The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk girls and boys cross country teams step on the course for the first time this season Tuesday when they travel to Mount Vernon.
The Hawks will try to duplicate a 2024 season that was marked by tremendous success. A year ago, the boys and girls teams spent the entire season ranked in the top 10 of Class 2A by the Iowa Association of Track Coaches, with most of their lineup represented all year in the individual rankings. The Golden Hawk girls won team championships at Williamsburg, Monticello, Mount Pleasant and Clear Creek Amana with Brooklyn Stutzman winning individual titles at Williamsburg, Mount Pleasant and CCA. The Golden Hawk girls were River Valley Conference team champs for the second straight year and fifth time in the last seven seasons. Stutzman was third overall. The entire Mid-Prairie lineup of Stutzman, Rachel Hostetler, Kendal Landstum, Tessa Brokaw, Hannah Rodgers, Dessa Poll and Rebekah Wallington were named All-River Valley. At the Class 2A State Qualifier at Pella Christian the Golden Hawk girls were also team winners with Stutzman going runner-up and Hostetler sixth. At State in Fort Dodge, the Hawks raised the championship banner with their score of 84 points, led by Stutzman in eighth. Stutzman, Hostetler, Landstrum and Brokaw were named All-State. It was the girl’s program’s sixth 2A title in the last eight years. Six of the seven in Mid-Prairie’s line-up return.
The Golden Hawk boys were team champs three times last season, Williamsburg, Mount Pleasant and Clear Creek Amana with senior Emmett Swartzentruber winning titles at Williamsburg and Mount Pleasant and fellow senior Preston Yutzy the champ at CCA. It was an RVC team title for the Hawks, led by Swartzentruber as conference runner-up with Mid-Prairie’s top six runners, Emmett Swartzentruber, Yutzy, Jayse Yoder, Max Swartzentruber, Luke Brokaw and Thomas Flynn making All-RVC teams. The Hawks were team champs at the 2A State Qualifier in Pella with Emmett Swartzentruber second, Yutzy third and Yoder sixth. At State in Fort Dodge, The Hawks finished second in 2A by 15 points. Emmett Swartzentruber took fourth individually, he, Yutzy and Yoder were named All-State. Mid-Prairie will have to replace Emmett Swartzentruber, Yutzy, Yoder, and Flynn. Head coach Mark Hostetler was named River Valley Conference Coach of the Year, IATC Girls Overall Class 2A Coach of the Year and Boys Class 2A At-Large Coach of the Year. Hostetler spoke this week with KCII Sports about what has him excited for this season. “On the boys side I’m hoping that we see a lot of improvement for the ones that are returning. Basically how I look at where they’re at, there’s a lot of ability there but, it’s going to take some time, and I think we will, see a lot of improvement during the season. On the girls side, we have most of the team back from last year that won state. There’s a number of girls there that can fill in for the fifth, sixth and seventh runners. It looks like we could be just as strong, or better maybe than we were last year.”
The Golden Hawk girls enter this year ranked No. 1 in Class 2A according to the preseason rankings from the IATC with four members of their lineup in the individual poll including No. 4 Brooklyn Stutzman, No. 7 Rachel Hostetler, No. 8 Kendal Landstrum and No. 19 Tessa Brokaw. The boys check in at No. 14 preseason. The Golden Hawks will be joined at tonight’s meet by boys and girls teams including the No. 18 in Class 3A Marion girls and their boys, North Scott, Vinton-Shellsburg, West Delaware, West Liberty, the No. 20 in Class 3A Cedar Rapids Xavier boys and their girls and the home No. 2 in Class 3A Mustang girls and their No. 4 boys. There are a total of 10 ranked runners in tonight’s field. Runners start tonight at 5p.m. At the Elliot Athletic Complex in Mount Vernon.