WAPELLO

It was the final stop before state, districts. This year the Class 1A district meet took place at Heritage Oaks in Wapello on May 14 and Hillcrest aimed for a top two finish in order to return to the state tournament. 

Delayed by a day due to the rain the Ravens, along with all the other competitors, played in suboptimal conditions. When it was all said and done Hillcrest’s season came to a close, placing fifth with a 362. 

Winning the district championship to advance to state was Winfield-Mt Union, who shot a first-place score of 350. Also heading to state is the runner-up team, Keota, who ended with 351.

Leading the state bound Wolves with a fifth-place finish was freshman Justin Knipfer. Knipfer ended with an 85. Keota was led by Cole and Bille Kindred who both shot an 86 to tie for 7th. 

Finishing on top of the individual leaderboards to earn medalist honors was English Valleys senior Elu Marsh with a 79. Runner-up medalist honors belonged to Montezuma Cruz DeJong with an 81. 

Coming in 4th place to lead the Ravens at Heritage Oaks was junior Liam Schrock. Schrock, who was one spot shy of qualifying for state as an individual, took 4th place with an 84. 

Finishing the course with matching 88’s was junior Seth Ours and sophomore Rowan Miller. Lawson Schrock ended his freshman year with a 101. Other scores for Hillcrest came from sophomore Ethan Yoder who had a 110 and freshman Matthew Chalupa with a 112. 

Hillcrest will head into the offseason but with no seniors on the roster they can expect most if not all of their talented roster to return next year to make another run competing for a state title.