Catching up with former area athletes

A periodic look at former Gazette-area high school athletes and where they are now:

l Iowa colleges - Mount Mercy junior second baseman Mallory Madsen of Coralville (Solon) earned second-team all-Heart of America Athletic Conference honors in softball after leading the Mustangs with a .373 batting average ... Central sprinter Hope Heitman of Guttenberg (Clayton Ridge) earned all-Central Region honors by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. She ran the 200- and 400-meter dashes, qualifying for the NCAA III Championships in the 400 ... Cornell first baseman Walter Breard of Washington (Iowa) earned second-team all-Central Region honors from D3baseball.com and was joined on the team by Wartburg pitcher Taylor Gilson of Oelwein. Gilson also was the Iowa Conference pitcher of the year ... Coe pitcher Alyssa Olson of Cedar Rapids (Jefferson) earned second-team all-Iowa Conference honors in softball along with teammates Mallory McArtor of Riverside (Mid-Prairie) and Maliah Fligg of Tiffin (Clear Creek Amana), and Loras' Dani Stromert of Cedar Rapids (Jefferson) ... Coe outfielder Kevin DeLaney of Coralville (I.C. West) earned first-team all-Iowa Conference honors in baseball, along with Luther utility player Cody Reimer of Peosta (Western Dubuque) ... Coe's Hunter Livermore of Atkins (Benton Community) earned all-Iowa Conference honors in men's golf ... Coe's Brady Anderson of Cedar Rapids (Linn-Mar) was the Iowa Conference men's tennis MVP and was joined on the first team by Luther's Kyle Appel and Trent Schneider of Coralville (I.C. West) and Wartburg's Brandon Hornback of Cedar Rapids (Marion) ... Mount Mercy freshman Allyson Wertz of Kalona (Mid-Prairie) placed 14th at the Heart of America Athletic Conference women's golf tournament ...

l Illinois colleges - Isaac Smith of Marion earned all-district academic honors as a member of the Augustana men's track and field team. A seven-time all-American and national champion in 2015 (1,600 relay), he graduated with a 3.45 GPA in chemistry. He competed in this weekend's NCAA III championships in the 400 dash.

l Minnesota colleges - Amber Kral of Wellman (Mid-Prairie) and Alyssa Rickels of Solon are members of the Minnesota State-Mankato softball team, which earned a berth and No. 2 seed in the NCAA II national championships. Both started all 66 games. Kral has a .447 batting average with a team-high 13 home runs. Rickels batted .330 with 18 RBIs ... Amber Fiser of Van Horne was a freshman on the Minnesota softball team that went 56-5 (21-1 in the Big Ten) and earned an NCAA tournament berth. She posted a 14-0 record with a 1.68 ERA, striking out 83 in 87.2 innings.

l Nebraska colleges - Taylor Mueller of Cedar Rapids (Jefferson) earned all-Great Plains Athletic Conference honors as a member of the Concordia track and field team. Mueller ran the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

l West Virginia colleges - Ema Rickels of Solon is a senior on the West Virginia Wesleyan softball team that advanced to the NCAA II national championships