Intense competition at Hillcrest

KALONA - Hillcrest Academy brought in some talented teams for Monday's cross-country race that has runners make a couple loops curving through the Joetown woods but it was Union area powerhouses that won the team and individual titles.

The boys race had Class 3A ranked teams No. 2 Pella and No. 5 Solon with Class 2A No. 1 Danville-New London and No. 5 Mid-Prairie while the girls competition included 3A No. 5 Solon, 2A No. 2 Mid-Prairie and No. 13 Danville-New London.

Ty Carr and Alexander Julian took first and second to anchor D-NL's team win in the boys.

Danielle Hostetler, running her second five kilometer race of the day with a bothersome hip injury, won the girls race with Mid-Prairie teammates Jaden and Sydney Yoder, Mitzi Evans and Abby Fleming placing 1,2,3,7 and 14 respectively for the Golden Hawks team win.

Hostetler's winning time was 19 minutes, 55 seconds.

'i'm happy with that because I ran a 20:08 this morning, not knowing I would run here,” she said.

Addison Parrot of D-NL was fourth after running in second for much of the race but the Yoder twins chased her down to finish 8 seconds ahead of her.

'It didn't matter if my sister or I won against each other,” she said of her twin. 'We trade back and forth in a friendly competition but we push each other to be better.”

Evans' goal was to stay with the Yoder as pack running is always 'good for the team. I lost contact with them after the first mile in the woods, but I had something left for the last 800.”

Evans said the Golden Hawks have an advantage because of head coach Mark Hostetler. 'He is so knowledgeable that he could train elite athletes. I think what makes him so good is he wants to get the best out of us, not only racing but in life.”

Mt. Pleasant's Abby Blint was 10th. Hillcrest's Leah Bontrager finished 26th on her home course.

Carr's winning time of 17:06 was motivated by the competition. He was four seconds ahead of his teammate and 18 seconds ahead of third-place finisher Jamison Stutzman of Mid-Prairie.

'We knew who was going to be here and we talked about it in practice,” Carr said. 'We've only lost to 3A teams this year, but we didn't today.”

Carr's take on the 'interesting course” was that 'all the curves in the woods make it seem you're going faster than you are.”

As fast as D-NL is, they want to improve on last year's sixth place at state with a title. 'If we stay out of our head we can beat anyone. We have a target on her back, being ranked this high,” Carr said. It helps competition within the team when the girls are also ranked. 'It's a fun environment to be around when everybody is successful.”

Washington's Lance Sobaski led for the first mile, but rolled his ankle twice, finishing 12th. Teammate Cameron Vonpangya had a black cat run dash in front of him that he had to hurdle.

RESULTS

GIRLS TEAM SCORES - 1. Mid-Prairie 27, Iowa City High 58, 3. Solon 72, 4. Pella 90, 5. Danville-New London 148, 6. Mt. Pleasant 162, 7. Washington 194, 8. Fairfield 220, 9. Hillcrest 242

Mid-Prairie - 1. Danielle Hostetler 19:55, 2. Jaden Yoder 20:01, 3. Sydney Yoder 20:02, 7. Mitzi Evans 20:52, 14. Abby Fleming 21:23

D-NL - 4. Addison Parrott 20:12, 27. Carissa Mackey 22:39, 31. Kamryn Sherwood 23:05, 35. Cassidy Yaley 23:37, 51. Madelyn Buck 26:50

Mt. Pleasant - 10. Abby Blint 21:13, 30. Belle Meador 22:49, 38. Elsie Lang 24:02, 41. Audrey Lord 24:24, 43. Cristina Carthey 24:38

Washington - 32. Hannah Rees 23:13, 36. Abby Kleese 23:42, 40. Taylor Bartholomew 24:20, 42. Cloe Telleen 24:29, 44. Josie Tanner 24:25

Fairfield - 34. Malena Bloomquist 23:20, 39. Makenzie Kramer 24:07, 46. Carly Seely 25:18, 47. Claire Epperson 25:35, 54. Amiratha Kumar 29:26

Hillcrest - 26. Leah Bontrager 22:30, 50. Julia Boller 26:17, 52. Kennedy Roth 28:20, 55. Taryn Leichty 29:38, 59. Hannah Chalupa 35:38

BOYS TEAM SCORES - 1. D-NL 43, 2. Pella 49, 3. Solon 53, 4. Mid-Prairie 93, 5. Fairfield 159, 6. Washington 161, 7. Mt. Pleasant 179, 8. North Mahaska 201, Lone Tree 248

D-NL - 1. Ty Carr 17:06, 2. Alexander Julian 17:10, 8. AJ Bonneson 17:48, 13. Oliver Sowell 18:04, 19. Seth Bailey 18:30

Mid-Prairie - 3. Jamison Stutzman 17:24, 14. Nathan Wallington 18:09, 17. Lucas Bontrager 18:24, 26. Chandler Herschnerger 18:48, 33. Mose Yoder 19:51

Mt. Pleasant - 27. Ben Carthey 18:54, 29. Luke Ryon 19:16, 34. Gannon McNamee 19:53, 43. Gabe Feldman 20:44, 46. Tyler Johnson 20:51

Washington - 11. Lance Sobaski 18:01, 28. Micah rees 19:15, 39. Cameron Vangpanya 20:20, 41. Peyton Snakenberg 20:34, 42. Drew Horak 20:37

Fairfield - 24. Alex Forrest 18:36, 25. Gavin VanVeen 18:37, 35. Kaidyn Michaels 20:05, 37. Blake Holden 20:09, 38. Brecken Courtwright 20:18

Hillcrest - 45. Collin Miller 20:42, 52. Jorge Canchola 21:34, 57. Will Kolck 22:09

Keota - 66. Ryan Lawson 26:26, 68. Noah Fisher 29:46