Hostetler leads Golden Hawks to victory

WILLIAMSBURG -- The Mid-Prairie and Williamsburg girls cross-county teams met for the second time this season and the Golden Hawks, ranked No. 1 in Class 2A, defeated the No. 2 ranked hosts.

This was the second matchup for the two teams and the margin of victory was only one point closer despite Williamsburg having their top runner available. Mid-Prairie's Marie Hostetler ran away from the field again. She is undefeated so far this season. Mitzi Evans ran a strong race to take third overall.

'It gives the whole team a boost to know she's up there leading the way,” Mid-Prairie assistant coach Aaron Fleming said. 'It was a challenging race for her because Marie and (Center Point-Urbana's) Adrianna Katcher (No. 3 in Class 3A) were out in front far enough that Mitzi was alone most of the race, and that's a tough position to be in. Abbagail and Angelina Evans also had improvements over the last race, especially in their third mile.”

At Solon last week, Williamsburg gave the Golden Hawks a challenge in the last mile so they knew they needed to be ready for that.

'These girls came through,” Fleming said. 'Williamsburg obviously takes a lot of pride in pushing hard their last mile and a team with that kind of determination is always dangerous.

Ana Fleming continued to move up, finishing as the fourth runner on the team, only 21 seconds behind Abbagail Evans.

Mid-Prairie's boys team was depleted by injury and illness, but there were improvements. Sophomore Chandler Hershberger led the team for the second time this season, as he and junior Jamison Stutsman beat Williamsburg's second runner for the first time this season, and also closed the gap on Williamsburg's first runner over the previous meeting. Carter Harmsen got into the scoring column in only his second high school race, while freshman Mose Yoder was the fifth runner and in the scoring column for the first time in his career.

Mid-Prairie runs next at Hillcrest Academy Monday, facing Williamsburg and Solon for the third consecutive race.

BOYS TEAM RESULTS -- 1. Tipton 30, 2. Center Point-Urbana 53, 3. Williamsburg 82, 4. Solon 102, 5. Mid-Prairie 121, 6. Belle Plaine 180, 7. North Mahaska 195, 8. Meskwaki 235

Mid-Prairie -- 13. Chandler Hershberger 18:19, 15. Jamison Stutzman 18:21, 20. Nathan Wallington 19:10, 35. Carter Harmson 20:43, 38. Mose Yoder 21:25, 39. Levi Stultz 21:42, 42. Robert Nagy 22:11

GIRLS TEAM RESULTS -- 1. Mid-Prairie 35, 2. Williamsburg 50, 3. Solon 82, 4. Center Point-Urbana 109, 5. Tipton 129, 6. Lynnville-Sully 158, 7. North Mahaska 175, 8. Belle Plaine 212

Mid-Prairie -- 1. Marie Hostetler 18:36, 3. Mitzi Evans 20:45, 8. Abbagail Evans 21:01, 10. Ana Fleming 21:22, 13. Angelina Evans 21:28, 24. Jaden Yoder 23:03, 26. Sydney Yoder 23:09