We continue our review of the last decade for Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk athletics with a look at the 2012-13 school year.

The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk softball team qualified for the state tournament in Fort Dodge for the third consecutive season. The Hawks captured an outright Cedar Valley Conference championship in the regular season and were ranked as high as No. 2 in class 3A. They punched their ticket to state with a win over Davenport Assumption at Wilton by a 5-1 score. Mid-Prairie was upset in the state quarterfinals by New Hampton 4-3 and would finish in fifth place by beating East Marshall 8-3 and Estherville Lincoln Central 6-2. Mid-Prairie hit .317 as a team, led by Felicia Schulty and her .412 average. The Hawks had a 1.94 team ERA, sixth best in Iowa, led by Olivia Lugar and Taylor Kurtz.

The Mid-Prairie girls basketball team made their way to the state tournament in Des Moines for the first time since 2004. The Golden Hawks spent most of the season ranked in the top 10, finishing with an 18-7 overall record. Mid-Prairie beat Williamsburg 36-32 in the regional final at Cedar Rapids Prairie to advance. They were beaten in the state quarterfinals by No. 2 MOC Floyd Valley 51-30. That year’s edition of the Golden Hawks was led by Mariah Swartzentruber with 254 points, seventh most in the CVC, her 155 rebounds were fourth most. Meghan Redlinger led the CVC with 92 assists and 95 steals. That takeaway total was fifth most in class 3A. Mid-Prairie had eight seniors on that team including Mariah Swartzentruber, Mallory McArtor, Erika Murphy, Jess Butters, Meghan and Kattie Redlinger, Olivia Lugar and Spenser Becker.

The Mid-Prairie boys and girls track teams combined to send 11 events to the state meet in Des Moines. The six events for the Golden Hawk girls included a runner-up finish for the 4×100 team of Lexi Duwa, Meghan and Kattie Redlinger and Faithe Garza, seventh for the same group in the 4×200.Sixth for the 4×800 team of Tayler Foster, Arissa Marine, Jess Butters and Mallory McArtor, eighth for the distance medley team of Duwa, Courtney Shalla, Butters and McArtor, 14th for McArtor in the 800 and 18th for the sprint medley team of Duwa, Shalla, Meghan Redlinger and McArtor.

For the Mid-Prairie boys Ryan Hoffman was fourth in the 100 and 400 and fifth in the 200. The 4×800 team of Jared Draper, Ty Feigenspan, Zeb Schwartz and Jake O’Donnell was 15th while the distance medley team of Collin Weber, Jacob Adrian, Hoffman and Draper were 23rd.

The Golden Hawk cross country programs continued their success in Fort Dodge at state. The Mid-Prairie boys qualified for state as a team, finishing 12th in class 2A. They were led by Jared Draper in 42nd with a time of 17:26. Other finishers included Ryan Errthum 44th, Ty Feigenspan 57th, Jake O’Donnell 59th, Evan Wild 74th, Zeb Schwartz 87th and Wyatt Cady 90th. Mallory McArtor was an individual qualifier on the girls side taking 20th in 15:47.

The Mid-Prairie wrestling team broke through by sending a pair of competitors to state, who happened to be brothers. Golden Hawks Nearoth and Phirom Peterschmidt made their first career trips to Des Moines together for the 2A tournament. Both advanced to state as district runners-up. Senior Nearoth Peterschmidt finished in eighth place at 195lbs, going 2-3 during his run in Des Moines. Junior Phirom Peterschmidt was seventh at 182lbs with a 3-2 record.

The Golden Hawk football team made it to the playoffs for the second straight year, capping off an 8-3 record with a postseason appearance. Mid-Prairie went 6-1 in district play. They knocked Prairie City Monroe out of the playoffs in the first round 24-7 before traveling to Bondurant in the second round and falling to the Blue Jays 33-0. The Hawks put up big numbers during the year with quarterback Reid Miller throwing for 1,253 yards, fifth most all-time in a single season. His nine touchdown passes for the year were eighth most in a single season. Ryan Hoffman was a game changer on special teams. He scored on a 90 yard kickoff return for touchdown against Tipton which would prove to be the game winner and it’s still in the record books as the fourth longest return in school history. Against Louisa-Muscatine Hoffman took a kick back 85 yards for a score, the ninth longest all-time. Mid-Prairie tailback Eessaa Baylor was also a force, posting 14 rushing touchdowns.

The Mid-Prairie soccer programs burst on the scene during this era also with the Golden Hawk girls spending most of the year ranked and finishing with an 11-5 record. They were led by Meghan Redlinger with 30 goals on the season, seventh most in the state regardless of class. The Mid-Prairie boys were 8-3 on the year and Austin Errthum finished fourth in the state with 22 goals, he led the state with 21 assists. Teammate Wyatt Cady was right behind him with 19 goals, sixth most in Iowa.

Thursday will feature the 2013-14 academic year for athletics at Mid-Prairie in our decade in review.