The #9 Mid-Prairie girls golf team earned a berth at the state tournament Tuesday night at the Kalona Golf Club. The Golden Hawks hosted Williamsburg, Nevada and South Hardin in the regional final. The Nevada Cubs were the regional final champion with a team score of 349, leaving the last qualifying spot up for grabs between Williamsburg and Mid-Prairie in what was a tight team race throughout the 18 hole event. At the nine hole turn Mid-Prairie had an 11 shot advantage on the Raiders but Williamsburg put together a back nine charge and brought some heat on the Golden Hawks.

The Raiders would get within two shots of Mid-Prairie for the final state spot but no closer as the Hawks hung on to edge Williamsburg 373-375. Following the meet Head Coach Tracy McArtor talked about the tense moments during the back nine and the scene on the course after the Golden Hawks had clinched.

“The lead that we had after the turn, I knew it was going to be close. Knowing how Williamsburg was playing, we were going to have to hold our own going into the back nine, and kids that had a couple of bad holes were going to have to improve a little bit, and the kids that played well were going to have to maintain, I went out and talked to them and just said, ‘Hey, save a couple of shots here or there, we’ve been through this before. We’ll pull this out one way or another,” and up until that last score came in we just didn’t know. The girls were trying to add up scores as they went along.” McArtor said. “They were ready to go jump in the pond. We made a bet that if we pull this out and make it to Ames, that we would go take a dip in the pond afterwards, so with all that was going on with trying to get everything settled, they were chomping at the bit to get a few pictures taken and then it was drag the coach out of the club house and go down to the water. The kids deserve it, they’ve been playing hard all year, they’ve been doing exactly what they’ve needed to all year and to pull that out, good for them, I’m really proud of all of them.”

Mid-Prairie was led individually by Allyson Wertz and her 92. Other scores for the Golden Hawks included Syndey Scarff’s 93, Mick Van Winkle and Courtney Cayton at 94, Laura Yoder at 101 and Olivia Nisley at 133. With the second place finish Mid-Prairie qualifies for the state golf meet to be played at the Ames Golf and Country Club beginning Monday at 9AM.