Day two of the Iowa High School State Cross Country meet is here and plenty of area runners will be competing at Lake Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge.
In class 2A the Mid-Prairie girls are coming in as heavy favorites to capture their fourth straight team championship. Freshman Danielle Hostetler will look for her first individual title after placing first at districts last week in Williamsburg with a time of 18:47. Mitzi Evans, Ana Fleming, Jaden Yoder, and Sydney Yoder all return to Fort Dodge after being a part of the team last year while Abby Fleming and Phoebe Shetler are new additions. After a couple year hiatus, the Mid-Prairie boys are back as a team and will also challenge the leaderboards. Jamison Stutzman leads the way and the senior placed second at state qualifier in 16:46. Stutzman and Nathan Wallington bring back experience having qualified for state as individuals in 2019. The other Golden Hawks running include Lucas Bontrager, Thaddeus Shetler, Chandler Hershberger, Mose Yoder, Daniel Rodgers, and Sam Yoder. Head Coach Mark Hostetler tells KCII Sports his team just has to keep things simple. “What I have told them so far is this race is the same distance as all the other races. They have succeeded in all races and they can do it one more time in the most important race of the year. All they have to do is do what they are capable of and we can come out on top.”
In Class 1A the Columbus boys will be competing as a team for the first time since 2005 after cracking the top two last week in Ottumwa. Isaac Acosta has been the leader all year and placed eighth individually. Other Wildcats competing are Mason Hills-Carrier, Freddy Vergara, Damian Vergara, Alex Rivas, Tim Hills-Carrier, and Van Bawi.
Individuals participating include Sigourney’s Mason Moore and Hillcrest Academy’s Leah Bontrager. Both athletes will be running at state for the third time in their career.
The class 2A girls race will begin at 10:30 a.m. with the boys at 11 a.m. Class 1A girls will compete at 3:30 p.m. with boys at 4 p.m. Tune into KCII throughout the day for updates.