Mid-Prairie leads All-GTNS cross country girls team

Mid-Prairie High School has a dynasty going in cross country. The Golden Hawks have won a team title in three consecutive years and an individual title in three consecutive years.

The All-Golden Triangle News Service Cross Country Girls team is led by a Golden Hawks coach, captained by a Golden Hawks runner with two more of her teammates selected.

Coach: Mark Hosteteler, Mid-Prairie

Hostetler was the coach of both the boys and girls All-GTNS teams last season. Mid-Prairie's boys won a Class 2A state title in 2016. The girls won last season and this season in Class 2A.

Hostetler coached the 2016 individual champion in Anna Hostetler and the last two seasons' champ in Marie Hostetler.

The Golden Hawk girls were ranked first by the Iowa Track and Cross Country Coaches Association for much of the year. They briefly fell in the rankings all the way to fourth while Panorama was ahead of them in third, Williamsburg was ranked second and Crestwood first. The next week it was Williamsburg still first and Mid-Prairie second. Mid-Prairie was back atop the rankings before the state meet. The Golden Hawks defeated Williamsburg by 29 points at the state meet in Ft. Dodge. Panorama was tied for sixth with 180 points, Crestwood was ninth, more than 100 points back.

'If we are to defend our title, we will need some girls to step up,” Hostetler said after the first meet of the season. Through his coaching ability, the Golden Hawks did just that.

The Des Moines Register named him the All-Iowa girls coach last season.

Captain: Marie Hostetler, junior, Mid-Prairie

Hostetler has run the fastest time regardless of class at the girls state meet when she finished in 17 minutes, 15 seconds last season. This year's time was 18:02.1

This season she captured her second consecutive individual championship to go along with the consecutive team championships. Gatorade named her the Iowa Girls Cross Country runner of the Year last season.

Hostetler has been a member of the All-GTNS team now in all three years of her high school career.

She finished second by almost six seconds to Springville's Emily Staal in the state-qualifying meet at Tipton, then defeated Staal by over five seconds at the state meet.

She was ranked first all season by the Iowa Track and Cross Country Coaches Association and was the organization's first pick on its All-State team.

Missy Evans, freshman, Mid-Prairie

Evans, who is just a freshman, ran her state-qualifying meet in 19:43 to place sixth and help the Golden Hawks win that meet.

Evans was 14th at the state meet with a time of 20:32.5 and a part of a state champion in her first year at that level.

Evans finished the year ranked 19th by the Iowa Track and Cross Country Coaches Association after climbing as high as seventh.

Evans showed no signs of being a freshman as she made her high school debut on the big stage with a time of 21:48 at a Cedar Rapids Prairie meet.

Moriah Brase, senior, Mid-Prairie

Brase was running times in the high 28 minute range at the beginning of her junior season. The Golden Hawks senior was emblamatic of the hard work the Golden Hawks put in. The senior leader ran a 20:14 at this season's state-quailfying meet to finish 11th and ran 21 flat at state to place 23rd.

Brase was ranked as high as 16th this season and finished the year ranked 26th. Brase was one of three seniors on the Golden Hawks this season.

Lexi Brown, senior, Danville-New London

The 2018 season may have been the peak for the Danville-New London girls' cross-country team, and New London's Lexi Brown was out in front in nearly every race.

Brown was the leading runner for the D-NL girls, who not only qualified for the Class 2A state meet, but finished in fifth place. Individually, she had a fantastic race, placing eighth overall with a final time of 19:56.

Abby Ryon, junior, Mt. Pleasant

The Mt. Pleasant girls' cross-country team continued its rise in 2018, and Abby Ryon continued to lead the Panthers all year.

Ryon won her first Southeast Conference title in Keokuk, and qualified for her third-straight state meet. At state, Ryon finished 21st in Class 3A, crossing the line in 19:55.6.

With all but one varsity runner coming back next year, including all seven runners who competed at the state qualifying meet, the Panther girls as a whole will be a team to watch, gunning for their third-straight SEC team title and possibly a spot at state.

Ashley Bloomquist, senior, Fairfield

Bloomquist qualified for the last three state meets as an individual in Class 3A, finishing 21st last season as a junior with a time of 19:33.7. Her senior season began with the running enthusiast ranked No. 15 in 3A, with Bloomquist finishing 27th overall in Ft. Dodge in 20:07. Bloomquist has been named to multiple all-GTNS teams and is expected to be a leader in both basketball and track for the Trojans.

Faith Neeley, freshman, Van Buren

Neeley qualified for the Class 2A state meet in her first season for the Warriors. Faith finished 13th overall at the qualifying race in Tipton with a time of 20:24.4 and then 16th overall with a time of 20:29.7 at Fort Dodge. Neeley is a first-time all-GTNS selection in her first semester of high school.

Note: The 2018 All-GTNS cross-country teams were selected by Andy Krutsinger of the Mt. Pleasant News, Doug Brenneman of the Washington Evening Journal and Justin Webster of the Fairfield Ledger.