We continue our review of the last decade for Hillcrest Academy Raven athletics with a look at the 2016-17 school year.

Levi Geyer qualified for the class 1A state cross country meet in Fort Dodge. The Raven junior was 13th at the state qualifier meet at Noelridge Park in Cedar Rapids with a time of 17:17. At the Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge he finished in 25th place with a time of 17:27.

On the oval in the spring the Raven track teams were represented at the state meet in Des Moines by sophomore Suzanna Yoder in the 400, taking 13th place.

On alumni night in December of 2016 a pair of celebrations occurred at Hillcrest Union on the campus of Hillcrest Academy. The 1992 boys basketball team celebrated the 25th anniversary of their state title and the floor at the historic venue was named after longtime coach Dwight Gingerich, who passed the 600 career win mark the season prior.

The Raven boys basketball team finished with a 17-7 overall record. Hillcrest was 11-5 in the Superconference, taking third place behind Highland and Lone Tree. The Ravens advanced to the district championship game at Mid-Prairie before being knocked out by Lisbon 64-59. On the year, Hillcrest was led by Nick Yutzy with 257 total points on the year. He was fourth in the conference with 107 assists and third with 71 steals. Mitchell Schmeider finished with 107 rebounds, 10th most in the Superconference.

The Hillcrest baseball team finished with a 14-10 overall record. After an 8-8 mark in the Southeast Iowa Superconference during the regular season and 11-9 mark overall, the Ravens got hot at the right time. Hillcrest rolled through district play with wins over Tri-County, BGM and Sigourney by a combined 28-3 score to capture the district title. The Ravens were eliminated in the substate final at Cedar Rapids Prairie by North Linn 2-0. The Raven baseball team was led by Drake Brezina with a .402 average at the plate. The Hillcrest pitching staff was eighth in class 1A with a team ERA of 1.88. The Ravens were led by Blake Bontrager with a 1.12 mark on the hill in 37 innings of work. Caleb Yoder had 1.40 mark in 30 innings and Brezina checked in at 1.91 with a 3-1 record in 44 innings on the mound.

Wednesday will feature the 2017-18 academic year for athletics at Hillcrest Academy in our decade in review.