The campus of Hillcrest Academy was traversed by some of the top runners in southeast Iowa Tuesday when the Ravens hosted their annual early bird meet. On the boys side of the event, Winfield-Mt. Union had the top area team finish, runners-up with a score of 42 points. Cedar Rapids Jefferson won the meet with a score of 30. The Wolves were led by top area finisher Kohlby Newsom in fourth place at 19:43. He spoke with KCII Sports after the race about the night. “The hills were key. I thought they went poorly tonight. I haven’t done many hills this year. My teammate Gabe (Hemsworth) paced me at the start. Overall, I feel pretty good about how the race went and my time.”

Other Wolves included Bowen Thomson sixth, Gabe Hemsworth seventh, Jacob Haines 17th, Jeff Maish 19th, and Gabe White 29th.

WACO took third as a team with 54 points. Top runner for the Warriors was Isaac Rich eighth in 21:28. Other competitors included Kerrian Luitjens 11th, Tristan Luitjens 14th, Mattias Luitjens 16th, Tanner Egli 18th and Deacon Bird 31st.

The Highland Huskies were fifth of five teams with a score of 126 points. Top performer for the Huskies was Brendan Schnoebelen 27th in 25:09. Other Highland runners included Jackson Schneider 32nd, Brayden Zywiec 33rd, Chase Boshart 34th and Chase Hickenbottom 38th.

The home Ravens had a pair of runners compete with Micah Gerber fifth in 20:22 and Jesse Blossom 12th. Lone Tree had three on the course with Jadin Grieser 26th in 25:04, Joey Birtcher 28th and Blake Honeycut 30th.

In the girls race Winfield-Mt. Union had the top area finish taking third with a score of 82 points. City High won the meet with a perfect 15 points. The Lady Wolves were paced by Afton Wilkerson in 24th with a time of 30:21. Other runners included Karilyn Titus 28th, Maggie Hutton 30th, Olivia Martinez 32nd, Emma Richardson 33rd and Bayla Thomson 34th.

The Lone Tree Lady Lions had only one competitor but she was the top area finisher, as Vivian Zaruba raced around the course in 25:19 for 10th place. She talked after the race about the night. “You have to power through the hills because this course has big hills on the back side. If you die on those, it’s going to kill you in the race. Felt really good tonight. My goal this year is to probably get 21 minutes, get the school record, and just consistently keep getting better.”

The Highland Huskies had three, led by Erika Thomann in 15th with a time of 26:57. Other Highland runners included Katelyn Waters 26th and Halle Hazelett 27th.

The WACO Warriors sent three to Kalona and were led by Justine Lynn in 17th with a time of 28:13. McKenzie Vradenburg took 18th and Hannah Dennis was 25th.

For the home Ravens, Delaney Shaw was 19th in 28:32.

Catch conversations with athletes and coaches from the Hillcrest Academy Early Bird meet on the Wednesday and Thursday editions of the KCII PM Sports Page.