The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk girls golf team is back on the course for the first time in over a week when they host their 18-hole invitational Thursday at the Kalona Golf Course. The Hawks are 9-3 this year after a third place finish at last week’s Williamsburg Raider Invitational where Olivia Swartzentruber led with a 90 to finish in fifth. This year, Mid-Prairie has a 183 team average on nine and 387 on 18, with Addison English best at 45 and Morgyn Bender and Olivia Swartzentruber sub-50 at 46 each on nine holes. Lilly Miller, Delani Blum and Paiton Chittick are at 53, 55 and 57 respectively. For 18 it’s Swartzentruber’s 90 on top, followed by Bender 91, English 98, Miller 108, Blum 115 and Chittick 121. This week, Golden Hawk head coach Tracy McArtor joined the KCII PM Sports Page and shared what stands out about his team’s recent play, “That 387 for us at Williamsburg this early in the year shows me what the girls have carried over from last year to this year. I look back at our scores last year from Regionals and State and that 387 number would put us right there. They have that competitive drive and they know how to fix things on the fly. Our Invitational has a good field with conference schools including Tipton, who beat us earlier this year and 3A schools like Williamsburg who we just tied at their home meet last time. You want the kids to play in these tournaments where they have to bear down a little bit, play against good competition to prepare themselves for what’s coming up down the road.”

The Golden Hawks are joined today by Durant, Fairfield, Keokuk, Iowa City Regina, Tipton, West Branch, West Liberty, Williamsburg and Wilton. Action starts at 12:30 this afternoon and continues into the evening at the Kalona Golf Course.