The Golden Hawks passed their toughest test so far this year with high marks despite the conditions. 

Two days of rain this weekend left the Solon Nature and Recreation Center muddy and tough to run on and the times showed it. Marie Hostetler, the No. 1 runner in Class 2A, bested the field with a time of 18:24. After Hostetler arrived at the finish line the crowd waited 1:57 before another competitor crossed. 

The win makes Hostetler 4-for-4 in race wins this year. 

Once the next pack started coming in, the team race tightened between Class 4A No. 13 Bettendorf, Class 2A No. 1 Mid-Prairie and Class 2A No. 2 Williamsburg. 

Each team had two runners finish within the top 10 of the race, but Bettendorf closed out the team win by putting runners three through five in the top 20. 

Mid-Prairie had Mitzi Evans come across scoring sixth, Abbagail Evans scoring 14th and Angelina Evans 20th. Their final runner was Ana Fleming, who scored 24th in 21:45. 

The Golden Hawks had a team score of 65, 16 places behind Bettendorf. More important though was they showed their superiority within Class 2A against Williamsburg. 

“I didn’t really think about it much, but during the race I wasn’t sure (if we would win) because I saw a couple of Williamsburg girls ahead of me that I passed at the end,” Yoder, who was the sixth finisher for Mid-Prairie, said.

The win against Williamsburg gives the Golden Hawks a big confidence boost as they head into the final month of the regular season. 

Mid-Prairie bested the Raiders by 19 spots in the race. The Raiders had a lower team score through four runners, but Fleming scoring a 24 compared to Williamsburg’s fifth runner scoring a 44 made the difference.

“It is really exciting because now it’s like, ‘hey we beat them’ and that boosts our confidence,” she said. 

The win was a positive, coach Aaron Fleming said, but also shows the team has some areas to improve on. 

“The heat and mud were challenging to run in, and may have exposed some areas in conditioning and strength where we need to continue to improve,” Fleming said. “Overall we feel good about the way the girls responded to their first high-pressure clash.”

The junior varsity girls had a new top finisher as they finished fifth as a team among nine teams. Freshman Amara Jones ran a 23:50 to pace the Golden Hawks. 

Mid-Prairie will run a meet at the Iowa City Kickers fields next Monday.