. 

“I'm actually a lot happier, I got better than I did last year. I had somewhere around 22:30 last year and I broke a 21 this year.”

The girls varsity race was dominated by the Little Hawks of Iowa City High, who had the top seven finishers. Hillcrest senior Leah Bontrager was next across the finish line, taking eighth-place for the second year in a row.  

“I just wanted to see where I was and do my best,” Bontrager said. “This past year, I haven't really been where I want to be with my running. I did better than I thought I would.” 

Bontrager has been limited by a (non-COVID) illness this summer and has not been able to train like she usually would. 

“Two weeks ago, I wouldn't have guessed she would have been here today,” Hillcrest coach Marty Gingerich said. “She's not 100 percent yet, and hasn't really been able to put mileage in much this summer. But she did really well. She obviously knows how to run the races.”

Leah Bontrager was the only Raven in the varsity girls race. The Hillcrest boys had a full team, led by Miller. 

“Collin ran a good race and he'll continue to improve throughout the season,” Gingerich said. “Next we had Micah Gerber, he's a freshman, running really well. And he'll it's fun to watch him get going and he'll continue to improve.”

Gerber finished 16th out of 35 in the boys varsity race with a finish of 22:26. 

Cedar Rapids Jefferson finished first as a team led by seniors Gavin Hall and Zach Egger, the only two boys to break 19 minutes on Monday.  

Freshman Taylor Alberhasky led the Lone Tree boys, finishing 21st with a time of 23:57.

A light rain fell on the Hillcrest course as the teams arrived and continued through the JV girls race. Alberhasky said that the course through the woods was muddy and slick during the team’s walkthrough, but improved by the time the varsity boys ran in the final race of the day. 

“It was really slippery whenever we walked it, but after two or three other groups went before us, it was somewhat dry,” he said. “I just tried to have the correct pace so I'd have enough energy at the end.”

Lion sophomore Joey Birtcher came in 27th and junior Jaden Grieser finished 29th. 

In the girls varsity race, Katelyn Waters finished in 12th place for Highland. Ten of the runners who finished ahead of her were from 4A City High and Cedar Rapids Jefferson. 

After Valenzeula, Jackson Schneider was the next finisher for the Huskies, taking 25th. 

“I saw some real improvement from last year,” Highland coach Angie Strobel said. “Their times were minutes faster for some of them. So that was pretty nice to see at the beginning of the year, because I had a feeling we'd come into the year a little bit more out of shape than normal. But that didn't turn out to be true tonight. They really showed they can be more competitive.”

There were 56 runners in the girls junior varsity race, including 45 from City High. Hillcrest freshman Delaney Shaw finished 30th with a time of 29:38 in her first high school race. 

Lone Tree and Highland will be back on the course in Sigourney on Tuesday, September 7 and Hillcrest will join Lone Tree and Highland in Fairfield on Thursday, September 9. 

Results

Boys Varsity
9. Collin Miller (Hillcrest) 21:36
10. Carlos Valenzuela (Highland) 21:41
16. Micah Gerber (Hillcrest) 22:26
21. Taylor Alberhasky (Lone Tree) 23:57
25. Jackson Schneider (Highland) 24:37
27. Joey Birtcher (Lone Tree) 25:40
29. Jadin Grieser (Lone Tree) 26:16
30. Jesse Blossom (Hillcrest) 26:20
31. Brend Schnoebelen (Highland) 27:38
32. Andrew Lana (Highland) 27:53
34. Quang Huynh (Hillcrest) 30:27
35. Garrett Hurst (Hillcrest) 32:53

Girls Varsity
8. Leah Bontrager (Hillcrest) 25:55
12. Katelyn Waters (Highland) 27:25
Junior Varsity
30. Delaney Shaw (Hillcrest) 29:38
40. Julia Boller (Hillcrest) 32:28
41. Morgyn Nafziger (Hillcrest) 32:44