Mid-Prairie girls race to team title in season-opening meet

MOUNT VERNON

A Golden wave quickly followed Mid-Prairie’s Kendal Landstrum in the season-opening Mount Vernon-Lisbon Invitational.

Mid-Prairie had four of the top seven finishers in the girls race Aug. 25, some following right behind a teammate, and swept to the team title by 14 points over host Mount Vernon-Lisbon.

Landstrum came in third, behind Mount Vernon-Lisbon’s Evelyn Moeller and Center Point-Urbana’s Aaliyah Causey, with a time of 20:00.6. Then came Brooklyn Stutzman of Mid-Prairie in fourth place, and Golden Hawks Rachel Hostetler and Tessa Brokaw in sixth and seventh places, respectively.

No other team had more than three finishers in the Top 10.

Mid-Prairie was the only Class 2A team; the rest were 3A.

“Obviously, the girls ran fantastic, winning the meet, beating an amazing Mount Vernon-Lisbon team,” Mid-Prairie head coach Jeremy Meyers said. “That’s a big accomplishment at this point in the year.”

Stutzman finished 11 seconds behind Landstrum, in 20:11.9. Hostetler posted a time of 20:47 and Brokaw followed her in 20:52.7.

The Golden Hawks had five runners in the Top 20, including senior Ruby Miller, who finished 17th in her first varsity cross country race with a time of 22:43.8.

“She ran fantastic. Top 20 her first time out,” Meyers said.

The event was just the start of a two-month season that includes a meet this week in Williamsburg, two meets at the Kickers Soccer Complex in Iowa City and the state meet in late October in Fort Dodge.

“Last year when we ran this meet, a lot of our girls got PRs,” Stutzman said. “I don’t think anybody PRd today, but that’s kind of our goal. We’re going to get faster by state and we’re going to be healthy for that.”

Moeller won the girls race by nearly two minutes, finishing with a personal-best time of 17:56.8.

The season opener also included a fourth-place team finish for the Mid-Prairie boys and a seventh-place individual finish by 2025 River Valley Conference champion Max Swartzentruber.

Swartzentruber finished with a time of 17:56.4, and was one of just two runners not from Mount Vernon-Lisbon to place among the top seven. Kyler Happel of Mount Vernon-Lisbon won the race with a personal-best time of 17:06, leading a near perfect team score of 18.

Mid-Prairie freshman Jacob Lothamer, running in his first varsity race, finished 15th with a time of 18:54.8. His older brother, Ben, finished 39th with a time of 20:22.

MOUNT VERNON-LISBON INVITE

(At Elliott Athletic Complex, Mount Vernon, Aug. 25)

GIRLS TEAM SCORES: 1, Mid-Prairie, 36; 2, Mount Vernon-Lisbon, 50; 3, North Scott, 78; 4, Center Point-Urbana 79; 5, West Delaware Manchester, 127; 6, Urbandale, 129; 7, Vinton-Shellsburg, 206.

GIRLS TOP FIVE: 1, Evelyn Moeller, MV-L, 17:56.8; 2, Aaliyah Causey, CP-U, 19:45.8; 3, Kendal Landstrum, Mid-Prairie, 20:00.6; 4, Brooklyn Stutzman, Mid-Prairie, 20:11.9; 5, Rose Pisarik, MV-L, 20:33.3.

MID-PRAIRIE: 6, Rachel Hostetler, 20:47.0; 7, Tessa Brokaw, 20:52.7; 17, Ruby Miller, 22:43.8; 38, Nikkari Poll, 24:51.8; 42, Ella Chiang, 25:34.1; 57, Braelee Yoder, 27:18.5; 71, Zoe Waters, 28:38.4; 73, Keziah Brenneman, 28:48.0; 75, Chloe Fay, 28:53.5; 90, Audrey Huber, 33:19.6; 93, Gwen Wunderlich, 34:49.6.

BOYS TEAM SCORES: 1, Mount Vernon-Lisbon, 18; 2, North Scott, 46; 3, Center Point-Urbana, 109; 4, Mid-Prairie, 115; 5, West Delaware Manchester, 119; 6, Vinton-Shellsburg, 151.

BOYS TOP FIVE: 1, Kyler Happel, MV-L, 17:06.0; 2, Anthony Armstrong, MV-L, 17:12.9; 3, Parker Hamly, North Scott, 17:14.9; 4, Chasen Caskey, MV-L, 17:41.8; 5, Casey Swart, MV-L, 17:48.2.

MID-PRAIRIE: 7, Max Swartzentruber, 17:56.4; 15, Jacob Lothamer, 18:54.8; 39, Ben Lothamer, 20:22.0; 49, Thomas Lueck, 20:58.6; 55, Cayce Damschen, 21:27.3; 59, Jonathon Pickard, 21.40.4; 67, Landon Hough, 22:14.7; 68, Reece Waters, 22:16.7; 77, Samuel Friessen, 22:53.1; 81, Wyatt Miller, 23:07.1; 88, Archie Damschen, 23:58.3; 91, Jackson Rodgers, 24:24.1; 106, Andrew Adam, 25:26.5; 109, Jerry Patterson, 25:47.7; 118, Jeremy Overy, 26:50.0; 132, Aven Jaspering, 32:34.0.