Highland, Lone Tree open cross country season at Hillcrest Early Bird

Gerber leads area runners with a fifth-place finish

By Jeff Yoder
Posted 8/31/22

The Highland, Lone Tree, and Hillcrest cross country team opened the season at the Ravens’ annual Early Bird meet on Thursday. 

Hillcrest coach Marty Gingerich looks forward to the …

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Highland, Lone Tree open cross country season at Hillcrest Early Bird

Gerber leads area runners with a fifth-place finish

Posted

The Highland, Lone Tree, and Hillcrest cross country team opened the season at the Ravens’ annual Early Bird meet on Thursday. 

Hillcrest coach Marty Gingerich looks forward to hosting the event each year.

“It's a lot of fun to host,” he said after the races. “There's anticipation in setting it up and everything. And it's nice having all of our guests come and join us for a race.”

Despite the familiarity, not all of the Ravens love competing on the home course.

“I don't really like running on this course,” said Hillcrest sophomore Micah Gerber, who led all area runners with a fifth-place finish. “Going through the woods, there is barely anybody there for support.” 

Gerber said that he went out a little too fast early in the race and wasn’t able to reach his goals for an opening-day time. With a time of 20:22, he still finished two minutes ahead of where he opened the previous season on the same course.

“This was a good start, but there’s much room for improvement,” Gerber said. 

His teammate Jesse Blossom finished 12th with a time of 21:53. Delaney Shaw finished 19th in the girls varsity race with a time of 28:32. Her time was about a minute faster than her starting point last season. 

They did great, “ Gingerich said about his three sophomores. “They had a good summer training and we're seeing good results. Some of us were hoping for a little better (results), but we want to be hungry moving forward.”

The top seven runners in the girls varsity race were all from 4A no. 14 Iowa City High. The next two were a senior and junior from Cedar Rapids Jefferson, followed by Lone Tree sophomore Vivian Zaruba. 

Zaruba also ran nearly two minutes faster than her first meet of the season last year at Fairfield. With a tenth-place finish, Zaruba took the last medal with a time of 25:19. 

City High sophomore Ani Wedemeyer, who won the 4A 800-meter state championship in May, won the girls varsity race with a time of 20:58.

Highland freshman Erika Thomann led the Huskies with a 15th-place finish of 26:57. She said that the Hillcrest course was a little tougher than some of the ones she ran in junior high. 

“It was a bit more challenging,” Thomann said. “I did start off a little too fast, but other than that it was pretty good.”

Highland coach Angie Strobel is excited about Thomann’s potential as she builds up endurance over the season. 

“Erika Thomann really pulled out a great race tonight,” Strobel said. “She was at the state fair for the entire duration of (practice). “So that was her not in shape. I'm really looking forward to see what she can do when she's full force.”

Highland senior Katelyn Waters finished 26th running with a cast on her right forearm. Husky junior Halle Hazelett was right behind in 27th. 

“We were just a little bit out of shape, because we had the state fair and all those kind of fun summer things that are going on,” Strobel said. “So I was just proud that they all powered through and used their mental toughness to finish that race and have some decent times.”

Strobel said the times on Thursday were much faster than the team’s recent time trials in practices.  

“As you'd expect, when you get a little competition, you run a little faster,” she said. “So I'm pretty happy with how we finished.”

Husky junior Jackson Schneider was followed closely by freshmen Brayden Zywiec and Chase Boshart finishing 32-34. Freshman Chase Hickenbottom gave Highland a full team score with a 38th place finish. Only five of the eight schools in the boys race had at least five runners. 

Highland senior Brendan Schnoebelen led the Husky boys with a 27th place finish of 25:09. 

“He really ran like this was the last first race he was going to run,” Strobel said. “So I was really proud and impressed with his just the way he finished and worked hard throughout the whole race.”

Lone Tree senior Jadin Grieser led the Lions with a 26th place time of 25:04, which was over a minute faster than his first time from a season ago. Joey Birtcher was just 30 seconds back in 28th place. Senior Blake Honeycut was 30th with a time of 25:50, finishing 90 seconds ahead of the next runner. 

Full Results

Boys Results
1. Gage Heyne English Valleys 18:37
5. Micah Gerber Hillcrest 20:22
12. Jesse Blossom Hillcrest 21:53
26. Jadin Grieser Lone Tree 25:04
27. Brendan Schnoebelen Highland 25:09
28. Joey Birtcher Lone Tree 25:36
30. Blake Honeycut Lone Tree 25:50
32. Jackson Schneider Highland 27:32
33. Brayden Zywiec Highland 27:38
34. Chase Boshart Highland 27:40
38. Chase Hickenbottom Highland 30:00

Girls Results
1. Ani Wedemeyer City High 20:58
10. Vivian Zaruba Lone Tree 25:19
15. Erika Thomann Highland 26:57
19. Delaney Shaw Hillcrest 28:32
26. Katelyn Waters Highland 30:54
27. Halle Hazelett Highland 31:11