Saturday’s state championship race was a lesson in survival for the Mid-Prairie boys cross country team.

Jamie Stutzman fell to the ground in the first mile.

Thaddeus Shetler, who couldn’t run in the state qualifier due to a painful leg and ankle injury, ran competitively for the first time in six weeks.

And still, the Golden Hawks, making it to the state championship as a team for the first time in three years, managed to finish sixth in the Class 2A race. Stutzman got back on his feet and finished 33rd with a time of 18:02, the best finish for a Mid-Prairie runner since 2017 when Golden Hawks runners were ninth and 10th.

Lucas Bontrager finished 39th. Four Golden Hawks finished among the top 63 and Shetler came in 77th.

“Lucas Bontrager just ran just hard out, ran probably his best race of the year,” head coach Mark Hostetler said. “He ran a super race.”

By the time they all reached the recovery area near the finish line, Shetler laid on the ground and eventually was helped by his teammates as he hobbled to the Mid-Prairie tent. And Stutzman began to breathe again.

It was that intense and that gutsy for a squad that finished second in the state qualifier and pushed ahead for its best season since 2017.

“It’ll leave an impact on the other guys, the up-and-coming guys,” Stutzman said.

Indeed it will. After finishing second in the state qualifier, Stutzman was struggling just to breathe in the state final.

“My main issue today was I had a lot of trouble breathing,” Stutzman said. “My core was hurting about the whole race. I don’t know what that’s due to, but that was my main issue. The wind was tough, too.”

Oh, and about that fall?

“I got knocked down a little  before the 1-mile,” Stutzman said. “It wasn’t anyone’s fault.”

Hostetler knew right then the Golden Hawks were in trouble.

“They (other team members) kind of key off of Jamie,” Hostetler said. “When he fell down, he jerked and it pulled his whole left side in his core. He cou;ldn’t breathe, so he just struggled to finish. I didn’t know for sure what was going on with it. He said it was a struggle for most of the race.”

Stutzman still finished 109 better places than he did in 2019, when he was 129th. There was no Mid-Prairie team at last year’s state race because the Golden Hawks didn’t qualify. This year, they did.

“It was a gutsy race for all of them,” Hostetler said. “There were times in the race that they struggled, times in the race that they did really well.”

“I’m proud of what we did,” Stutzman said.

It did not go unnoticed. Three-time state champion Marie Hostetler, who was back in Iowa on Saturday to watch her younger sister, Danielle, win a girls state title as a freshman, was quick to credit the Mid-Prairie boys. In all the hoopla surrounding the Mid-Prairie girls’ fourth straight team title, Marie Hostetler was fully aware how hard the boys team had worked to get to Fort Dodge.

“It still showed in the way they ran,” she said. “They’ve worked their butts off for three years just to make it here.”

Nathan Wallington improved 21 spots from last year to finish 39th. Chandler Hershberger was two spots behind him, and was followed by No. 52 Shetler, No. 72 Mose Yoder and No. 102 Daniel Rodgers.

“They probably had too much pressure on them, maybe it was by me or whatever,” Hostetler said. “They seemed stressed that they weren’t where they were needed to be. They finished well, but there was not an even pacing or moving up slowly through the race. There were times that I could tell they were fairly discouraged, put their heads down. They finished well.

“It wasn’t their best race, but to finish sixth at a state meet, I think that’s where they were ranked.”