Photo Courtesy of Mid-Prairie Social Media

The final step in the quests of the Mid-Prairie girls and boys cross country teams has arrived as the Hawks make the trip to the Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge and the 2021 state meet Saturday.

The Golden Hawk girls, who qualified for the sport’s biggest stage for the eighth straight year with their team championship at the Williamsburg qualifier, have their eye on the program’s fifth consecutive 2A team title. Mid-Prairie enters today’s state meet ranked No. 1 in class 2A in the final poll from the Iowa Association of Track Coaches. They have been the top ranked team in all 10 polls this year. If they can end the season with a championship, Mid-Prairie would become just the 11th school in Iowa to have won the top prize five times total in their history, joining Iowa City, City High, Cascade, Decorah, Tipton, Des Moines Dowling Catholic, Dubuque Wahlert, Iowa City West, Union LaPorte City, Unity Christian and Johnston. Mid-Prairie’s current streak of four consecutive titles is tied for the second longest in state history with Tipton who duplicated the feat from 2003 to 2006. A champioship in 2021, would tie the Golden Hawks with the all-time streak of five owned by the City High Little Hawks from 1989 to 1993 and Dowling Catholic from 2007 to 2011. Mid-Prairie girls runners Danielle Hostetler, Sydney Yoder, Jaden Yoder, Mitzi Evans, Phoebe Shetler and Abby Fleming spoke with KCII sports in the postseason lead-up to state about their focus on the ultimate goal. “I’m proud of what we have accomplished so far this season and we can celebrate that but we know these races aren’t the end goal and that there are bigger goals at the state meet. We’re hoping to get our fifth state championship and that’s probably our biggest goal right now. The seniors on the team are especially focused on that. It’s been so special to this point. We’re proud of what every single one of us has accomplished. We have all worked hard to get here. It’s exciting that we are going to state again together. We’re going to give it all we have for the last race. We’re going for a five-peat.”

Individual and family streaks are also on the line today in Fort Dodge. Golden Hawk sophomore Danielle Hostetler is trying to bring home back-to-back individual state championships after taking the 2020 title. One of the Hostetler sisters has won the individual title every year in class 2A since 2016, with Anna Hostetler winning gold that season and Marie Hostetler taking the crown in 2017, 18 and 19. Danielle Hostetler is primed for a repeat, entering today’s event ranked No. 1 in the final poll from the Iowa Association of Track Coaches. Five other Golden Hawks are also individually ranked with Sydney Yoder at No. 6, Jaden Yoder No. 9, Mitzi Evans No. 13, Phoebe Shetler No. 26 and Abby Fleming No. 29.

The Mid-Prairie boys are coming into today’s event ranked No. 4 in class 2A in the final poll from the IATC. The Hawks qualified for state with a runner-up finish at the Williamsburg qualifier. The Golden Hawks are trying to climb the team state championship mountain for the first time since 2016. Mid-Prairie has a pair of ranked runners in their lineup with Thaddeus Shetler No. 22 and Chandler Hershberger No. 23. Action gets underway Saturday afternoon in Fort Dodge and you can hear live updates at the top of every hour on AM and FM KCII and find full results online at KCIIradio.com.