The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk Cross Country teams make the trip to Williamsburg to open the 2015 season tonight. This meet has become the traditional season opener for the Golden Hawks. Mid-Prairie has made Williamsburg their opener each year because of the quality competition at the meet, the quality of the course and the short travel distance. Mid-Prairie is looking to repeat what was a successful 2014 season that saw the entire girls squad qualify for the state meet led by Anna Hostetler who finished sixth in Fort Dodge. Mid-Prairie boys cross country had one individual qualifier for state, Jared Draper, who has moved on through graduation.

It is the first time on the course for official competition on the year and Mid-Prairie Head Coach Mark Hostetler has a specific set of criteria he is looking for from his runners, aside from the results.

“Learning how to run the race, a lot of kids will take off too fast in the first mile. Mentally not finishing hard, they need to run fairly even paced. We are also looking to see who needs to work on their form because sometimes it’s a little different than practice when they get nervous.”

Other teams that are participating in the Williamsburg meet include Sigourney, Belle Plaine, Clear Creek Amana, HLV, Vinton-Shellsburg, Springville, Benton Community, Oskaloosa and Marion. Action begins this afternoon at 4:30 at the Williamsburg Recreation Center.