Leah Bontrager, a 2022 Hillcrest Academy graduate and a four-time state cross country qualifier from Wellman, returned to Drake’s Blue Oval for a memorable run last Saturday.

She ran the opening leg of Central College’s victory in the Women’s Distance Medley at the Drake Relays. The Dutch nearly set a school record in the event.

Bontrager’s effort was among a number of local highlights at the Relays.

Jaden Stafford of Mid-Prairie won the 400-meter wheelchair race in the high school division for the second consecutive year. He won three state titles at the 2023 Iowa High School Track Championships at the Blue Oval as a freshman.

Danielle Hostetler, a senior at Mid-Prairie and a three-time state 2A champion in cross country, finished 13^th in the girls 1500. She is a defending state champion at 3000 meters.

Emma Lueck of Mid-Prairie finished 13^th in the long jump in her Drake Relays debut.

Mid-Prairie’s 4x100 girls relay team finished 31^st with a time of 50.50 seconds. Running for the Golden Hawks were Dakota Mitchell, Myli Hershberger, Lueck and Jovi Evans in an event that featured nearly 100 sprint teams from across the state.

Bontrager, a sophomore at Central College who helped the Dutch to a ninth-place national finish in cross country, led a distance relay team that also included Alivia Roerdink of Tiffin, Ohio; Sara Goodenbour of Cedar Falls and Addison Parrott of Danville. Their winning time of 12 minutes, 23.83 seconds was the third fastest in school history.

Bontrager, who made the Iowa 1A state cross country race four consecutive years at Hillcrest, finished among the top 15 in the 800 at the 2022 state high school championships. Parrott, her college teammate, is the same runner Bontrager battled with during Southeast Iowa Super Conference meets when they were in high school. Parrott’s runner-up finish in the 2020 2A state cross country race featured the first of three consecutive state championships won by Mid-Prairie’s Hostetler.

Jumping Up and Up

When the National Junior College Athletic Association Region XI Track and Field Championships are held this weekend in Council Bluffs, one of the high jumpers to watch will be 2023 Mid-Prairie grad Cain Brown.

During the indoor season, Brown, a freshman at Iowa Western, jumped 2.02 meters (more than 6.6 feet). That put him second in the country on the junior college level and it ranked eighth in school history. He jumped 2.06 meters (6.75 feet) in late March.

In comparison, Brown jumped 6-4, or 1.93 meters, for a fourth-place finish at the 2022 high school state championships in Des Moines.

Finishing Up

Lone Tree alum Abby Buckman finished up her college softball career this past weekend at Upper Iowa University.

Buckman, a pitcher, started in 15 games for the Peacocks this season and appeared in 26. She had a career-high 11 strikeouts in a complete-game win over St. Thomas More in March.

Buckman, who is the all-time leader in pitching strikeouts at Lone Tree, was an assistant coach for the Lions last summer.

Soccer Power

Has this happened before? The top three teams in the boys soccer 1A rankings are all from the River Valley Conference.

West Branch, which has won its first 13 games, tops the rankings. Following the Bears are Iowa City Regina (11-2) and West Liberty (8-4).

Mid-Prairie (7-5) has played all three to close games. The Golden Hawks lost to West Liberty by just one goal, 1-0; held West Branch scoreless in the first half before losing, 3-0; and on Monday the Hawks were topped 3-1 by Regina.

The Golden Hawks could finish off its regular season with wins against Northeast, Cascade and Bellevue, which would make the postseason tournament seedings an interesting process to watch. Also in 1A are Hillcrest Academy (9-2), which has lost only once against 1A competition, and Highland (5-7), which has won its most games since 2015.

News columnist Paul Bowker can be reached at bowkerpaul1@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @bowkerpaul