A new golf season arrives Monday for the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks as they take on Iowa City Regina in a pair of River Valley Conference duals. The Golden Hawk girls are coming off of the best three-year-run in school history, which included three trips to the State meet, back-to-back River Valley Conference team championships, more than a dozen All-RVC selections, Regional and Regional finals team championships, individual All-Region, All-State and Academic All-State honors and multiple school team scoring records. They were ranked as high as No. 7 in the Iowa High School Golf Coaches poll and finished fifth at the state meet, the best for the program in 15 seasons. The Hawks had a 196 team average on nine and a 375 average 18 with a 53-10 overall record a season ago with seniors Madi Davidson, Gabi Robertson and Elliot Debler departing. While those three held the top spots in nine-hole scoring average, Mid-Prairie does return their next three in the scoring order including senior Addison English and sophomores Morgyn Bender and Olivia Swartzentruber. The trio averaged 52 per nine and 98 per 18 a season ago. Golden Hawk head coach Tracy McArtor joined the KCII PM Sports page last week to talk about what has him excited for this year’s group, “The experience we have coming back. You always want to have at least some of the kids who have gone through the trials and tribulations of winning a conference championship and going to the state meet. They know what it takes in order to do that and they can pass that on to the younger kids.”

The Hawks open the year against Regina. They beat the Regals at this event last season, shooting a 189 team score for nine.

The Mid-Prairie boys finished last year with a 33-18 overall record and spent part of the year ranked in the top 20 of the Iowa Golf Coaches poll. Their season drew to a close with a fourth place finish at sectionals. The Hawks were eighth at the River Valley Championship meet with Grayson Gingerich earning honorable mention All-RVC honors. Mid-Prairie shot a team average of 170 on nine holes and 346 on 18 a year ago. Drew Schlabaugh, last year’s lone senior in the lineup has moved on through graduation, after leading the Golden Hawk in nine and 18 hole scoring averages last season at 43 and 81 respectively. Gingerich is the leader back by the numbers with 44 and 86 averages on nine and 18 respectively. This week, Golden Hawk head coach Kelby Bender spoke on the KCII PM Sports Page about what has him excited for this year’s team, “Our depth is going to be really good. I think we have eight, maybe nine or 10 guys that are going to be competing for one of those six spots. It’s going to make kids work hard. We have a couple of new kids going out and they have been showing some good signs.”

The Golden Hawk boys dropped a tight 174-178 matchup against the Regals in Iowa City at this event a year ago. The girls will be at Pleasant Valley Golf Course in Iowa City and the boys at Kalona tonight with action in both meets starting at 4p.m.