Hostetler dominates at Solon meet

SOLON - Marie Hostetler's picture is not in the dictionary under domination, but it should be.

Mid-Prairie's Hostetler is the No. 1 ranked runner in Class 2A and the defending state champion. She has the fastest time at the state meet by any girl runner in any class.

Monday at Solon, Hostetler and the vehicle that leads the runners through the course were the only things to be seen moving through the course, unless you waited a minute or more to see the next runner. Actually second place was 1 minute, 57 seconds behind Hostetler's winning time of 18:24.1.

When she gets too close to the vehicle, she ends up inhaling the fumes off it.

'That is no fun,” Hostetler said. 'I can smell it sometimes but I think that only happened once today. There have been worse races where I smelled it a lot.”

The course was muddy and slippery and that presented the only challenge for Hostetler, who lost in this event last year to Iowa City Liberty's Ashlyn Keeney.

'I was hoping she would be here to have good competition,” Hostetler said, 'At the same time, the weak part of me was glad she wasn't here. I would've been nice to have her to push me. I have run on muddier courses, but this was not very fun.”

Mitzi Evans was the second Mid-Prairie finisher but she was not happy with her race.

'I feel like I could've done better,” Evans said. 'I did not really get the time that I wanted. Running through the mud was not good at all. I slipped coming around a turn. That made me think that I better make sure my feet are stable. I liked the flatness of the course, but there was concrete and I know that was not kind to my spikes.”

Abbagail Evans, who didn't run last year for the Golden Hawks, was Mid-Prairie's third finisher and took 13th overall.

'I know I did not do my best, but there are still more meets,” she said. 'I took the year off on purpose because I did not want to run, but I am glad that I took it off. I enjoyed cheering on my siblings and now it makes me more hungry to run. It helped.”

The course is fairly open but runs through woods.

'The woods really affected me and affected my breathing,” she said. 'The temperature was really good. I know some people think it was too hot, but I liked it because the sun was out and it was not raining and humid.”

The boys race saw Mid-Prairie without one of its top two runners in Thaddeus Shelter, but the Golden Hawks top four ran as a pack with Chandler Hershberger the leader.

'We definitely need to step up without him because we don't have a lot of depth,” Hershberger said. 'Our fifth runner really stepped up especially since it was his first varsity race. Jamison Stutzman and me had it in our minds we were going to be our top runners but he ended up with a side stitch, so I realized I needed to step up. Our top four really stepped up.”

Stepping was a problem for Hershberger because of the footing.

'Some of the tight turns were really hard to make sure you didn't slip. It took away my momentum and I had to tell myself to speed up after a turn. I really had to maintain my mental focus and make sure I didn't slip and fall.”

Mid-Prairie coach Mark Hostetler did not plan for the condition of the course.

'When it's really muddy, it takes a lot of energy out of them,” he said. 'We had a goal of a certain pace so everybody went out a little bit hard. It is hard to get a good time when your footing is bad.”

The coach was surprised Mid-Prairie's girls beat Williamsburg because they did not run that well.

'Ana Fleming had a good race but besides her everybody looked tired,” Coach Hostetler said. 'We have been training really hard. I knew we would be tired but I didn't take into account the condition of the course would be in. Trying to get good times, they all went out too hard. It was an ugly race for us but to beat Williamsburg, there's a surprise.”

For the boys to be down a runner, the Hawks ran well.

'Chandler and Lucas Bontrager ran well,” the coach said. 'Especially since we had some guys that don't normally run varsity. Robert Nagy ran well so we had a couple of surprises. Thaddeus Shetler hurt himself playing basketball so he didn't run. We are hoping he gets back pretty soon.”

GIRLS Team results: 1. Bettendorf 49, 2. Mid-Prairie 65, 3. Williamsburg 84, 4. Solon 100, 5. North Scott 149, 6. Mt. vernon-Lisbon 150, 7. Central DeWitt 164, 8. Clear Creek-Amana 209, 9. Tipton 228, 10. Davenport North 253

Mid-Prairie: 1. Marie Hostetler, 18:24.1; 6. Mitzi Evans, 20:43.7; 15. Abbagail Evans, 21:10.8; 21. Angela Evans, 21:29.5; 25. Ana Fleming 21:45.8; 41. Jadan Yoder 22:40.9

BOYS Team results: 1. Iowa City liberty 30, 2. Tipton 45, 3. North Scott 86, 4. 4. Williamsburg 115, Mt. Vernon-Lisbon 127, 6. Mid-Prairie 131, 7. Solon 166, 8. central DeWitt 244

18. Chandler Hershberger, 18:09.3; 22. Jamison Stutzman, 18:17.9; 23. Nathan Wallington 18:18.1; 24. Lucas Bontrager 18:19.1; 47. Robert Nagy 20:19.5; 50. Luke Albright 20:41.3; 56. Levi Stultz 22:34.5