Finally getting to stay at home this season the Golden Hawks hosted the Hawk Relays in Wellman at the Dwight G. Sattler Field on April 17. 

In addition to this being a home meet for Mid-Prairie it was also senior night for the Golden Hawks. 

Time was taken between events to celebrate Mid-Prairie’s ten seniors: Terry Bordenave, Cain Brown, Blake Creed, Shawn Dodds, Irman Ganibegovic, Grady Gingerich, Kaden Meader, Braden Hartley, Jaxsen Timmerman, and Jackson Zahradnek. 

“We had ten seniors that have been with us pretty much all four years. We’re going to miss them,” Mid-Prairie coach Dain Jeppson said. “They’ve run a lot of quality races for us. There’s a lot of good young men in that class, and we’re definitely, definitely going to miss them and appreciate the standard that they’ve set over the last four years.”

Showing out for the home crowd the Golden Hawks stood tall over all the competition when it was all said and done, placing first overall with a team score of 146. 

“We had some really nice performances.” Jeppson said after the meet ended. “Everyone got to run a bunch of races and it’s cool that we kind of flexed in the team points as well.”

Coming in second at this ten school meet was Oskaloosa with 121 points. In third was Anamosa with 91 points. Mid-Prairie and Oskaloosa were the only schools to eclipse 100 points. 

Starting off the home meet with some momentum, the Golden Hawks took first place in the sprint medley. The team of Brown, Meader, Landon Sullivan, and Jayse Yoder gave Mid-Prairie first place with a time of 1:38.71. 

“We ran a really nice time in our sprint medley to start the meet off and  I think that that really gave us some juice, seeing those kids run well,” Jeppson said.

Including the sprint medley Mid-Prairie championed in eight events. Three of those first place finishes belonged to Mid-Prairie sophomore Jayden Stafford.

While there was no competition for Stafford in his three events it didn’t stop him from giving it his all in front of a supportive and appreciative home crowd. He finished first in the wheelchair 100, 200, and 800 with times of 18.77, 33.34, and 2:23.78 respectively. 

Mid-Prairie took two of the top three spots in the 800 meter run. Yoder finished ahead of the pack to take first out of 17 competitors with a time of 2:11.10. Earning third place with a time of 2:13.92 was Mid-Prairie sophomore Emmett Swartzentruber.

In an exciting finish Mid-Prairie senior Blake Creed and sophomore Preston Yutzy tied for second place in the 1600 meter run with a time of 4:55.91.

At the start of the race Creed and eventual first place finisher, with a time of 4:38.16, Grinnell senior Jonas Conner were leading the way. It wasn’t until after two laps that Conner would separate from Creed to be the sole leader for the rest of the race. 

After Conner crossed the finish line to take the top spot it became a battle for second place between two Golden Hawks, Creed and Yutzy. Yutzy, who had been trailing for the entire race, put on the jets during the final stretch of the race and caught up to his teammate Creed right as he was approaching the finish line. 

The announcer of the track meet said it was too close to call between Creed and Yutzy, but they ended up finishing at the same time to tie for second place. 

The 3200 meter run saw Swartzentruber take the gold for the Golden Hawks with a first place time of 10:28.51. Yutzy once again made his presence known, finishing as the runner up with a time of 10:44.29.

Another standout performance came from Mi-Prairie sophomore Burke Berry, who earned runner up honors in the discus event and out threw all 26 competitors in the shot put event to take first.

“Burke Barry won the shot, got second in the discus, both PR for him, so I’m so happy for him,” Jeppson said. “He’s been working his tail off and Jack Zahradnek as well, he had a lifetime best of 45 feet, three inches in the shot.”

Zahradnek placed second place in the shot put and finished fifth in the discus with his farthest throw traveling 122-09.00. 

In the long jump event Brown continues his impressive senior season by leaping farther than 15 other participants to finish first. He won the event with his farthest jump being 21-06.00. The Golden Hawks also took third place in this event, courtesy of Sullivan’s jump of 20-02.00. 

Coming up for Mid-Prairie will be the traveling to Riverside to compete in the Highland Relays on May 1.

RESULTS

100m: 1, Kaden Amigon, Columbus, 10.94; 8. Hudson Ehrenfelt, Mid-Prairie, 12.20; 10, Drake Price, Mid-Prairie. 12.24; 12, Gentry Bontrager, Mid-Prairie, 12.48.

100m wheelchair: 1, Jayden Stafford, Mid-Prairie, 18.77.

200m: 1, Evan Mahoney, Grinnell, 22.52; 8, Hudson Ehrenfelt, Mid-Prairie, 25.05; 12, Irman Ganibegovic, Mid-Prairie, 26.21.

200m wheelchair: 1, Jayden Stafford, Mid-Prairie, 33.34.

400m: 1, Javion Reeves, Oskaloosa, 56.32; 8, Peyton Fox, Mid-Prairie, 1:00.79; 16, Alex Castillo, Mid-Prairie, 1:07.07; 18, Evan Reschly, Mid-Prairie, 1:17.75.

800m: 1, Jayse Yoder, Mid-Prairie, 2:11.10; 3, Emmett Swartzentruber, Mid-Prairie, 2:13.92; 9, Jacob Donaldson, Mid-Prairie, 2:23.30. 

800m wheelchair: 10, Jayden Stafford, Mid-Prairie, 2:23.78.

1600m: 1, Jonas Conner, Grinnell, 4:38.16; 2, Preston Yutzy, Mid-Prairie, 4:55.91; 2, Blake Creed, Mid-Prairie, 4:55.91; 6 Thomas Flynn, Mid-Prairie, 5:05.95. 

400m hurdles: 1, Waylon Bolibaugh, Oskaloosa, 58.32; 4, Landry Gingerich, Mid-Prairie, 1:02.54; 9, Matthew Troyer, Mid-Prairie, 1:12.20; 10, Traevin Gugel, Mid-Prairie, 1:12.44. 

3200m: 1, Emmett Swartzentruber, Mid-Prairie, 10:28.51; 2, Preston Yutzy, Mid-Prairie, 10:44.29.

Long jump: 1, Cain Brown, Mid-Prairie, 21-06.00; 3, Landon Sullivan, Mid-Prairie, 20-02.00; 7, Hudson Ehrenfelt, Mid-Prairie, 18-00.00.

High jump: 1, Shawn Dodds, Mid-Prairie, 5-10.00.

Shot put: 1, Burke Berry, Mid-Prairie, 49-05.00; 2, Jackson Zahradnek, Mid-Prairie, 45-03.50; 13 , Kaden Kos, Mid-Prairie, 34-06.50; 18, Conner Wiles, Mid-Prairie, 31-11.00.

Discus: 1, Russell Coil, Columbus, 138-01.00; 2, Burke Berry, Mid-Prairie, 137-04.00; 5, Jackson Zahradnek, Mid-Prairie, 122-09.00; 8, Kaden Kos, Mid-Prairie, 112-06.00; 22, Conner Wiles, Mid-Prairie, 80-06.00.

800m medley relay: 1, Mid-Prairie (Cain Brown, Landon Sullivan, Kaden Meader, Jayse Yoder), 1:38.71.