The Mid-Prairie boys and girls golf teams begin 2022 Monday with River Valley Conference duals against rival Iowa City Regina. The Golden Hawk boys finished last season in seventh at the 3A sectional meet after moving up a class with Golden Hawk Dominic McCain qualifying as an individual for districts with a 79. At districts, McCain fired a 76 to advance to state where he finished 11^th in Marshalltown with a 161. As a team a season ago, Mid-Prairie had a 198 nine-hole average. They finished seventh at the RVC championship meet. They return five of their top six golfers from last season led by Warren Scarff and Aiden Bush who averaged 53s per nine holes as sophomores and Drew Schlabaugh with a 55 average as a freshman. Other Golden Hawks who return are Ben Mattes, Ian Schmidt, Collin Miller and Lukin Rediger. . Regina returns their top five from a year ago, on a team who shot 207 per nine holes. They are led by Mikey Takacs, back after a sophomore season that saw him average 45 per nine holes. They were fifth at the RVC Championship meet. The Golden Hawks won the head-to-head dual with the Regals 222-228 in Kalona last March.

The Mid-Prairie girls program had a youth movement last season and grew up in a big way by the end of the year. Mid-Prairie’s roster featured one junior, one sophomore and five freshmen a year ago. The Hawks finished the season third in the regional finals with a 442 at West Liberty, led by Gabi Robertson with an 18-hole PR of 106. Mid-Prairie shot 456 at Heritage Oaks at Mediapolis in the regional opener. Mid-Prairie was seventh at the RVC Championship meet in Muscatine. All of the Hawks are back this year with Madelyn Bender’s nine hole average of 59 best from last season as a junior. Madi Davidson and Alexa Huber both return with their 60 averages per nine holes. Other Golden Hawk golfers back for 2022 include Robertson, Elliot Debler, Claire Zirkelbach and Madison Witthoft. Regina brings back their entire team as well, led by sophomore Leah Zimmerman who carded a 59 average as a sophomore. The Hawks beat the Regals head-to-head last year 252-271.

Action gets underway in both meets at 4p.m. This afternoon and continues into the evening with the Golden Hawk boys at Brown Deer Golf Course in Iowa City, the Golden Hawk girls host Regina at the Kalona Golf Course.