The Heartland Classic on the campus of Central College in Pella Saturday served as the midwest’s cross country showcase over the weekend. With more than 1,700 competing athletes in a field of competition that included teams from five states with 63 runners in the top 30, four different No. 1 ranked runners in their respective class and states, five reigning state team champion squads and a pair of reigning state individual champions, the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk boys and girls looked to make their mark.

The Mid-Prairie girls finished fifth in the team standings of 33 scoring teams with 232 points, behind only champion Des Moines Roosevelt, followed by Pleasant Valley, Dowling Catholic and Nebraska power Papillion-LaVista. The Hawks were led by sensational sophomore Danielle Hostetler with her fourth place overall finish in 18:32. Other Golden Hawk runners included Sydney Yoder 31st, Jaden Yoder 49th, Phoebe Shetler 54th, Mitzi Evans 94th, Abby Fleming 118th and Annika Poll 161st.

On the boys side of the meet, the Golden Hawks were 34th with 914 points, breaking a tie with Gilbert based on their sixth place runner, Jayse Yoder’s 244th place finish of 19:38 topping Gilbert’s Isaac Ryan in the sixth spot who finished 254th. Millard West of Nebraska won the meet with a team score of 65. Thaddeus Shetler was the quickest around the course for the Mid-Prairie boys in 71st with a time of 17:02. Other Golden Hawks included Emmett Swartzentruber 190th, Chandler Hershberger 199th, Preston Yutzy 224th, Nathan Wallington 230th, and Robert Nagy 256th. After the meet, Mid-Prairie head coach Mark Hostetler talked about his highlights. “Fifth out of 33 for the girls and it’s a lot of ranked teams and runners. Good 4A schools, a lot of top teams in the state and surrounding states. It makes me think about where some of these girls were two years ago and how far they have come to compete this well at a meet like this. It’s really amazing. For the boys today, Emmett Swartzentruber ran well, Thaddeus Shetler ran faster than he did two weeks ago. We are looking for the boys to get healthy and run what they are capable of. It’s good to get them into a race like today with good runners.”

The Golden Hawk runners will next be on the course Monday, September 27th at the Kickers Complex in Iowa City for the Clear Creek Amana Invite.