The Mid-Prairie boys cross country team faced a lot of challenges on Monday evening at Solon. They were down two runners from their normal varsity lineup, the water-soaked course was muddy after …
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The Mid-Prairie boys cross country team faced a lot of challenges on Monday evening at Solon.
They were down two runners from their normal varsity lineup, the water-soaked course was muddy after three races and the sun was still formidable at 5 p.m. They took those challenges and threw them out the window to finish sixth among a field packed with ranked teams.
The field consisted of six total ranked teams including Class 2A No. 1 Tipton and Class 3A No. 2 Clear Creek-Amana. The Golden Hawks finished sixth despite running without their typical No. 2 and No. 6 runners. Into the lineup for the Golden Hawks were sophomore Robert Nagy and senior Levi Stultz.
The Golden Hawks ran in a pack at the front, with four runners finishing within 10 seconds of each other. The first across the line was Chandler Hershberger, finishing in 18:09 and 17th place. The next was a sprint to the finish between Jamison Stutzman, Nathan Wallington and Lucas Bontrager. They finished 21st, 22nd and 24th.
“The best part is you can switch off leaders, and when someone else is out front you’re motivated to go catch them,” Stutzman said. “You know that’s your teammate and it is even more competitive to try and beat them.”
Stutzman said running as a pack is very beneficial to the team score.
“As a team, we ran great as a pack which is something we haven’t done all this season and that helped a lot,” he said.
The Golden Hawks fifth finisher was Robert Nagy, who was making his varsity debut for this season. Nagy gave the race his all, collapsing at the finish line before his teammates helped him up to cool down.
“On an evening when most runners, including the whole squad from No. 1 Tipton, ran quite a bit slower because of the mud, Robert stepped up big and ran a 41-second personal record,” Mid-Prairie assistant coach Aaron Fleming said.
Luke Albright was sixth across for Mid-Prairie in 20:41 and Levi Stultz ran a 22:34.
The Golden Hawks finished with a team score of 131, four points off Mount Vernon-Lisbon for fifth and 16 behind Williamsburg in fourth. The winner was Iowa City Liberty, a team on the verge of being ranked in Class 4A. Tipton, the team to beat in Class 2A, was second with a score of 45.
The Mid-Prairie junior varsity team finished eighth of nine teams with an average time of 22 minutes. They were led by Carter Harmsen, who finished in 25th with a time of 20:22. Jordan Stock was next in 22:15 in 49th.
