Tonight the cross country teams in the River Valley Conference converge on Monticello for the annual RVC conference meet.

The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks enter tonight’s action fresh off of a tough event Saturday at the North Linn Invitational, where between the boys and girls competition 17 of the 38 teams were ranked in their respective classes. The #4 in class 2A Mid-Prairie boys finished third at North Linn while the #9 ranked in class 2A Mid-Prairie girls finished in eighth place.

Tonight in Monticello the field is just as challenging with 13 combined ranked teams between the boys and girls sides of the competition. On the boys side the #4 Golden Hawks will be joined by #1 in class 2A Monticello, #2 and class 1A defending state champion Bellevue, #3 in class 2A Northeast Gooselake, #8 in class 1A Iowa City Regina, #15 in class 2A Cascade, #20 in class 2A Tipton, North Cedar, West Branch, Durant, Wilton, West Liberty, and Camanche. Individually on the boys side there are seven ranked runners including two Golden Hawks. Mid-Prairie’s Peyton Miller checks in at #17 in this weeks individual class 2A rankings while Ryan Errthum is in the #27 spot. Monticello will have the state’s #1 runner in class 2A on the course tonight with Matt Mantemach.

On the girls side of the event the #7 ranked Golden Hawks will be joined by #1 in class 2A Monticello, #3 in class 2A Cascade, #6 in class 1A Iowa City Regina, #15 in class 1A Bellevue, #17 in class 1A Durant, North Cedar, West Branch, Tipton, Wilton, West Liberty, Northeast Gooselake, and Camanche. Individually for the girls there are a dozen ranked runners who will be participating in tonight’s race including a pair from Mid-Prairie. In the latest class 2A poll Anna Hostetler is ranked #23 and her teammate Maddi Zahradnek is right behind her at #24. Monticello will have the state’s #1 runner in class 2A on the course tonight in the girls race as well in Paige Holub. Action at the RVC Conference meet begins tonight at 4:30 at Monticello High School.