Photo Courtesy of Hillcrest Academy Yearbook

It’s a big field of big schools waiting for the Hillcrest Academy Raven cross country team Thursday when they travel to the Bud and Bonnie Williams Classic at the Iowa City Kickers Complex. Hillcrest was last on the course a week ago at Burlington where the girls finished in third as a team led by the third consecutive individual title for Marie Yoder and a fourth place finish for Siena Stanerson. The Raven boys saw Jesse Blossom lead with an 11th place finish, followed by Braden Hartsock in 21st, as the Ravens finished fifth in the team standings. Entering action tonight, Yoder is ranked No. 11 in the latest Class 1A poll issued by the Iowa Association of Track Coaches. This week, Hillcrest head cross country coach Marty Gingerich previewed the meet in Iowa City

Gingerich said, “This is a meet of extremes for us in terms of competition and our performances. The competition is a different level, with larger schools, than where we normally compete, but it does give our top runners an opportunity to compete against top runners. At this meet we also tend to have good performances. We’re right in the thick of the season and hopefully people are running good races tonight.”

Hillcrest will be joined tonight by the No. 3 in 4A Ankeny Centennial girls and their No. 13 boys, Cedar Rapids Jefferson, the No. 7 in 3A Clear Creek Amana boys and their No. 14 girls, the No. 10 in 4A Dubuque Hempstead girls and their boys, the No. 19 in 4A Dubuque Senior boys and their girls, Durant, the No. 4 in 4A City High boys and their No. 7 girls, the No. 14 in 4A Iowa City Liberty boys and their girls, Moline, New London, Ottumwa, Pekin, the No. 1 in 3A Pella girls and their No. 2 boys, the No. 1 in 4A Pleasant Valley girls and their No. 18 boys, the No. 18 in 4A Cedar Rapids Prairie boys and their girls, and Wilton. There are a total of 26 ranked runners in tonight’s field. Action starts at 4:45 and continues into the evening in Iowa City.