Mid-Prairie XC continues strong year

The Hostetlers continued their run through the area girls? cross-country competition on Saturday.

Mid-Prairie junior Anna Hostetler, ranked as the No. 1 runner in Class 2A, and freshman Marie Hostetler, ranked No. 11 in Class 2A, finished as the top two runners in a meet at Monticello over the weekend, continuing their strong seasons.

?Anna won her third meet in a row, but it was Marie who had the big breakthrough, pushing her sister the whole race and sometimes even taking the lead for a step or two,? Mid-Prairie assistant coach Aaron Fleming said. ?Marie ran a career-best time by 40 seconds to come in a minute and 20 seconds ahead of class 2A?s defending state champion; the packed field included four athletes who finished in the top 10 at state last year.?

Having the top two finishers in the meet helped Mid-Prairie?s girls? team to a fifth-place finish among a talented field that featured Springville, South Winneshiek and girls? team champions, Monticello.

Behind Anna and Marie, freshman Abbagail Evans finished in 30th place with a 23:26, while sophomore Kessa Jones took 43rd with a 24:06 and sophomore Kate Cavanaugh rounded out the scoring with a 50th-place finish, coming across the finish line at 24:25.

Greta Schmidt took 52nd with a time of 24:28, while Abby Tornow finished in 70th place with a 25:29.

On the boys? side of the varsity meet, Mid-Prairie continued to show its ability, taking second place as a group, finishing 11 points behind Western Dubuque, and 74 points ahead of South Winneshiek, who took third.

The group was led by Peyton Miller, who took third place with an 18:07, while Floyd Evans finished in sixth with an 18:15.

?Floyd had a great race, pushing really hard in the second mile and leading the race for a few hundred meters,? Fleming said. ?He ended with a sixth-place finish, but it was important for him to make that kind of a move and race with confidence.?

Zach Pettit edged his way into the top 10, finishing in 10th place with an 18:23, while Quinn Schmidt finished in 17th (19:05) and Andrew Schwartz finished in 19th (19:10) to round out the varsity scoring.

Marshal Teets finished the meet in 30th place (19:28), while Spencer Yutzy took 79th with a 22:17.

Mid-Prairie will be off this week, before traveling to Solon on Sept. 19 to race in a tough competition that will feature Class 3A, No. 1 ranked Mount Vernon-Lisbon.