Hostetler, Fleming both recognized

Excellence begets excellence.

The honors continue to roll in for the Mid-Prairie cross-country program.

The girls team won its second consecutive state title this year after the boys team won a title in 2016.

The Iowa Association of Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches has recognized Mid-Prairie's Mark Hostetler as the Class 2A Girls Coach of the Year and Aaron Fleming as the boys Assistant Coach of the Year.

'It is a great honor for them to receive this honor,” Mid-Prairie athletic director Tyler Hotz said. 'It is a reflection of the amount of work they put into the program. Both are a great asset to the Mid-Prairie family.”

It is telling that Hotz uses the word family.

The two coaches teach unity and generosity and humility, because they know that while everyone likes to win, there is also a need to be part of a supportive family.

One of Hostetler's most satisfying moments is at the season-ending banquet when he reads what each team member has said about fellow teammates.

'I love watching the friendships they have created and how much they enjoy interacting with each other,” Hostetler said.

'They really care about each other, and they hurt for each other,” Fleming said.

Those are trademarks of a family, that and inclusion.

'Aaron is gifted at encouraging, entertaining, instructing, and speaking,” Hostetler said. 'But one of his gifts that is of upmost importance is he is concerned about and wants to make sure everyone on the team is included.”

The best part of any season is watching athletes overcome obstacles.

'That's the root of why we coach,” Fleming said, 'to help young people learn to overcome discouragement, to solve problems, to work together, to stay positive even when things look like they're not going the right way.”

The Golden Hawks' boys team looked pretty ragged for the first half of the season, but even with only two returning varsity runners they nearly made it to state.

'There's some disappointment there, but I think they're proud of what they were able to do in spite of the challenges, and they should be proud,” Fleming said. 'They finished with the best races of their lives, and if you saw their faces as they finished out the last mile of the season, you knew they left absolutely everything out there on the course.”

The girls had plenty of challenges too, even though they were ranked No.1 for most of the season.

'Marie (Hostetler) got beaten at state qualifying, but came back at state and had an awesome race and took the individual championship,” Fleming said. 'Ana (Fleming) missed a lot of training over the summer and in the season, but ran a fantastic race at state that really helped the team. Kate (Cavanagh) was in last place at the state meet after 300 meters, but moved up into the 60s, passing 26 girls in the last mile. As coaches, we take great joy when we see our teams running with such a combination of unity, heart, and discipline.”

The best part of coaching is watching each team member make progress physically, mentally, and spiritually.

'Seeing their hard work at the end of the year result in a great team effort or a personal record is satisfying,” Hostetler said.

The most challenging part of the Golden Hawks' season was dealing with a rash of injuries. There were several injuries to key members of both the boys and girls team.

'For us as coaches, I think we stress about whether we're doing something wrong that's creating the injuries,” Fleming said. 'For the athletes, it can be very discouraging, because they've worked so hard and then an injury looks like it might shut down their season. And it's not just the injured runners, but also the whole team, and of course they can see that an injury to a teammate jeopardizes the team's chance of reaching its goals.”

'The hardest part was definitely injuries,” Hostetler said. 'The pain of seeing a runner not being able to participate and not be able to help their team and to not be able to have positive results from their hard work is difficult for everyone involved.”

In the Bible in 1 Corinthians 9:24, Saint Paul said, 'Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.”

No one can win every time, but one can always act like a winner.

Hostetler's philosophy is that coaches and runners do so in a winning way - with the same manner, attitude, and character. And of course, when one can run and coach in that way, winning results often follow.

'I would say that the high point of coaching with Mark has been to have a friendship with someone who lives up to such high ideals and values,” Fleming said.

'There are many high points of coaching with Aaron,” Hostetler said. 'Aaron has studied the sport of distance running and understands the many aspects involved. He puts in the extra time and effort to help each runner with their individual needs, he goes above and beyond what is required of a coach to do a lot of things that makes our team more successful. The highest point of coaching with Aaron is to have a genuine friendship where I can go to practice and enjoy being with him, knowing that he cares about everyone on the team and will do whatever he can to help.” '

'For me, coaching with Mark has been a very satisfying journey of learning from one of the best coaches in the state about what really matters in life,” Fleming said. 'Mark's priority has always been caring about people, but at the same time he knows how to produce excellence. He's shown me that those aren't incompatible goals. He teaches kids to work hard and be self-disciplined because he knows that working hard is so much more intrinsically satisfying than goofing off.”