Heritage Oaks Golf Course outside of Wapello played host to the best in Southeast Iowa Superconference cross country Thursday with the league holding their championship meet.

In the girls race, top individual finisher from the KCII listening area was Hillcrest Academy’s Leah Bontrager with her seventh place finish in 22:08. Pekin’s Lauren Derscheid was the SEISC individual champion with a time of 20:50. Bontrager spoke after the race after her goals, the run, and how it feels to be all-conference. “I had confidence coming into today from running this meet in previous years. My goal for today was to finish in the top 10. I think I ran my season personal record for today. I knew some of the other girls would slow down after they went out a little fast. I had looked at the times for some of the competition, so I kind of knew where I was. It feels great to be all-conference.”

The Ravens did not have a team score on the night. After Bontrager’s finish, other Hillcrest runners included Delaney Shaw 37th, Morgyn Nafziger 60th and Julia Boller 61st.

The lone team score for an area squad was Columbus’ 96 points, which placed them fifth overall. Pekin won the meet with 20 points. Top runner for the Wildcats was Ariana Vergara in 18th with a time of 23:54. Other Wildcat runners included Kimberly Gonzalez 26th, Averi Sipes 41st, Frannie Sosa 52nd, Alexa Alcala 62nd and Jenny Castellanos 66th.

Vivian Zaruba led the Lone Tree Lions on the night with her 27th place finish in 25:00. Justine Lynn was WACO’s top finisher in 29th place at 25:10. Other Warriors included McKenzie Vradenburg 35th, Hannah Dennis 44th and Avery Waterhouse 47th. Katelyn Waters competed for the Highland Huskies finishing 40th in 26:19. Maggie Hutton led Winfield-Mt. Union in 53rd with a time of 27:25, Olivia Martinez finished in 63rd place for the Wolves.

In the boys race, the Columbus Wildcats had the best team and individual showing for any squad from the KCII listening area. The Wildcats were SEISC runners-up in the team race with 54 points, placing behind only Danville/New London with their 24 points. Top finisher individually for Columbus was Freddy Vergara in sixth with a time of 17:31. He spoke after the race about his day and the team performance. “For our team goals we wanted to get four people on all-conference and we did that. The biggest move in my race today I made during the second mile. I had some issues with my legs hurting a bit today but I was able to suck it up and race. It was great today. Once I finished, I went back to the finish line to see my teammates and it was all Columbus. It felt great, we have worked at it so hard this year and it’s showing.”

Other runners for the Wildcats included Isaac Acosta 11th, Mason Hills-Carrier 13th, Damian Vergara 14th, Tim Hills-Carrier 16th, Tyler Humiston 32nd, Oscar Alacala 51st, Josh Almanza 74th, Justin Canny 98th, Daniel Martinez 105th, Abraham Garcia 106th and Adan Martinez 108th.

Winfield Mt. Union was third as a team with 127 points. Gabe Hemsworth had the best run on the day taking 12th in 18:25. Other runners for the Wolves including Kohlby Newsom 17th, Lane Scorpil 35th, Jeff Maish 46th, Sheaden Adams 58th, Ty Scopril 64th, Jacob Haines 72nd, Jacob Nelson 79th, and Gabe White 81st.

The WACO Warriors were eighth in the team standings with 155 points. Wyatt Dennis led the way in 27th with a time of 19:49. Other WACO finishers included Keiran Luitjens 30th, Isaac Rich 39th, Mattias Luitjens 52nd, Jonah Egli 75th and Deacon Bird 104th.

Hillcrest Academy was 10th as a team with 206 points. Leader for the Ravens was Collin Miller in 19th with a time of 19:20. Other runners for Hillcrest included Micah Gerber 61st, Jesse Blossom 69th, Jorge Canchola 70th, Diego Ramos 88th, Quang Huynh 99th, and Garrett Hurst 100th.

The Highland Huskies did not have a team score. They were led individually by Carlos Valenzuela in 34th with a time of 20:14. Individual SEISC champion was Ty Carr of Danville/New London with a time of 16:55. Other runners for the Huskies included Jackson Schneider 78th, Brendan Schnoebelen 91st, and Andrew Lana 97th.

Lone Tree also did not have a team score. Top finish for the Lions came from Jadin Grieser 73rd in 22:56. Joey Birtcher was 83rd and Taylor Alberhasky 84th.