KCII area teams had a big night at the class 2A state qualifying cross country meet at Cedarcrest Golf Course in Columbus Junction.

. In the boys race it was the No.4 ranked Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks that took home the team title with their score of 26 points, beating No. 8 ranked and second place Williamsburg by 45 points. That team finish qualifies the entire Golden Hawk squad for the state meet on Halloween in Fort Dodge. Top individual finisher for the Hawks was Luke Sigler in second with a time of 16:52. Other Mid-Prairie finishers included Peyton Miller third, Floyd Evans fifth, Andrew Schwartz seventh, Ryan Errthum ninth, Brent Foster 17th and Marshal Teets 22nd.

The Columbus Wildcat boys cross country team will also be represented at state. Josh Keller took home the state qualifying individual championship with his time of 16:50, giving him a half dozen wins on the season. In the initial order of runners crossing the finish line, Keller was second, and all runners were one place lower but were moved up following a disqualification of the initial state qualifying meet champion Zach Hougland of Davis County. Hougland finished the race first but then returned to the course to help a Mediapolis runner who had collapsed, disqualifying himself and the runner from MEPO. As a team the Columbus boys finished in fifth, just outside of a top three qualifying spot with their score of 163 points. Aside from Keller’s finish the Wildcats had Adrian Santos in 34th, Marc Estrada 40th, Armando Quiroz 44th, J.D. Lekwa 47th Diego Sanchez 49th and Erick Cantarero 70th.

On the girls side of the event, Mid-Prairie took home the team championship in a tight race. The No. 10 Golden Hawks bested second place Williamsburg by a 54-59 score. The boys and girls championships on Thursday night mark the first time in the history of Mid-Prairie cross country that the Golden Hawks have swept the championships on both sides of a state qualifying meet. On the night the Golden Hawk girls were led by Anna Hostetler with her fourth place finish in 20:03. Other Mid-Prairie finishers included Maddi Zahradnek sixth, Hannah Van Roekel 12th, Greta Schmidt 14th, Kessa Jones 20th, Abby Tornow 31st and Kate Cavanagh 32nd.

The Columbus Wildcats did not have enough individual girls runners to post a team score. Columbus was led in the girls race by  Ashley Canny in 34th with a time of 22:53. Other Wildcat runners included Jenessa Carpenter in 47th, Grace Chapman 52nd, and Andrea Rodriguez in 65th. Josh Keller of Columbus and the Mid-Prairie boys and girls cross country teams will next run in the state cross country meet at Fort Dodge on October 31st. For more pictures from Thursday night’s meet visit KCII’s Facebook Page.