In a career where she has accomplished so much, there aren’t a lot of firsts left for Hillcrest Academy senior Leah Bontrager. The multi-time state qualifier added another accomplishment to her resume Tuesday, posting her first individual varsity race championship by winning the English Valleys Invitational at Knoll Ridge Golf Course. The Raven senior sped through the course and by the competition en route to the victory with a finishing time of 24:07. After the race she talked about her gameplan and the win. “I had a feeling that today would be my PR for the season because I just want to keep getting better every meet. My goal is to finish top three here, which is what I did last year. I tried my best not to go out too hard. I made sure to stay up with the girls in the front. Down the stretch I was really excited but I wanted to stay focused and push all the way across the finish line. It felt good to accomplish this in my senior year.”
Other Raven runners included Morgyn Nafziger 16th and Julia Boller 21st. The Hillcrest girls did not post a team score. In the boys event, Hillcrest placed third in the team standings with 47 points. English Valleys won the meet with 31 points. The Ravens were led by Collin Miller’s fourth place time of 20:18. Micah Gerber was also top 10, taking seventh in 21:48. Other runners for the Ravens included Jesse Blossom 24th, Quang Huynh 34th and Garrett Hurst 39th.
WACO finished second in the boys team standings with a score of 44 points. The Warriors were led by Mattias Luitjens in 13th with a time of 22:25. Other finishers for the Warriors included Jonah Egli 14th, Kerian Luitjens 16th, Isaac Rich 20th, and Deacon Bird 40th. The WACO girls had a pair of runners compete with Hannah Dennis leading the way in 10th with a time of 27:20. McKenzie Vradenburg was 11th.
Neither the Highland boys or girls posted a team score. The Huskies were led by Katelyn Waters with her sixth place finish in 26:46. The Huskies were paced by Carlos Valenzuela on the boys side in 22:09 taking 11th place. Jacson Schneider was 25th, Brendan Schnoebelen 32nd and Andrew Lana 38th.
Neither the Lone Tree boys or girls had a team score at the meet. The Lone Tree girls were led by Vivian Zaruba in eighth with her time of 27:12. For the Lion boys, Joey Birtcher was 30th in 25:39. Jadin Grieser was 31st and Taylor Alberhasky 35th.
Neither the Sigourney boys or girls had a team score at the meet. The Savages were led by Reanah Utterback’s seventh place finish in the girls race with a time of 27:02. For the Sigourney boys, Joey Glandon was 15th in 22:42 and Kinnick Palmer was 21st.