We continue our review of the last decade for Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk athletics with a look at the 2017-18 school year.

The Mid-Prairie boys and girls track teams put together two of the best seasons in program history, including sending a combined 18 events to the state meet. The Mid-Prairie girls won their state qualifier meet team title, bringing home six event championships. For their encore, the Mid-Prairie girls won the first state championship in program history. At Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Mid-Prairie posted 60 team points. Mid-Prairie sent seven events to the state  and won four event championships. Anna Hostetler took quadruple gold, winning the 800, 1500 and 3000 individually and was a member of the state champion distance medley team along with Amber Swart, Cassidy Rourke and Marie Hostetler. Other finishes included Marie Hostetler second in the 1500 and third in the 800 and 3000. The Mid-Prairie sprint medley team of Kessa Jones, Rourke, Swart and Kitty Conway were seventh, the Mid-Prairie 4×800 team of Kate Cavanagh, Jones, Moriah Brase and Ana Fleming were seventh, and Jones was 24th in the 400 hurdles.

The Mid-Prairie boys sent an impressive 11 events to the blue oval following their qualifier meet championship performance at Eddyville-Blakesburg. Once in the state capital, the Golden Hawks finished as 2A runners-up with their score of 44 points. The Golden Hawks crowned one state champion with Floyd Evans winning the 3200. Other events included runners-up for the 4×800 with Zach Pettit, Marshal Teets, Quinn Schmidt and Cary Schaefer, the 4×400 team of Grant Boyse, Schmidt, Schaefer and Peyton Miller, and Floyd Evans in the 1600. Zach Pettit was eighth in the same event. The distance medley team of Elmir Ganibegovic, Terrhyn Jacoby, Boyse and Evans went fourth, Miller was fifth in the 400 hurdles, Cary Schaefer 11th and Marshal Teets 15th in the 800, Kyle Miller 11th in the high jump, Jacoby 13th in the 100, Schaefer 14th and Schmidt 21st in the 400 and the 20th for the sprint medley team of Boyse, Jacoby, Aidan Rath and Miller.

The Mid-Prairie boys and girls cross country teams continued their strong tradition. The Mid-Prairie girls made history, bringing home their first ever team River Valley Conference championship at the RVC meet in Iowa City. The Hawks won with a score of 31 points. Marie Hostetler was the individual River Valley Conference champion in a time of 18:29. Sister Anna Hostetler was RVC runner-up. Other Golden Hawk finishers included Ana Fleming fourth, Abbagail Evans 10th, Kate Cavanagh 21st, Kessa Jones 27th, Kyleigh Graham 53rd, Sarah Meader 62nd, Sophia Norman 63rd, Shelby Zahradnek 81st, Kitty Conway 87th, Jill Owen 88th and Zebi Kimani 110th. The Golden Hawk girls then won their third consecutive state qualifier meet with a score of 25 points. Anna Hostetler was meet champion in 18:42. Other finishers included Marie Hostetler second, Ana Fleming third, Moriah Brase ninth, Abbagail Evans 10th and Kate Cavanagh 13th. At the state meet in Fort Dodge, the Golden Hawks won their first team state title in program history. The historic Hawks won the championship with a score of 65 points. Marie Hostetler won her first individual state title, running the fastest time ever recorded at the state meet in any class at 17:51. Other finishers included Anna Hostetler as state runner-up, Ana Fleming 10th, Moriah Brase 37th, Kate Cavanagh 38th Abbagail Evans 45th and Kessa Jones 55th. Mid-Prairie’s Anna Hostetler was also named Gatorade’s Female Runner of the Year in the spring of 2017.

The Mid-Prairie boys were also state qualifier meet champions for the third straight year with their score of 23 points. Floyd Evans won the meet title in a time of 17:02. Other finishers included Peyton Miller third, Zach Pettit fifth, Quinn Schmidt sixth and Marshal Teets eighth. At state in Fort Dodge, the Golden Hawks just missed a repeat state title, finishing as runners-up in 2A with their score of 93 points. Peyton Miller was the top finisher, taking ninth in 16:46. Other Mid-Prairie runners included Floyd Evans 10th, Zach Pettit 18th, Quinn Schmidt 39th, Marshal Teets 49th, Miles Burrows 69th and Cary Schaefer 101st.

The Mid-Prairie girls golf team had a solid spring in 2018. The Golden Hawk girls won their first conference title since 2013, beating the rest of the RVC at Blue Top Ridge in Riverside. Mid-Prairie shot a 410, beating Wilton by six. Paige Slabaugh led Mid-Prairie finishing as individual conference runner-up with a score of 94. Other scores included Georgia Nisly 100, Kendra Schaefer 106, Abbi Patterson 110, Abby Statler 112 and Emma Mattes 114. Slabaugh would go on to advance to state at Lake Panorama as an individual. She advanced through the regional final round of the playoffs by firing an 84 at Oskaloosa, good for third place overall.

The Mid-Prairie girls basketball team finished over the .500 mark with a 12-10 overall record. The Hawks were an even 9-9 in the RVC. Mid-Prairie was led by senior Addie Rath who became the fourth player in Mid-Prairie girls basketball history to reach the 1,000 point club with a 22 point night against Wilton in January of 2018. She finished third on the all-time list with 1,096 in her career.

Thursday will feature the 2018-19 academic year for athletics at Mid-Prairie in our decade in review.