The most important date on the high school track calendar has arrived, tonight is the state qualifier track meet.

For the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks they travel to Eddyville-Blakesburg. The top two place winners in each event will automatically move on to the Blue Oval in Des Moines and the state meet, while other participants will have to wait and see if they are performance qualifiers. On the boys side the Hawks have a pair of events that enter action seeded in the top two as automatic qualifier favorites including the 4×800 relay which is seeded first at the site with the team of Quinn Schmidt, Brad Tornow, Miles Burrows and Justin Schwartz running 8:30.91 this year. Thaddeus Shetler is seeded second in the two mile with his time of 10:33.71.

On the girls side of the meet the Golden Hawks have a whopping 10 events seeded in the top two including No. 1 seed Marie Hostetler in the 800, 1500 and 3000 with her times of 2:21.11, 4:38.14 and 9:55.26 respectively. The Golden Hawk 4×100 team of Amber Swart, Mitzi Evans, Maddie Edgington and Abbagail Evans is the top seed with a time of 51.13. The Golden Hawk 4×400 is also the favorite with the team of Mitzi Evans, Angelina Evans, Abbagail Evans and Marie Hostetler posting a time of 4:13.59 this season. In the sprint medley the Hawks also have the best time with the team of Maddie Edgington, Abbagail Evans, Mitzi Evans and Amber Swart finishing in 1:52.50. The Mid-Prairie distance medley is also best coming into action with a time of 4:17.30 for the team of Abbagail Evans, Cassidy Rourke, Amber Swart and Marie Hostetler. Amber Swart in the 400, Mitzi Evans in the 800, Troi Boyse in the discus, and the Mid-Prairie 4×800 team all enter as the two seed. Mid-Prairie head girls track coach Chris Tyler previewed the meet with KCII Sports on last week’s Coaches Corner program. “It’s a good mix of teams there. There are teams with some quality individuals that will give us a run for our money and then teams with complete solid lineups like Williamsburg that will be a challenge.”

Joining the Golden hawks at tonight’s meet are Albia, Central Lee, Chariton, Danville, Davis County, Eddyville-Blakesburg, Mediapolis, Prairie City Monroe, Pella Christian, Van Buren, and Williamsburg.