The No. 2 story in our top 10 countdown for Mid-Prairie athletics last year catches up with Golden Hawk cross country. The tradition of excellence continued , en route to a pair of state meet appearances, more hardware, and an individual championship three-peat.

Both the Golden Hawk boys and girls teams found themselves in the Class 2A state preseason rankings from the Iowa Association of Track Coaches, the girls at No. 3 and the boys at No. 11. They would stay there all season, with the girls rising to No. 2 the second week and remaining there for the final seven weeks. The boys would climb as high as eighth, in week two and three.

Meet success found the Golden Hawk girls during the year in the form of two team championships. The Hawks took the top spot at Central College early in the season with a team score of 20, led by an individual title from Danielle Hostetler. Mid-Prairie was again the best when it mattered most, winning the state qualifier championship in Pella with a team score of 49, led by three time state meet qualifier champion Hostetler, to punch the team ticket to Fort Dodge. Along with those two individual titles for Hostetler in the regular season, she also was the winner at Monticello and took home her third consecutive River Valley Conference title with the Hawks finishing as RVC runners-up as a team.

The Golden Hawk boys were also team champions at Central College, with a score of 34, paced by a runner-up performance from Emmett Swartzentruber. Mid-Prairie was fourth at Iowa City West and Monticello, before going into their 2A state qualifier at Pella. Mid-Prairie faced a tough field, and adversity as they had a teammate unable to finish the race, needing medical attention on the course. In the end, the Hawks got the job done to earn the team state bid, placing third with 81 points. Swartzentruber had the top finish in the field for Mid-Prairie taking sixth.

At state, the Golden Hawk girls had their streak of five consecutive 2A team titles on the line, trying to set an all-time record, with Hostetler looking for an individual three-peat and to keep the family string of six championships intact. The Hawks would finish fifth as a team with 157 points. The Hostetler streaks did continue with Danielle winning her third 2A title, pushing the sister’s string to seven straight. The Golden Hawk boys were 13th in the field with 279 points, led by Swartzentruber’s 20th place finish.

Mid-Prairie senior Blake Creed would compete later in the fall in the Senior All-Star Meet in Pella.

Golden Hawk head coach Mark Hostetler was named Class 2A Girls At-Large Coach of the Year by the Iowa Association of Track Coaches. It was the fifth time he has been named as a Coach of the Year.

Tomorrow, our Golden Hawk countdown concludes with the top story from Mid-Prairie sports last year as we go to the oval.