Photo Courtesy of Chris Tyler
The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk boys and girls track teams left Eddyville-Blakesburg’s state qualifier meet as champions Thursday. The Golden Hawk girls won the team championship with a score of 177, beating second place Williamsburg with 143. Mid-Prairie was dominant, automatically qualifying athletes in 13 different events, multiple qualifiers in three different events and winning six event titles. One-two finishes on the night for Mid-Prairie included the 800 with Danielle Hostetler the champ in 2:21.85 and Mitzi Evans second, the 1500 with Hostetler the champ in 4:58.96 and Sydney Yoder second and the 3000 with Hostetler taking her third gold in 11:18.75 and Yoder again second. Other titles included Mitzi Evans winning the 400 in 59.31, the sprint medley team of Maddie Edgington, Alyssa McDowell, Amber Swart and Mitzi Evans in 1:49.78 and the distance medley of Edgington, Tabitha Evans, Swart and Hostetler in 4:20.85. Other automatic state qualifiers for the Hawks included Tori Boyse second in the shot put and discus, Ella Groenewold second in the high jump, Mitzi Evans second in the 200 and second for the 4×100 and 200 team of Edgington, Amara Jones, McDowell and Swart. After the meet, senior sprinters Edgington and Swart talked about qualifying in the sprint medley. “I think our hand offs were really strong today. We have been struggling with those. We finished strong, got it to Mitzi Evans and ended up winning. It didn’t hit me until just now after the meet that we are sending three relays to state. That’s crazy! We had a great moment!”
The Mid-Prairie boys won the meet championship with 111 points, Davis County was second with 99. The Golden Hawks automatically qualified for state in eight different events with a pair of championships. Cain Brown won the title in the high jump, clearing 6’6″, tying the Mid-Prairie school record, held by his dad. He spoke after the meet about the event. “My focus is on how to get my curve and hold it the whole way until I jump. Try to clear my head and get over the bar. When I’m going over the bar there is a split second where I feel myself not touching it and you get excited. You just hope you can pull your feet up and over. When I hit the mat and knew I was over and didn’t touch it, I was excited and ready to celebrate with my teammates.”
The Mid-Prairie 4×200 team of Clarke Latchem, Will Cavanagh, Caleb Thomas and Brown were also champions in 1:34.27. Other Mid-Prairie qualifying events that took second place included Jamie Stutzman in the 800, Josh Wallington in the shot put, the 4×100 team of Nathan Quinby, Cavanagh, Latchem and Brown, the 4×800 team of Chandler Hershberger, Thaddeus Shetler, Ben Meader and Stutzman, the distance medley team of Quinby, Carter Harmsen, Cavanagh and Shetler and the shuttle hurdle team of Latchem, Luke Albright, Kaden Meader and Brown.
Even with this impressive list of 21 events headed to Drake Stadium in Des Moines, that number could grow as the performance lists are compiled for class 2A across the state on Friday.