How they’re doing: A periodic look at former Gazette-area preps

l Iowa colleges - Dubuque football player Blaine Snitker of Waukon has been tabbed a finalist for the Cliff Harris Award, given to the nation's top small-college defensive player. He also was named the Iowa Conference Defensive MVP. The winner of the Harris Award will be announced Dec. 24 ... Tanner Rathje of Marion (Linn-Mar) earned his second varsity letter as a member of the Central men's cross country team ... Wartburg corner back Logan Pitz of Farley was named to the d3football.com all region team ... Caitlin Novak of Marion (Linn-Mar) earned her first letter as a member of the Central women's cross country team ... Parker Hesse of Waukon, Josey Jewell of Decorah and Matt Nelson of Cedar Rapids (Xavier) earned all-Big Ten academic honors as members of the Iowa football team ,,, Dustin Smith of Marion (Linn-Mar) is one of four Central football players who competed in the Bowl of Stars in Baja, Mexico, on Saturday ... Aroni Niyakiza of Cedar Rapids (Washington), Nick Kuntz of Coralville (I.C. West), Jeremy Dolder of Iowa City (West) and E.J. Schroder of North Liberty (I.C. West) all earned varsity letters as members of the Central men's soccer team. Dolder also won the 'most inspirational” award and was team co-captain ... Loras football player Nathan Even of Cedar Rapids (Xavier) played in the National Bowl earlier this month, a senior bowl for non-FBS players ... Earning Big Ten all-academic honors from the University of Iowa were Tory Harman of Cedar Rapids (Kennedy) in women's soccer, Alli O'Deen of Iowa City (West) in volleyball and Courtney Bruns of West Branch in women's cross country ... Conner Herman of Cedar Rapids (Jefferson) is a member of the Luther wrestling team ... Central College wrestlers include Mitchell Knock of Atkins (Benton Community), Jamie Day of Ely (C.R. Prairie), Nathan Fritz of Sigourney and Jay Pike of Solon.

l Minnesota colleges - Shanay Gonder of Cedar Rapids (Washington) earned first-team all-Upper Midwest Athletic Conference honors as a member of the University of Northwestern volleyball team.

l Nebraska colleges - Taylor Mueller of Cedar Rapids (Jefferson) was named a Daktronics-NAIA scholar-athlete as a member of the Concordia University men's cross country team.