The tradition of excellence continued Saturday at Kennedy Park in Fort Dodge at the Class 2A State Cross Country Championships for the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks. The Golden Hawk girls won the program’s sixth team state championship and the boys finished as team runner’s up in 2A.

The girls did it with a strong finish, finding themselves in third place overall entering the final mile. The Hawk’s winning score was 84, ahead of second place Unity Christian’s 92. Mid-Prairie finishers included Brooklyn Stutzman eighth in 19:20, Rachel Hostetler 14th, Kendal Landstrum 15th, Tessa Brokaw 29th, Dessa Poll 73rd, Hannah Rodgers 77th and Rebekah Wallington 97th. The Golden Hawks talked with KCII Sports after the race about the final half mile, their reaction when they found out they were champions and what it means to them.

Brokaw said, “I just wanted to be done and finish strong. It feels like all the work we have been putting into it paid off.”

Poll continued, “The end is always the hardest, that’s where everyone wants it the most so you have to go for it! This is pure joy!”

Rodgers said, “Mark (Hostetler) had said (in the last 800) that we had to catch five people. I’m going down to the finish and I’m thinking ‘I dont think I passed five people’ so I started booking it so I could pass the other people.”

Hostetler added, “It’s a mental battle but you have to remember that it’s going to be over soon and you have to do your very best.”

Stutzman and Landstrum said, “We hugged and we cried and it was really awesome. We were like ‘no way!’ so we started screaming ‘we got first! we got first!’ there was lots of good happy crying.”

The Mid-Prairie boys were second as a team with 128 points, behind Oelwein’s 113. Individual Golden Hawk performances included Emmett Swartzentruber fourth in 15:56, Preston Yutzy 14th, Jayse Yoder 21st, Max Swartzentruber 68th, Luke Brokaw 75th, Thomas Flynn 93rd and Jesse Stultz 118th. The Hawks spoke with KCII Sports after the race about their performance.

Swartzentruber started, “We ran the second mile really well and the third mile too. Today was by far the most gutsy finish I have ever been a part of. Raw energy. When you come around the last corner and see the finish line and all the fans, you can’t help but go faster. I wouldn’t want our career to end any other way.”

Yutzy continued, “I’m just proud of how we all competed. We were all fighting for it. (In the last 800) you’re dying. You rely on your guts, heart and God. This means more than any of us can ever say. This isn’t just teammates, this is brothers.”

Flynn said, “We were pacing the first mile and then once we get to the second mile we had to drop the hammer and we all did a good job of taking off.”

Yoder added, “It’s amazing (during the awards ceremony) seeing all of our fans, family and teammates cheering us on. It’s a lot of adrenaline and awesome times.”

This is the second time in Mid-Prairie history the teams have finished first or second in 2A in the same year with the girl’s winning their first State title in 2017, while the boys were second, after winning it the previous year in 2016. This is the sixth team title in the last eight seasons for the Golden Hawk girls. The Mid-Prairie boys and girls cross country teams will say goodbye to seniors Dessa Poll, Ivy Reschly, Thomas Flynn, Adrian Sanchez, Emmett Swartzentruber, Jayse Yoder and Preston Yutzy. You can hear full interviews with Mid-Prairie’s boys and girls cross country teams on this week’s edition of the KCII PM Sports Page and find full State results free on our website at KCIIradio.com.