The first outdoor event of the year is tonight for the Hillcrest Academy Raven boys and girls track and field teams when they travel to the Wapello CoEd Relays. Hillcrest is coming off of a tremendous 2024 where the Raven girls finished fourth at the Southeast Iowa Superconference meet with a quad conference championship performance from Rya Scott who won the 100, 200, 400 and long jump while Marie Yoder and Siena Stanerson were two and three in the 1500 and 3000 and Delaney Shaw was long jump runner-up. The Hillcrest boys were eighth as a team and Owen Scott was long jump runner-up. At the state qualifier, the Raven girls were fourth as a team with Rya Scott winning the 100, 200 and 400 and Yoder the 3000. The Raven boys were 11^th. At State, Owen Scott led the way for Hillcrest placing third in Class 1A in the long jump and 14^th in high jump. Rya Scott was sixth in the 100, 15^th in the 400, 19^th in the 200 and 24^th in long jump while Yoder went 16^th in the 3000.

Fast forward to this year’s indoor season, where it’s been a fast start for the Ravens. The Scott siblings were multi-time Class 1A State Champions at the Iowa Association of Track Coaches meet at Iowa State, with Rya winning the 60m dash and long jump and Owen the long jump, while Stanerson was eighth in the 3000, Shaw ninth in long jump and Yoder 10^th in the 3000. At Central College last week, it was more of the same with Rya third in long jump, seventh in the 60m and 10^th in the 200, Owen runner-up in long jump and Stanerson fourth in the 3000. This week, Hillcrest head coach Marty Gingerich talked with KCII Sports about what has him excited for this year’s edition of the Ravens, “Just having a larger group and the overall excitement. It’s always fun to get to the first meet and start competing. I can tell they’re ready to get some competition under their belt. The whole process is exciting. Going through the season as a whole is what I’m looking forward to!”

The Ravens are joined in action tonight by the Columbus Wildcats. The ‘Cat crew is coming off of a boys team championship at the Steve Roth Relays Thursday with 172 points, led by seven championships with Riley Kaalberg taking the long jump, Alex Rees the 200m, Cade Storm the 400m hurdles, Ty Muniz the 3,200, Lamar Ceant the 110 hurdles, Lando Garza the 400 and the 4×1 team of Kaalberger, Juan Chairez, Rees and Ceant got the win. In their last outdoor event, the Columbus girls were fourth as a team at their home invite last week, getting a title in the 4×200 with Claire Humphreys, Kymila Bacon, Daniela Diaz and Jocelyn Hernandez.

The Ravens and Wildcats will be joined tonight by Wilton, Durant, Louisa-Muscatine, West Liberty and the home Indians and Arrows. Action starts at 4p.m. And continues into the evening at the Mac McGill Athletic Complex in Wapello.