Photo Courtesy of Lynnette Poll/Dain Jeppson
If it was gold in Williamsburg, it came back to Mid-Prairie High School with the Golden Hawk cross country team Tuesday. Mid-Prairie swept all team and individual championships from the Raider Invitational. The No. 3 in Class 2A Golden Hawk boys raced past the competition with a team score of 38, beating second place Grinnell’s 65. The Hawks put four in the top 10, led by individual champion Emmett Swartzentruber with his scorching time of 16:56. Other finishers included Preston Yutzy third, Jayse Yoder sixth, Max Swartzentruber 10th, Luke Brokaw 21st, Jesse Stultz 27th, and Thomas Flynn 28th.
The No. 9 in Class 2A Golden Hawk girls were team champions with their score of 32, beating the home Raiders total of 54. The Hawks put three runners in the top five, led by individual champ Brooklyn Stutzman with her blistering time of 19:52, beating the field by 20 seconds. Other finishers included Rachel Hostetler third, Kendal Landstrum fourth, Dessa Poll 11th, Rebekah Wallington 13th, Hannah Rodgers 17th, and Kyrie Poll 31st. Head coach Mark Hostetler joined the KCII PM Sports Page this week to talk about the tremendous success his team enjoyed in their season opener.
Hostetler said, “It was a great start for us. If you look at the times from last year, we were supposed to lose to Grinnell and we almost doubled their score. I knew our guys were well prepared. Emmett Swartzentruber ran well to win. Luke Brokaw moved up really well. Jayse Yoder is healthy this year and did really well. Our five and six guys did a better job staying up with Max Swartzentruber our number four runner. (For the girls), Brooklyn Stutzman is just a sophomore and she took over at the mile point and never looked back. She finished under 20 which is great for the first meet of the year. Rachel Hostetler had a great first two miles, slowed a little bit on the third, but hung on and Kendal Landstrum was a little slower on her second, but finished hard on her third. With the competition that was there, for them to finish three in the top four was outstanding!”
Mid-Prairie will next be on the course September 14th at Monticello.