It was as easy as 1-2-3 Thursday night in Tipton for the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk girls track and field team, as they brought home the championship banner from the Class 2A State Qualifier meet for the third year in a row. The Golden Hawk girls were winners with 181 points, beating the home Tiger’s total of 117. All event winners and runners-up qualify for next week’s 2A State meet in Des Moines. The Hawks crowned 10 event champions on the night. Danielle Hostetler went triple individual gold, beating the field in the 800 in 2:22.11, the 1500 in 4:55.32 and the 3000 in 11:06.80. Tabitha Evans won the 200 in 26.03. Greta Sieren was the 400 champ in 1:01.84. Ella Groenewold took the high jump contest clearing 5’1″. In relays, the 4×100 team of Madeline Schrader, Amara Jones, Jovi and Tabitha Evans were winners in 50.36 seconds. That group later captured the 4×2 in 1:46.00. The sprint medley of Schrader, Naveah Decker, Evans and Evans outraced the field in 1:51.64 and the distance medley of Schrader, Jones, Jovi Evans and Hostetler won in 4:18.69. Auto-qualifiers as runners-up included Abby Fleming in the 1500 and 3000, Emma Lueck in long jump, the 4×800 with Annika Poll, Rebekah Wallington, Kali Miller and Sieren and the shuttle hurdle with Jones, Olivia Schlabach, Behla Schmidt and Sophie Miller. After the meet Schrader, Jones, Jovi Evans and Hostetler, who combined to be a part of eight state qualifying events joined KCII Sports to talk about the night, how it feels to qualify, and the goals still ahead for the team. Schrader said, “It feels amazing! It’s definitely a relief. Especially being a senior and having one last time to run at state. We’re looking forward to state!”

Jones said, “It just gets me more excited for state and I’m ready to go right now. Our biggest goal is to win, but I think if we all perform well in the relays that we’re in, that will make us all happy, regardless of the outcome of the team scores.”

Evans added, “It also makes me super excited. I’m just so happy that I get the opportunity to run with these girls.”

Hostetler said, “It feels amazing but we also know that we have a job to do next weekend.”

The Mid-Prairie boys were fifth of 13 schools with 65 points. Mediapolis won the title with 110. The Hawks have five events that automatically qualified for Des Moines with Jayden Stafford quadrupling up. He will compete in the wheelchair 100, 200, 400 and 800s after his times of 18.56 seconds, 34.31 seconds, 1:06.55 and 2:23.14 respectively Thursday night. Emmett Swartzentruber is also headed to state after his two-mile title in 10:27.71. Other highlights included Jayse Yoder third in the mile and Landon Sullivan third in long jump.

The final state meet field will be announced Friday when the top eight performances from around 2A Thursday are added to the list of champions and runners-up. The 2023 State Track and Field Meet begins Thursday at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.