Class 1A runners hopeful of state meet qualifying

Nick Moffitt
Posted 10/24/19

Last year, Leah Bontrager had to make a mad dash to the finish line to qualify for her first state cross country meet. This year she’s hoping for a more comfortable spot. The Hillcrest Academy …

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Class 1A runners hopeful of state meet qualifying

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Last year, Leah Bontrager had to make a mad dash to the finish line to qualify for her first state cross country meet. This year she’s hoping for a more comfortable spot. 

The Hillcrest Academy sophomore is looking to make  back-to-back appearances at the state meet after finishing 72nd in Class 1A last year. 

After the 2018 state meet, she said that her goal was just continue running through the year until next season. She did that, putting in 300 miles over the summer months according to Hillcrest Academy coach Marty Gingerich. 

Her conditioning this year has been evident from the start, as last year she hovered around breaking the sub-22 minute mark, but couldn’t break through. This year she has run sub-22 minutes in three races, including the two prior to Thursday’s qualifier. 

The fastest effort this season from Bontrager was a 21:07 at the SEISC conference meet in Fairfield. She followed that up with a second place 21:33 at Mediapolis three days later. 

Gingerich said Bontrager’s confidence comes from a steady year of training. Her race plan will be to run even splits at a touch faster than season-best pace. 

“It’s pretty much the same as throughout the year,” Gingerich said. “Run even at season-best pace, but not too fast as that can destroy you later on.”

Gingerich said Bontrager has the ability to sit back and not go out too fast and trusts that even splits will put her in the right place at the right time, something especially important because runners often set out at a faster pace at the qualifying meet than they typically do. 

Last year at the Iowa City Kickers complex, the cut-off time for Class 1A girls was 22:20. From 2015-2017, the course cutoff that Hillcrest Academy, then Iowa Mennonite, ran at was 21:45, 20:55 and 21:07. 

Thursday’s race in Iowa City will feature six runners in the Iowa Association of Track Coaches individual rankings, including two in the top 10. 

The ranked teams assigned to the Iowa City meet are No. 5 Iowa City Regina, No. 6 Pekin and No. 10 Central Elkader. Prince of Peace was noted as a team to watch. 

Madi Thomann, a Highland junior, will also be looking to cement her spot at another state meet. She finished 99th in Class 1A last year. Her qualifying time in Iowa City was 21:32 last season. 

Thomann finished out her regular season with a 21:49 effort at Mediapolis last Thursday. 

Her teammate, Taylor Sublette, was the first in Highland girls cross country history to qualify for the state meet in 2017. 

A trio of other area runners will look to break into the state meet with season-best performances. Those runners include Lone Tree runners Macie Bopp and Natalie Patterson and Hillcrest senior Sarena Gerber. 

The Ravens could potentially have two runners in the mix at Thursday’s meet in Iowa City. Gerber has brought her times down from 25 minutes to start the season to the 22:34 mark at Mediapolis on Thursday. 

“There’s a chance,” Gingerich said. “It will take a good run but it is definitely possible.”

He said that Gerber saw a big confidence boost from finishing inside the All-Conference mark at the conference meet last week. 

The Lone Tree girls team only has two runners, but both will be looking to make the state meet for the first time. Bopp and Patterson both earned All-Conference honors last week with strong performances. Bopp ran 22:14 and Patterson 22:58.

Bopp has finished just outside of qualifying range in previous years. She finished 20th in 2018 and 25th in 2017. She has been running better than her 22:42 time at last year’s qualifier meet in Iowa City. 

The cut-off for the boys Class 1A race attended by Lone Tree, Highland and Hillcrest has ranged form 17:21 to 18:17 over the past four years. Hillcrest Academy’s Colby Harris owns the fastest time for the team this season at 20:42. Lone Tree’s Alberto Cortes ran 19:47 at Mediapolis last Thursday. Jacob Roling led Highland at Mediapolis last week in 22:29. 

Racing starts at 4 p.m. at the Iowa City Kickers complex in Iowa City. The top three teams and top 15 individuals qualify for the state meet on Nov. 2.