Hawks are golden again

DES MOINES - Marie Hostetler no longer has older sister Anna around to create double distance dominance.

But her sprint teammates gave Mid-Prairie High School enough of a lift for a state-championship repeat.

Mid-Prairie notched six team points when Maddie Edgington, Cassidy Rourke, Mitzi Evans and Amber Swart placed third in the sprint medley with a time of 1 minute, 51.65 seconds. They scored five team points Friday in the girls 800-meter relay by finishing fourth. Swart, Mitzi Evans, Maddie Edgington and Abbagail Evans finished in 1:48.32. The winning time of 1:46.98 came from Treynor.

Hostetler finished with three titles (3,000 meters, anchor of distance medley relay, 1,500) to lead the Golden Hawks to their second consecutive Class 2A girls title at the state track and field meet Saturday at Drake Stadium.

'With Anna graduated, we needed somebody to step up, and the sprinters did,” Hostetler said. 'They work hard, and they're some of my best friends.”

Mid-Prairie outscored Aplington-Parkersburg, 49-39, for the crown.

The Golden Hawks won last year, too, and scored most of their points on the heels of the Hostetler sisters, but with Anna off to Iowa, Mid-Prairie had to find more scoring than just Marie.

Marie Hostetler accounted for 38 points, including 18 on Saturday, but the sprints came through with the remainder of the points.

Hostetler took second in the 800 Saturday to Aplington-Parkersburg's Sophia Jungling.

In the 1,500, Hostetler placed first with a time of 4:40.63, ahead of Jungling (4:46.81).

Even though Hostetler had the race in hand, she wanted to make sure there was no doubt.

'I wanted to push all the way to the finish and not let her catch me,” Hostetler said. 'She has a great kick, as I found out this weekend.”

With Hostetler's win in the 1,500-meter run, it marked four years in a row a Hostetler won the event - Anna won it the previous three years.

'It's different not having my sister here to push me, obviously,” Hostetler said. 'I'm glad I was able to win.”

Hostetler anchored the distance medley relay along with Abbagail Evans, Rourke and Swart. Hostetler ran the 800-meter anchor leg in 2:19.4.

Mid-Prairie won with a time of 4:08.74, edging out Aplington-Parkersburg by 0.02 seconds.

Hostetler was about 10 meters behind A-P anchor Jungling with 200 meters left.

'I was just focusing on every step and keeping myself moving,” Hostetler said.

She started her kick and, with about 70 meters left, Hostetler and Jungling were neck and neck, each trying to out-kick the other.

'I didn't think I'd be as close as I was with her with the last 100 meters to go,” Hostetler said. 'But I realized I had more in me and when I came up beside her, I just realized I had to dig deep and I knew I had to get ahead of her.”

Mid-Prairie's boys sprint medley of Clarke Latchem, Quinn Schmidt, Elmir Ganibegovic was 11th in 1:36.79.

Mitzi Evans was 21st in the 800 with a time of 2:31.18.

'At the beginning I was really nervous,” she said. 'Then I was like, ‘Alright, I've just got to stay up there with the pack. I started getting tired, and dying, but I just knew I had to strive it out so I could try and get a good time.”

Angelina Evans was 18th in the 1500 with a time of 5:16.53. 'My goal was to try and speed up as I ran each lap, but I felt like kids started passing me,” she said. 'I feel inspired by (Marie), because if she can do it, run all these miles, than I can too.”

Tori Boyse was 18th in the discus at 106 feet, 7 inches and Jack Baker was 20th at 121-02.